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Run The Jewels have reflected on the relationship between African Americans and the police, and the recent Baltimore protests, in a newly released video for their song ‘Early’.
One half of the rap duo, El-P, tweeted before premiering the video online, saying: “Me and Killer Mike have been waiting for the right time to drop this. Then we realized that it is (sadly) always the right time.”
me and @KillerMikeGTO have been waiting for the right time to drop this. then we realized that it is (sadly) always the right time. so...
— el-p (@therealelp) May 15, 2015
The video, created by animation and design studio, Bug & Sluzzy, depicts police brutality aimed at the African American community, as well as the resulting protests and unrest in places like Baltimore.
Last month Killer Mike took part in a series of talks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about race relations in the US. The duo’s video for ‘Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck’ also focused on the issue of racially-motivated police brutality.
The director of that video, AG Rojas, said: "I knew we had the opportunity to create a film that means something. I felt a sense of responsibility to do just that.
“We had to exploit the lyrics and aggression and emotion of the track, and translate that into a film that would ignite a valuable and productive conversation about racially motivated violence in this country.
“It's provocative, and we all knew this, so we were tasked with making something that expressed the intensity of senseless violence without eclipsing our humanity."
Watch 'Early' below:
The duo recently made a video interview with Gigwise, discussing the night they heard the verdict on the Michael Brown case, and how they feel their fame gives them the chance to speak out on important issues.
‘Early' comes from last year’s album, RTJ2 (Run The Jewels 2). El-P announced on Twitter two days ago that RTJ3 is “almost definitely not coming out in 2015” as they will be touring all year, but said: “every chance we get we are working hard on it.”
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