“We’re gonna burn this club to the motherfucking ground,” declares Killer Mike as he and his Run the Jewels collaborator El-P take to the stage to the sounds of Queen’s We Are the Champions. For anyone else, this might seem like a self-aggrandising entrance, but these are two of the biggest personalities in hip-hop, and compared to the explosion that is the rest of their set, it’s a positively low-key way to kick things off.
This is the pair’s last show at SXSW and it is clear they have no intention of going quietly. “We’re going for the livest set at SXSW,” El-P roars, before they break into a furious rendition of 36” Chain. They may have made the album that topped almost every best of 2014 album countdown of note, but it is live that Run the Jewels are truly in their element. The chemistry between Killer Mike and El-P, who have collaborated since 2012, is almost unrivalled in hip-hop, with their enormous personalities and boundless energy bouncing off each other and fueling the pair in this 45 minute set.
This is an initially irritable crowd, sodden through thanks to the unrelenting Austin downpour, but El-P and Killer Mike’s charismatic stage presence manages to evaporate these rain-soaked woes almost immediately. In fact, the audience throws themselves into the set with such reckless abandon that El-P stops at various points in the night to thank the security guards tasked with keeping the boisterous masses under control. If El-P’s request for “everybody to take two steps back and chill the fuck out” seems a little cautious for an artist whose reputation is built on aggressive hip-hop, he can’t really be blamed: he was almost punched by a stage-invading audience member during a set at the Spotify house on Thursday.
The pair are both veteran rappers, and this live set allows them to show off the lyrical dexterity that has won them so much critical acclaim. Their performance of Blockbuster Part 1, from their second LP, Run the Jewels 2, is abrasive and dynamic, while Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck), their song about starting a prison riot, kicks the show up to an even higher notch.
Run the Jewels are not a duo to shy away from political controversy, tackling race and police brutality in their tracks, with Killer Mike leading the chorus of condemnation following the events in Ferguson last year. Tonight is no different, with El-P taking a not-so-subtle jibe at the “driveling, warmongering, paedophile leaders that we’ve elected”, and dedicating another track to “everyone in Ferguson trying to do the right thing”.
This is an entirely unrestrained set, helped along by a crowd who really do give it their all. Bodies are thrown carelessly into each other, and as El-P and Killer Mike break into the chant of “lie, cheat, steal, kill, win”, the air is filled with a pulsing sea of pumping fists. Run the Jewels may be a late-career renaissance for the pair, who are both entering their 40s, but as their set proves, they are worthy of every column inch of hype.
