You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh Hirway. Song Exploder is brought to you by Progressive, where drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average. Quote now at Progressive.com Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. National average 12 month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed, who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023.
Potential savings will vary. This episode contains explicit language. Killer Mike and LP first met in 2011. They both had established rap careers, but they entered a new era when they started making music together as Run the Jewels in 2013. They've been nominated for a Grammy, and they released their fourth album in June 2020. Like all of their albums, they made it available to download for free.
In this episode, LP and Killer Mike break down the song Just, which features guest vocals from their frequent collaborator, Zach De La Roca, from Rage Against The Machine, and guest vocals from Pharrell Williams. Look at all these slaves, masters posing on your dollar, look at all these slaves, masters posing on your dollar, look at all these slaves, masters. Here's LP, who produced the track. We did the majority of the writing of this record at Rick Rubin's studio in Shangri-La.
We always like to kind of get out of our own spaces and come together in some other space so that we could really get a vibe going. And by the time me and Mike get together in the studio, I know that I have, you know, 10 or 12 things that I think might spark something creative in both me and Mike. And sometimes it's more fleshed out, but a lot of times it's just, let me see if I can get a big goofy grin on my partner's face by playing this little weird thing.
It's really just about getting a spark and then trying to harness it. Oh, yeah. This one started with thinking about basing a beat around vocals, which is something that is not something that we had done yet together on a record. And so that's kind of what led us to experimenting with different vocals, synths, and things, you know. And none of that felt particularly right.
And then we ended up going to somebody who had sung some backup vocals for us on some TV performances, Nicholas Ryan Gant, who's this amazing soul singer from Brooklyn. So we kind of gave him a general spectrum of notes. And this is sort of the vibe that we're going for. And he ended up doing a bunch of different demos for us of different approaches and different parts.
I really thought that I was just doing it as a way to demo it up. And then in my mind we would go to, you know, someone else. But he was just so good. And he sent us a bunch of shit. And then we ended up in the hook where these long notes. The trick was actually not overusing it, to be honest. The trick was trying to restrain myself from layering it too much and from using too much of it because I wanted it to be bouncy and sparse and punctuated. So I started to chop it up and move it around.
I thought it would be really cool to create a piece of music that was based really just around almost a duop-y harmonic thing and have the bounce of that. And the drums was what really, you know, drove the whole thing. And you never know what's going to spark your front, you know. The real linchpin is whether or not Mike feels it. I was like, this is cool to shit in the fucking world. Like I just had a, what we in the South call a juke to it.
I'm a big time out past paying, you know, being from Atlanta. This felt like a Quimmon-9 as to me. And not like it sound, but in times of what our fans have used to hear from us. Like a Quimmon-9 did that for me as an outcast fan, which is why I ended up using the pattern that I used on it. There's a stutter pattern that lives in the South that I felt compelled to do. Been in time, I'm on mine, I be mine and mine. Every time on my grind, I'm just trying to shine.
Make a dollar, government, they want a dozen, die. The pitted cat, Mike, kill you because they see your shine. It's an old Southern pattern, that stutter pattern. Lord infamous did it. Project Cat does it. The Migos have mastered it ten times over. And he said, he told me he was going to add all those, he said it, but I didn't know what he meant. It's written to be call a response. I wrote that for the audience because I look forward to getting back on stage.
And I visualize it as I'm doing it, the crowd say, get money back to me. Been in time, I'm on mine, I be mine and mine. Every time on my grind, I'm just trying to shine. I loved when Mike added the layer of the adlibs because Mike's original verse was none of the responses were in. So it was this very broken up sparse thing. So when he added that layer of adlibs, that's when I realized how fucking genius my partner was.
I didn't have to have a talk with myself, planning time. I'll hit for crickers. I know I did. I get broke too many time. I might slice some pie. You believe corporations running mirror. When he said back to trapping and then he keeps going, they said, how that happened? He's saying I'm back because I need to make money because I have to feed myself and my family. And I'll go write the fuck back to wherever I have to go in order to make it happen.
