Killer Mike and El-P have reimagined their fourth studio album, RTJ4, interpreted “through the prism of Latin America”, and it is quite fantastic. Co-Executive produced and curated by El-P and Nick Hook, RTJ CU4TRO is a collaborative effort, with various Latin rappers, singers, producers and DJ’s putting their twist and flavuor on every song from RTJ4. Much like every Run The Jewels album, front to back, this project is a banger that delivers in a multitude of ways. From the beats to the rhymes, every RTJ project feels like a fulfilling adventure, and every time you listen or re-listen to their lyrics you discover new things to be enthused about or reflect on. RTJ CU4TRO is no different.
The amalgamation of RTJ’s mostly hard body and politically inclined rhymes with Latin American culture and dance beats is a mixture that, on the surface, might not seem obvious, but it works exceptionally well. It makes you want to hear RTJ through RTJ3 remixed in this fashion also, something that could potentially happen in the future. CU4TRO possesses a few songs that deserve to be notably highlighted. Two of which were produced by the Grammy winning TROOKO, with “Fuera de Vista” featuring Baco Exu Do Blues and “Yankee y el valiente” both being incredibly well produced, and the latter setting the album off in the perfect tone for what’s to come. “goonies contra E.T.” featuring Sarah La Morena & El Individuo, and produced by Danny Brasco and Nick Hook, is a beautifully subtle and sexy take on the original song, with La Moreno replacing the hook in Spanish. It is a song that, in my opinion, you need to go out of your way to listen to.
Although the entire album is great, the last song I will touch on is “JU$T” featuring two legends in Pharrell Williams and Zach de la Rocha, which was reimagined by Toy Selectah for this project. The original version of this song from RTJ4 was fine how it was and I was nervous to hear this remix. However, I genuinely feel the CU4TRO remix is an even better version of the track. I had to mention this because I am generally a stickler about remixes in general, so it’s rare I give one the adulation of surpassing the OG music. And as I mentioned earlier, it’s incredibly impressive on the part of the artists to create music with lyrics that are so provocative and truthful while rapping them over a “Sex and the City”, salsa sample and have them hit the way they do. It’s rather genius.
