By Josh Herwitt //

Run the Jewels with The Alchemist, Tenacious D (DJ set) //
Hollywood Palladium – Los Angeles
October 14th, 2023 //

It’s almost hard to believe that more than a decade has already passed since El-P and Killer Mike formed Run the Jewels after being introduced to each other by Cartoon Network executive Jason DeMarco in 2011.

The Grammy-nominated hip-hop duo has rode a titanic wave of success over that span, putting out four albums in less than seven years with 2013’s self-titled debut paving the way for subsequent releases in 2014, 2016 and 2020.

To mark the occasion, RTJ announced a 10th anniversary tour consisting of four-night residencies in New York, Chicago, Atlanta and LA this year, with each LP being performed from start to finish on its respective date.

But the project’s fourth and most recent full length entitled RTJ4 — one that features Greg Nice, DJ Premier, 2 Chainz, Pharrell Williams, Mavis Staples, Josh Homme and Zack de la Rocha — is what propelled Jaime Meline and Michael Render into the Top 10 of the US Billboard 200 for the first time, and even though they were at Coachella in 2022, they had yet to schedule a proper show in LA after dropping the 11-track effort due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down live music for 18 months.

That’s, in part, why we circled Saturday’s finale at the Hollywood Palladium on our calendar while also knowing it would be the last gig of the tour. We did wonder if Meline and Render would be running (no pun intended) on fumes by that point, but the two emcees seemed to be in great spirits when they took the stage after surprise DJ sets from Tenacious D and The Alchemist, the latter of which boasted guest appearances by Evidence and Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, had riled up the capacity crowd.

As much as the beats and production that El-P cooks up in the lab are the catalyst for new RTJ material, the wordplay between Killer Mike and himself is what make them such a visceral force in front of any live audience no matter where they are at that moment. Plus, their stage antics and banter aren’t too shabby either. Not many acts in the hip-hop scene roll into town, specifically this one, and choose Jack Black of all celebrities to introduce them to a sold-out venue of 4,000 folks. Yet, that’s exactly what RTJ did when Black walked out to Queen’s epic hit “We Are the Champions” and sent fans into an absolute frenzy with his hype-man skills.

The beauty of an RTJ show, like any good concert, is that you simply don’t know what’s going to happen next. Sure, it was a little disappointing that de la Rocha didn’t grace us with his presence like he did only a couple of days earlier when Run the Jewels 2 was showcased in full, but El-P and Killer Mike weren’t about to wave goodbye without a cameo from their friend Joi, a longtime associate of the Atlanta-based Dungeon Family collective known for its collaborations with OutKast, Organized Noize and Goodie Mob, during an eight-song encore.

RTJ, however, weren’t about to wrap up (again, no pun intended) the tour with a Run the Jewels 3 cut. Instead, they fittingly went back to where things all started, unleashing the title track on Run the Jewels to send us home with one final banger and close the book on the “RTJX Tour.” Where they go from here following 10 years in the rap game, no one really knows. Neither does El-P or Killer Mike right now, and from what they have recently said, that’s the way they like it. Fortunately for us, so do we.

Setlist:
yankee and the brave (ep. 4)
ooh la la
out of sight
holy calamafuck
goonies vs. E.T.
walking in the snow
JU$T
never look back
the ground below
pulling the pin
a few words for the firing squad (radiation)

Encore:
Legend Has It
Oh My Darling Don’t Cry
Blockbuster Night Part 1
Talk to Me
Sea Legs
Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
Down (with Joi)
Run the Jewels