“Legend Has It”

When Killer Mike and El-P were announced as playable characters in Gears of War 4, it seemed a bit on-the-nose—in the game, a pair of foot soldiers dissent from a totalitarian government that once nuked its own people under the guise of protecting them from aliens; the duo combats threats both foreign and domestic. Likewise, as Run the Jewels, Mike and El have become one of rap’s foremost blunt instruments in the ongoing campaign against power and corruption, which now have a new (waxy, burnt-orangish) face.

On “2100,” released the day after the election, that crusade was clear within seconds: “How long before the hate that we hold lead us to another Holocaust? … it’s too clear nuclear’s too near.” But Run the Jewels is often most effective when it’s assertive without being literal, when it’s just two MCs using their bludgeoning lyrical might to work in tandem, complementing each other and having fun in the process. The latest offering from their upcoming album, RTJ3, is a reminder of that. On “Legend Has It,” a non-stop rapathon, there aren’t any raps about puppeteer presidents, no mentions of revolution; it just feels like an act of resistance.

Over one of El-P’s most pixelated compositions, the duo moves in intervals with chest-beating raps, spitting fire and brimstone. They take turns one-upping each other, but always move as a unit, leaving little footnotes with the mission statement—“I became famous for blaming you fucks,” “Warranty plus for fuckin’ shit up.” But it isn’t self-serious, with one-off references to “SNL”’s “dick in a box” bit and being the rapping Tinder. This is RTJ at its most lethal, funny, and ferocious. There’s work to do, yes, but if we lose ourselves doing it, they still win.