In a live interview with journalist Noah Callahan-Bever in 2023, Killer Mike recalled when he met his soon-to-be core collaborator for over a decade, El-P. “Out of all the loves you’ve loved, you don’t know why you love that love, that you love,” Mike proclaimed about his feelings of awe after rapping on the first four beats El-P played him in the studio. “But I knew instantly, I’m in love with this man. This man’s beats is CRAZY… Within three hours, I called Jason (DeMarco) and said, 'You gotta get him to do the whole album.'”
That album was 2012’s R.A.P. Music, the precursor to four future albums that would fall under the duo’s dynamic group moniker, Run The Jewels. From 2013 to 2022, RTJ put the signature finger–gun salute and fist-pound on the map, coining a signature booming rap/rock/funk fusion that’s captivated worldwide audiences. El-P also produced and featured on Killer Mike’s Grammy-winning solo album, Michael, in 2023.
In that same interview with Callahan-Bever, Mike also mentioned how he and El-P had known each other peripherally for years but never collided in the same orbit until 2011. We chronicled that multi-decade parallel planetary timeline below so you could get the full context of the RTJ origin story.
1975
Michael Santiago Render (Killer Mike) and Jaime Meline (El-P) were born in their respective hometowns, Atlanta and Brooklyn, respectively. Only El-P had a parent with a musical background, as his father was a jazz pianist who went by the moniker Harry Keys.
1992-1993
El-P attended the Center For The Media Arts in Manhattan and studied music engineering. He met Louis Ballentine there, who recognized his skill at rapping and would take him with him to Hollis, Queens, to hang out and record. There, he met Anntex, founder of Tuff City Records, who would release El-P’s first record, entitled Juvenile Technique. He was just 17 years old at the time, but the tape would garner praise from legendary radio hosts Stretch and Bobbito. El-P would also hire Mr. Len, his eventual Company Flow collaborator, to DJ his 17th birthday party, and the two became fast friends and music partners.
1994-1995
El-P and Mr. Len connected with rapper Bigg Jus and officially formed the group Company Flow. Initially, the trio worked privately on their craft, forging an identity as a prolific, burgeoning rap group.
Slumlord,HITS, 1996-1997
El-P’s group Company Flow released their debut Funcrusher EP in ‘96, which spurred a label bidding war. The crew would sign to Rawkus Records and release their debut album, naturally titled Funcrusher Plus, in ‘97. It would be the group’s sole full-length album.
1999-2000
El-P and Mr. Len would release an instrumental album, Little Johnny From the Hospitul: Breaks & Instrumentals Vol. 1, on Rawkus, but disputes about label support and finances would cause Company Flow to leave soon after. Within the same year, El-P would form his own label, Definitive Jux, aka Def Jux. The label would release a slew of impactful underground releases in its tenure, including those by rappers Aesop Rock and Cannibal Ox.
After years of artist development with The Dungeon Family, Killer Mike would finally have his breakout moment featuring on OutKast’s 2000 album Stankoniaon the record “Snappin & Trappin.” There was no way to listen to his dynamic verse and not have the same reaction as Big Boi in Cee Lo’s basement.
2001-2002
The lead single from Outkast’s 2001 compilation album Big Boi and Dre Present… OutKast, “The Whole World,” featured Killer Mike and even earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. He had arrived, and even one-upped himself the following year, featuring on a multitude of tracks, including two on a Scooby Doo soundtrack and “Poppin Tags” off Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 2.
Fantastic DamageBillboard 2003-2004
Killer Mike would release his solo debut, Monster, in 2003, via a joint partnership with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon Records and Columbia/Sony Records. The album was highlighted by two dynamic lead singles: “Akshon (Yeah!)” feat. OutKast, which would end up on Madden 2004, and “A.D.I.D.A.S." feat. Big Boi and Sleepy Brown, which reached No. 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. During these two years, Mike also kept his feature streak alive on OutKast, Chamillionaire, and Pastor Troy tracks. Yet, a feature no one could ever forget was also released in 2003 and skyrocketed in 2004. Mike’s verse on Bone Crusher’s “Never Scared” will always be revered as an all-time.
High Water 2005-2010
In a five-year stretch, El-P went on a tear of album releases via various entities. His range seemed ever-expanding. His Collecting The Kid compilation was released in 2005, his second solo album, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, was released in 2007 to vast commercial success, peaking at 78 on the Billboard 200, and in 2010, El-P’s group, Central Services, released the EP Forever Frozen in Television Timeexclusively on a digital download service on the Def Jux website.
Ghetto Extraordinary, The KillerI Pledge Allegiance To The Grind 2011-2012
In 2011, as a solo act, El-P signed to Fat Possum Records and released his third solo album Cancer 4 Cure. That same year, Jason DeMarco, the Cartoon Network executive responsible for Adult Swim, introduced Mike and El-P. He got them in a studio session where magic immediately actualized. El-P produced the entirety of Mike’s 2012 statement of an album, R.A.P. Music(released on Williams Street Records). The duo then toured together to support both their albums and their chemistry, combined into as distinct a duo as rap has ever witnessed, Run The Jewels.
