Run The Jewels, Academy 2, Manchester review • DIY Magazine

Killer Mike and El-P, known collectively as Run The Jewels, are on a serious roll, the high-octane duo easily taking the crown for rap album of the year and boasting a sold out tour. This particular blockbuster night, the venue is Manchester Academy and it’s packed wall to wall as Killer Mike greets the electric crowd with a promise to “burn this motherfucker down!”.

Launching straight into 'Run The Jewels', that fire is doused in petrol as both performers take their turns delivering killer verses, in seamless rotations, with effortless set-ups for the songs’ greatest hooks. It isn’t so much a pattern as a force of nature, an immovable object and unstoppable force as a tag-team each taking their place, delivering a knockout and dropping back to support the other. Only three songs into the set, the duo deliver the breakneck assault of 'Banana Clipper' before El-P drops off into a charismatic speech about the injustices of a modern capitalist system, or as he puts it "old war machine suits", as an intro to the bouncing '36 Inch Chain'. Later into the set, Killer Mike launches into a heartfelt moving statement, about the shame on America, and both artists dedicate the set to Michael Brown and Eric Garner at different points. There’s a sense that despite all the fun and games, this duo exist with a very pronounced conscience and awareness, and at the right points, in the right ways, they absolutely thrive off and respect a hugely empathetic crowd.

What's absolutely unavoidable though is whether at their most sobering, or their most fun, Run The Jewels deliver every single time they have to. They make it look easy from the dense wordplays and displays of skill to the way they can make a room hang on every syllable. They're such comfortable artists that they can even afford a joke on the crowd, with El-P pausing mid song to shout "ladies and gentlemen - Zack De La Rocha!" just before the Rage Against The Machine's frontman's verse in 'Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)'. It leads Killer Mike to protest "You're an asshole for that!", as El-P apologises - "I've been wanting to do that all tour". By the time that encore 'Angel Duster' draws it to a close, there’s a sense that the absolute whirlwind of Run The Jewels has given the audience as much as it can take with just the two legends on stage.

Latest album, the critically adored ‘Run The Jewels 2’, starts with Killer Mike in his default setting - pumped up - shouting 'Let's go El-P!' and once these two guys at the top of their game get going there is no stopping them.

Photos: Leah Henson

Tags: Run The Jewels, Reviews, Live Reviews