El-P and Killer Mike have “A Few Words For The Firing Squad” on the latest single from their upcoming album, Run The Jewels 4. After giving a hip-hop history lesson alongside DJ Premier and Greg Nice with “Ooh La La” last month, the duo shift gears to address current events — or at least, the cyclical nature of state violence against citizens — on their new single, over another devastating El-P production.
Killer Mike closes the track with the titular few words — a knockout blow if ever there was one — after setting up the punchline with a few bars before delivering the crushing haymaker. “This is for the do-gooders that the no-gooders used and then abused,” he snarls. “For the truth-tellers tied to the whipping post, left beaten, battered, bruised / For the ones whose body hung from a tree like a piece of strange fruit / Go hard, last words to the firing squad was, ‘F*ck you too.’” El-P previewed the track on Instagram, recording it from his television with his phone’s camera.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA3bq37DGln/?utm_source=ig_embed
Run The Jewels have never shied away from political commentary in the past, but their latest full-length LP arrives after a week of protests of police brutality — especially the recent killing of George Floyd, a former member of Houston’s Screwed Up Click.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3tiDcDvys/?utm_source=ig_embed
Listen to the new track via preview above.
Run The Jewels 4 is due 6/5 via Run The Jewels LLC and BMG Records.