If shit got bad to feed my wife and children, I absolutely would resort to crime. And that's what happens in any capitalist system. I'm a capitalist, right? Not because I believe that capitalism is the greatest system ever. I'm a compassionate capitalist because I grew up in a capitalist system. I've been both a benefactor from it and a victim of it. More so than not my community of victim of it. But I've had to understand capitalism from the bottom up and had to make a way.
But money in my life has led me to some very positive things and giving me the freedom to be a benefactor to my community, a philanthropist, and to speak the unadulterated truth in a room full of people because I have a good job. I sing and dance, we're living. Money has also corrupted me as a child and made me a drug dealer because everyone was selling drugs and anyone with common sense would have taken $1,000 a bar on the crack cocaine that was from the 2013.
If they knew they could make $400 off of it, you know what I'm saying? I have a guilt from formerly being a drug dealer. But when they say corporations don't feel guilt, they sell drugs. I get broke too many times, I might slay some pie. You believe corporations running, never want to fool. And your country again ran by a casino on a oo petal file sponsor all the fucking racist bouts.
You know what we try and do as partners is we try and pick up on what we can take from what the inspiration is from our partner and use it as DNA of what we're saying. He's talking about the conflict of money and he's talking about the politics that arise out of that. So I took where he was starting and extrapolated my own sort of perspective on it and also with a point to make.
I come from New York City. So one of the biggest events, you know, psychically and literally in New York City over the past 10 years was the murder of Eric Garner who was killed because he was trying to sell loose cigarettes. And if you come from New York City, you know that smoking a Lucy is part of how you grow up. You go to the store, you get a recorder and you get a cigarette.
Sometimes people sell them to you outside. This is a normal thing. This is a small economy, but it's money. It's money related. B B, where's you? This is New York City. That's on a map with a pain key. Pitting just a stucks here. City. We're murderous. Choco cops don't earn in 11 funny. How some say money don't matter. That's rich. Now in the get comedy. Try to sell packets.
Get food get killed. It's not in the normal. Hey, it's just money. I do really wrap with one of my favorite rappers in the world. So I'm unfortunate guy. There are times where you hear patterns from other rappers and you're like, motherfucker. I only I'm going to grab that first or her dead in the beat. Man, you better duck out. Get the bag in the fuck out. Try to own home. You might run your luck out. Just when your bases loaded, they'll roll a grenade in the dugout.
That line that that roller grenade in the dugout. It really was a pure beautiful cinnamon for how far evil is willing to go to make sure it doesn't prevail. Just when we got the bases loaded, just when we can get this shit right. These motherfuckers will put up grenades in the dugout and blow up the whole game. Sometimes you want a metaphor that almost everybody can understand simply to slip in the idea that there is a rigging of institution.
Even if you get to the point where you've lined everything up correctly the way that it's supposed to be lined up, they will break the rules and kill you from the other side when you're not looking. Then we reached out to Zach and said, yeah, you got to drop on the shit and he said, bet I'm on it. To those who don't know, Zach De La Roca is the legendary frontman for a rage against the machine.
And he is a friend, a good friend of both mine and Mike's and someone that I personally consider a family member. He's become sort of the unofficial third member of Run the Jewels in a sense. Zach actually recorded his verse at his home. 2020 run the map, wrong uncut in my hourglass, don't watch it spilled to the bottom half. You see the piece now running fast on a tarmac, get a starting jack. See for when I run it back like a track star running wrecking lap, not like when it's needle catch.
Zach demoed it up at his house and sent it to me to say, okay, I'm going to here's the demo. I'm going to come through and do the verse. And I was like, no, you're not. You already did the verse. It's incredible. You're not going to touch this. This sound what you captured here is perfect. And it was on an SM57, which is literally the standard kind of shitty stage mic that everyone uses. It was distorted and it sounded like Zach.
