Next up on Audioeclectica.com’s 2020 End Of The Year Lists, the Top 10 Vocalists The stipulation is that, an album/EP had to have been released this year.
Vote for your favorite in the comments section. At the end of the month, I will release the results of the readers poll.
This list is also in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!!
01) Greg Puciato- Greg Puciato/Killer Be Killed 02) Billy Corgan- The Smashing Pumpkins 03) Lance Black- In Parallel 04) Philip H. Anselmo- En Minor 05) EL-P & Killer Mike- Run The Jewels 06) Kadeem France & Erik Bickerstaffe- Loathe 07) Jacob Bannon- Umbra Vitae 08) Gavin Rossdale- Bush 09) Chelsea Wolfe- Mrs. Piss 10) Anthony Paganelli, Lance Jackman, Jess Gowrie & Lennon Hudson- Horseneck
A couple years back, the legendary DJ Shadow released his first new album in quite a few years entitled, The Mountain Will Fall. This album was a very welcome back for him and a lot of fans, like myself. One of the highlights on the album was that Run The Jewels was a guest on the track “Nobody Speak.” This song, the moment it was released, became an instant hit with pretty much everyone that heard it. The video too is something quite awesome. DJ Shadow has been known to do some great collaborations over the years working with people like Run The Jewels, Zach De La Rocha, UNKLE and many more. This one I think is my all time favorite of his collabs though. Enjoy!
I’m not a big fan of hip hop music of today but, I love Run The Jewels. Ever since I heard their first album, I’ve been hooked. EL-P is a master of beats and production and his rap flow is absolutely sick. Killer Mike is one hell of an MC and both of them combined are simply great. So as we wait, all be it impatiently for all this crazyness in the world to clear up, we can at least have these two new Run The Jewels songs to keep us occupied till the album is finally out.
This new topic, Breaks & Rhymes, is all about Hip-Hop and Rap music.
Over the last few years, I’ve found myself delving deeper into things I haven’t really listened to. Since the release of the first Run The Jewels album, I’ve come to really enjoy them a lot. Killer Mike and EL-P are truly a dynamic duo and continue to put out quality music as RTJ. While getting into them, I started to really notice how great of a producer and beatmaker EL-P is. His style is interesting and inspired from so many different genres. After raving about RTJ to a friend of mine, he sent me a few of EL-P’s solo albums (Thanks Adam!!!). One of those, Cancer 4 Cure, really stood out to me and had me totally taken aback. Listening to that album was almost like a revelation.
Cancer 4 Cure is one of the best hip-hop albums I’ve ever heard. Everything about this album is genuine, pure and transcendent. The production on this album is truly remarkable. The beats hit on different styles from trap, old school hip hop, and even bits of industrial. The samples used as well are innovative and fresh. His flow is menacing and sharp as a Mastumoto katana blade (nice Kill Bill reference there Brian *pats self on the back for that one*). EL-P (real name Jaime Meline) is and always has been the real deal.
The album starts off with one of the coolest hip-hop songs I’ve ever heard in “Request Denied.” The moment you put this album on and this song starts, you know this is going to be pretty spectacular. You’ll also find yourself reaching for the volume button or knob to turn it up so loud it rattles your speakers, car or house. The rest of the album is chock full of sic beats, flows that would make Niagra Falls jealous and topics that have actual depth and reason. Tracks like “The Full Retard,” “Works Every Time (featuring Paul Banks of Interpol), “Drones Over Brooklyn,” “Tougher Colder Killer (featuring Killer Mike),” “The Jig Is Up,” “Sign Here,” “For My Upstairs Neighbor,” “Stay Down (featuring Nick Diamonds),” and closing double track “$4 Vic/Nothing But Me and You” are to me classics. The venom spit on these songs along with the realism is very vivid and striking. Everything about this album screams classic.
Cancer 4 Cure is the type of album that if you aren’t a fan of hip-hop, it will make you one. This album hits hard and is everything that modern hip-hop should be. It’s a vicious album that is sinister at times as well as heartfelt. The album is dedicated to EL-P’s friend Camu Tao, who had a huge effect on his life. As you listen to the words and the style of rhymes, you can really tell there is more in there than what’s on the surface. EL-P has created a style of production that is revolutionary and it accompanies his rhyme style so perfectly, when you hear any song he’s been a part of, you will know right then that you are getting something sensational. EL-P has made me a believer in hip-hop music.
Last year when Venom was released in theaters it was met with mixed reviews. There was one thing though about the movie that was absolutely perfect and that was the inclusion of Run The Jewel’s on the soundtrack. The duo featuring Killer Mike and EL-P released a track called “Let’s Go (The Royal We)” and it was downright badass. Ever since they released the song, I can’t stop listening to it. I was hoping that it might be included on the duo’s upcoming RTJ IV album but, it seems like it was released just for the soundtrack. Either way this track is fantastic and the beat that EL-P created is “hard and heavy.” So, until Run The Jewel’s releases RTJ IV, this will do just fine!
Since the break up of Rage Against The Machine, Zach De La Rocha has remained relatively quiet on the music front. There was the One Day As A Lion project he did in 2007 but other than that there hasn’t been much from him in a long while. Which got me thinking, that I should do a Guest Vocalist post about all the songs he’s guested on over the years. Most recently Zach can be heard on the last two Run The Jewels albums. Anyways, here are a bunch of tracks to enjoy that Zach lent his vocals to.
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