Today, Def Jux founder and Run The Jewels member El-P announced his plans to release his extensive back catalog of solo albums to streaming services for the first time ever. His groundbreaking and influential solo albums, which were originally released on his own Def Jux, will roll out throughout 2020 via Fat Possum Records, beginning with 2007’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. You can check that out here.
El-P is known for being outspoken about streaming platforms failing to protect artists, censuring Spotify on Twitter last year over fraudulent uploads of his and others’ music which generates revenue for the fraudsters but not the artists. AV Club also lamented that El-P’s 2002 album, Fantastic Damage, was not available for streaming, though oddly enough, High Water and Cancer 4 Cure have been around for some time. Still, being able to stream all of El-P’s music and not just some of it will be very cool.
I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead features appearances from Aesop Rock, Cage, and Trent Reznor, and was one of the albums that helped establish El-P as one of hip-hop’s most innovative and iconoclastic producers after he parted ways with Company Flow and Rawkus Records in the late ’90s. It’s worth checking out if only to learn some background on the anarchic production from Run The Jewels. The campaign will continue throughout 2020, with much more to come.
