Run The Jewels hit new heights of critical and commercial success with last year's Run The Jewels II.In the months before the album's release, members El-P and Killer Mike began a kickstarter for a remix album entitled Meow The Jewels. The two planned to raise funds as a parody of both the "kitten culture" of the Internet, and the recent phenomenon of pre-ordering albums to create hype. However, what began as a joke morphed into a very real album with contributions from heavyweight producers like Prince Paul and the Alchemist. Although the band only asked for $40,000 to remix their entire sophomore effort with cat noises, they raised $66,000 and released the album in late September, prompting El-P to tweet, "did we make the silliest, occasionally most grating possible remix album? of course. and we did it for you, mike brown and eric garner." As part of the promises attached to donations from the kickstarter, producer Just Blaze said he would release the drum samples he used during a particularly fruitful period from 2001-2005. As it appears, the man behind hits from artists such as Jay Z, Kanye West, and more, has fulfilled his promise.
In a statement, the New Jersey producer said, "Thanks to all who contributed to making Meow The Jewels a success. For the uninitiated, I promised to contribute a remix to the project if it was funded, and as an added bonus a good amount of the signature drums I used on many records in the early half of the 2000's. Please note these are the raw, relatively unprocessed files straight out of my MPC (hence the delay in tracking them down and getting them to you guys). That said, in most cases, you're not going to instantly press a pad and be like 'OMG, IT'S THE SUCH AND SUCH SNARE!' (though that will happen in a few cases). I used a lot of layering, compression, and EQ / Mix techniques to get these things to sound like the drums many of you knew and loved. Enjoy this starting point, and happy drumming! P.S. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned to Splice.com for much more!!"
