Run the Jewels received more national attention this weekend when ESPN aired a promo for yesterday, Jan. 3's NFL playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals. The commercial features players from both teams getting psyched for the game while the band's lead single from their self-titled debut plays, Deadspin notes.
Killer Mike and El-P had a big year in 2014. The duo dropped its second studio album, Run the Jewels 2, in October. It hit No. 50 on the Billboard 200 behind singles like "Blockbuster Pt. 1," "Oh My Darling (Don't Cry)" and "Close Your Eyes (And Count to F--k)." The effort topped year-end lists by tons of media outlets.
"On their second album as Run the Jewels, noise-loving Brooklyn rapper-producer El-P and Atlanta's Killer Mike make the most explosive hip-hop you'll hear all year. The best tracks give criminal-minded menace a radical edge: 'Close Your Eyes (And Count to F--k)' is a prison-riot fantasy, and on the blazing 'All Due Respect,' Mike hints at the roots of his messed-up ways," Rolling Stone wrote, giving the album four out of five stars.
Killer Mike used his increased exposure to express his opinions on the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting and rap's unfair treatment in the United States's court system.
"The police are paid by the public and carry a public trust, and they take an oath to protect us as citizens," he wrote in an op-ed for Billboard. "The police have lost sight of that and must be reminded that we pay them to protect us, not to simply engage and cage us."
The group has a few dates scheduled this month in Australia as well as a London gig planned for June.
Readers: What do you think of the commercial? Let us know what you think down in the comments section.