Clean look, poor pugilist. A shoot is you. It's a prudent flick to woo for you. Budamins who convinced you you can move against the crew in this coming up through the fence. I'm on the fun of spit high fire. I mean, shit, it. Zach, they were welcome. Man. First of all, rocking roll should be grateful. That's your pop allowed them to get such an elite MC on the trade. He's the bow jackson of this shit. Essentially. He's playing two sports.
Essentially. So, you know, the fact that he still manages to be clear political clever, but also has the bounce and the funk. Most rappers, you know, they just can't even pull it off. That's just the fact. How can we beat a piece when the piece going to reach for the worst? Tear on a flash of the earth. Stay set from a deafening, reckoning, quick like a pacer of ours. So questioning this quest for things as a recipe for early dead threatening.
But the breadth of me is weaponry for you with just money. Then we were hanging out and forl came by. We played him some champs and he was like, this is amazing. You know, and he basically just said, if you need me for anything, let me know. And then he disappeared like some sort of angel's elf that just fucking just flew away, you know, like a magic man. And we were just like, oh my god, like that was amazing. You know, forl just said he's down to work with us.
And in my mind, of course, you're fantasizing about what the fuck could that be? I mean, you know, we have binks versus it's grimy. We have my verse. It's grimy. We have zacks verse. It's super grimy. Then you're trying to imagine forl on here and you're like, well, I know that this is the guy from Super Thug and Clips. And this is also the guy from happy. And this is also the guy from, you know, these amazing, gigantic pop songs and he's got so much range.
There's no way to predict what for rel is going to give you that he had it all figured out. Mastered economics, cuz you took yourself from squalor. Slave. Mastered academics, cuz you're grace at you with scholar. Slave. Mastered Instagram, cuz you can instigate a follow. Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar. When he came with that shit, it was mind blowing. It was like, holy shit, this is, this is harder and more cutting than anything we could have asked for.
It was, it really felt like he really paid attention of what run the jewels was and what we were saying. And he really wrote for us. And that was an honor to have someone of that level of that talent really pay attention and really take it seriously. And he did. The song starts with these four hits. And I was wondering if that was at all inspired by forl. Yep. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That was my nod to forl and my nod to the Neptune's.
That's a signature that forl incorporates in his beats all the time. He does the four count with the kick before the thing starts. So for the music heads, it was, it was funny. And I had a lot of people being like, so forl produced the track, right? And I was like, well, no. They were like, oh, I thought because of the thing at the beginning, I was like, well, that's forl did produce the track in that regard. Because without forl, that would not have happened. Absolutely.
Master of these politics, where did you got options? Master of opinion, cuz you vote with the white collar. Slate. The 13th Amendment says that slavery is abolished. Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar. And he wanted Mike to do all of the, look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar. The thing about it is, forl sounds so goddamn cool, I cannot bring myself to cut. I can't, I can't do it. I can't bring myself to cut him.
It was something so powerful about hearing forl say that. Because a lot of people just forget that this dude is a real, like he's got that grimy side to him. And hearing him say that is really powerful. It's something you might expect Mike to say, but not everyone would expect forl to say. So I didn't want to cut that out of that. And we figured out other ways to do it. You know, Mike took the back half of the hook. Then I hit up Zach and asked him to do his version of it.
This one thing that working with Zach is that when he's in rapper mode, sometimes you gotta tell Zach, hey, I need rage against the machine, Zach, for this one line. I mean, like, I need that energy for this one moment. You gotta say that shit with thumbtacks and whiskey in your throat. Look at all these slave masters, masters, masters, masters. The relationship and the truth between institutional violence and money. That's something that me and Mike are very aware of.
And something that we examine on this album a lot. And at the end of the day, it is a control system based on those transactions. It was me dealing with my relationship with this system and money as both being a benefactor of it and being a victim of it. All that contradiction that is being an American was put into those bars. People try to tell you that, hey, money doesn't mean anything. For yourself from money, money doesn't matter. That's not what it's about.
