The white kid from Company Flow and the ATLien offspring of OutKast form a rap group? Yeah I’m with it, I’m with it. It all began a year ago when El-P handled production for Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music. Their chemistry was evident and thankfully this past summer they officially formed a dynamic duo named Run The Jewels and released a self-titled free mixtape.

Clocking in at 10 tracks, this is sci-fi-sounding boom bap packed with punch as evidenced by their first release “Get It”. Here the two MCs make their intentions crystal clear. El-P spits, “My name is Jaime Meline/I’m not chasing the green, I’m taking it/Bosses don’t change a thing in the name of seemingly making it.” Killer Mike counters, “My name is Michael Render/And we’re the new Avengers/We’re here to tell you all your false idols are just pretenders.”

Mike’s mentor Big Boi appears on “Banana Clipper” and while he more than holds his own, Killer shines by bigging up his partner. “Producer gave me a beat/Said it’s the beat of the year/I said El-P didn’t do it/So get the fuck outta here.” Ok then! Producto returns the love on the booming “Job Well Done”: “Killer Mike and El-P, fuck boys think about it/Fuck you gonna sell me/You don’t know a thing about us.”

The two unite on their battles with drugs on “No Come Down” and Mike checks a hater on the collection’s closer “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”. “Me and El-P do the secret handshake/Then I pummel punch a pumpkin head punk in his pimple face/Til he’s punch drunk cause he’s sweet as a pound cake.” Ouch.

In an age where every rapper thinks they should be solo and are too good to pair with someone else. These two like-minded veterans unite to prove there’s strength in numbers, muthafuckas. You got it for free first but this is well worth your dinero. Thank you, Fools Gold. Dig in your pockets and support Run The Jewels.—YN