Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Colored Vinyl) Vinyl 2LP Killer Mike

This record holds a special place in my heart because it came out the same week I got my driver’s license. I will never forget the first time I heard the opening drop on “Big Beast” cranked to the max in my mom’s Honda Fit. Those hi-hats were flying a mile per second! As teenagers in the early 2010s, my friend group was obsessed with underground rap a la Das Racist and Def Jux (RIP to both), so El-P was without a doubt one of our favorite rap producers at the time. This was long before Run The Jewels was announced or even conceived, so when we heard El-P was going to produce an entire album for Killer Mike, we lost our pubescent minds. El’s dystopian beats underneath Mike’s sociopolitical lyricism was a perfect pairing, as we’ve witnessed many times in the decade since R.A.P. Music (R.A.P. = ‘Rebellious African People’) was released. “Reagan” and “Don’t Die” still slap more than most RTJ tracks, in my personal opinion. I once even went out of my way to make my AP US History teacher show the full uncensored music video for “Reagan” in class (shoutout Mr. Campbell, wherever you are). 10 years later I still think this is one of the best rap albums of the 2010s, easily up there with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and To Pimp a Butterfly. Green double vinyl reissue with El-P’s full instrumentals on LP2, housed in gatefold sleeve with poster. Recommended.

• 2012 Killer Mike album produced entirely by El-P, their first collaboration pre-dating Run The Jewels
• green colored double vinyl pressing
• includes full album instrumentals on LP2
• housed in gatefold sleeve
• includes foldout poster
• limited edition
• original release year: 2012
• music label: WaterTower Music 2022

reviewed by SHH! 05/2022