And that's all well and good. But until you cannot be murdered by a police officer for trying to make a little bit of money, then maybe it is what it's about. And now here's just by run the jewels in its entirety. Master in economics, cuz you took yourself from squalas, right? Master at academics, cuz you're grace at you with squalas, right? Master in Instagram, cuz you can instigate a follow-up. Look at all these slave masters posing on your does look at it.
Look at all these slave masters posing on your does look. Look at it. Look at all these slave masters posing on your does look. Look at of these slave masters prospens Bad breaker backer, bad breaker backer, bad- vaan Been in time I'm on mine and I've been ng mad eh man eh man it's right, every time on my grind on detcoin disaster make a dollar government I don't have a talk with myself in it time
We have a different crink, cause I know I didn't get it Find me, I get up to a minute time I might slay some fine shot You believe corporations running, they're a part of you And your country in, ran by a casino on a boo Pedal files, sponsor, all these fucking racist bouts
They do, and I told you once before they used to come You should kill your master, now that's the line that's probably gonna need my ass fuckin' sausage Master of these politics, where they you got option-sweight Master of opinion, cause you folk with the white collar slave
Be 13th Amendment, says that slavery's a ballad Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar Look at it, I'll be slain, masters posing on your dollar Look at it, I'll be slain, masters posing on your dollar Look at it, I'll be slain, masters posing on your dollar
Look at all these slaves masters, masters, masters, masters Many better thug out, get the bag and the bug out Try them on, hold you might run, get locked out Cause just when your base is low, the dead roll, the grenade and the thug out
Urphote, not a mellow punch, we got a thumbs in the air like color busts Look at who we done plus, but our trust, I don't think we'll be left with too much Hand them a heart of a mind, I'm a truss, gotta find a gut punch, if you had this shrug La, da, not love, just that dumb
Lord, sweep, bootle, please make me know Rainprouts on walls like a city in Roomba, just found out it's greatest stupid Live by the super moon or too loose it Plus, got shrubs in the blood I'm swollen B, B, Bridget, this is New York City, the ex on the map with a pay and keep pretty
Just those thugs here, shitting, women or rich choke-o cops They're earning 11th, funny house, so I'll save money, don't matter That's rich, now in there, get it, comedy, cross the cell pack, it's supposed to get food Get killed, it's not an anomaly, hey, it's just money That's an anomaly, cuz you took yourself from squalas, right? Master academics, cuz you're grace at you
With squalas, right? Master it at the grim, cuz you can instigate a phallax here Look at all these slaves, masters, yeah, yeah Let it sink in 2020, run the map, rob a cut in my hourglass, don't watch it's filled to the bottom half You see the piece down, running fast, on the tarmac, get a spawning jack See for when I run it back, like a track star, run a fucking lap Not like when it's gillcats, I need look for a fugilist, I shoot as few as a crew to flick
Two boofy rudiments, hook-of-its, you can move against the crew in this, coming up through the fence I'm sure I'm a quarter prince, overjoyed at the sphincter prince, on a heart to the gate In a world of racists, I could be the peace, when the peace gonna reach for the worse
Terran of threats of the earth, stay sent from a deafening, reckoning, creep like a pason of verse So questioning, this quest for things, as a recipe for early dead threatening But the fact that me is what we believe for you is just money For more info on Run the Joules, visit songexploter.net
You'll find links to buy or stream just, and you can watch the lyric video for it Song Exploder is made by me, Rishikesh Herway, with producer Christian Kunz, production assistant Olivia Wood, and illustrator Carlos Slerma Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of creative independent podcasts You can learn more about our shows at radiotopia.fm You can get a song exploder t-shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt
You can also follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at Song Exploder My name is Rishikesh Herway, thanks for listening Radio Topia from PRX