I'm still in the middle of the first run-through (so feel free to take my commentary with a grain of salt), but I can agree that RtJ2 seems to be a sizable improvement over the original. El-P's production choices sound more varied and unique this time around (while for the most part maintaining the same level of polish that made RtJ so impressive), he and Mike switch up their flows more often to fit the constantly evolving beats, and the pacing of the album is a little smoother (there isn't as much of a cut and dry "light-hearted half" and "serious half"). It is too early in the process to judge the lyrical content, but their trademark wordplay still seems to be intact (Mike even took a leaf from Jamie's book and is a little more obtuse on some of the tracks). It is also to early to judge the impact that the guest artists had on their individual tracks, but Zack de la Rocha was a tiny bit on the underwhelming side (partly because I spent a good portion of "Close Your Eyes" expecting Zach Hill instead ), while Gangsta Boo provided a rather hilarious verse on "Love Again" that adds some much needed variety to an otherwise straightforward track.irreduciblekoan wrote:Run the Jewels 2 was released for free today. I really enjoyed their first album, and this one is even better. It's easily the best hip-hop album of the year so far and I foresee lots of great reviews and a high (top 1500) placement on AM. It's angrier, darker and more sonically adventurous than their first one.
Overall, I would highly recommend this album to anyone who enjoyed the original *Run the Jewels*, and I second irreduciblekoan's hopes that critics will pay more attention to this one
Edit: At the moment, the main flaw with the whole experience is some rather under-whelming album artwork...