Okay, okay, okay, I said it last night and I'm going to write it out for you all to see today, "Run The Jewels have officially made it" and that's not to say they've made it because of my proclamation of their success but they've officially made it because swarms of people are simply attending their shows without knowing anything about them.
I've been attending shows since '94 and I'd like to consider myself the young-old guy in the room; my cousin Bobby and me have decided to travel overseas to catch acts in Europe because the crowds/energy is better over there!
Last night, I stood in the back of the Shrine Auditorium/Theatre/Hanger and I observed opening acts giving their full energy, I watched as featured musicians rocked along side El-P and Killer Mike, and I watched how the aforementioned duo controlled the crowd too. The one thing that did get me was all of the talking taking place, mainly from a partitioned area around the sound booth.
"Are you guys here to watch the show or to talk in front of us all night and take Instagram and Snapchat pics?" asked one of my buddies to a group of people in front of us. I mean, we're here to see a duo who've been rocking together for only a few years but have ascended this hip hop staircase in a matter of no time.
In 2014, I stood in the crowd and watched RTJ perform at Outside Lands and I thought, they were good but I was even more surprised they were playing a festival like Outside Lands in front of a bunch of people who couldn't really know their music (closes eyes slowly). Yeah, yeah, yeah... They kilt their set dead and to my astonishment they seemed pretty polished together for being a duo only formed a year prior, 2013.
The current tour run that RTJ are on will have them seeing 37 or so cities over the next three months or something and the crowds do not have any idea what they're truly in for come the time the duo take the stage. I'm not ruining it for others who are truly fans because I stood in a crowd of 5,000 people and waited for the songs, the beats, and the lights to hit; I left out the magic too, as there is a definite sense of magic with their energy.
One doesn't need to be a fan of rap to understand what I'm writing and one doesn't need to be a scholar to understand that artists have made it when they can move merchandise to people who've simply stood and talked through an entire set... "OMG the show is over, oh my god that was so awesome, your Snapchat is so live, wait (insert fake laugh) my Facebook Live is so live..."
RTJ (Jeopardy) - "Run the Jewels is the answer, your question is "what's poppin'?"
