El-P Cites Ice Cube and Run DMC as Pivotal Influences in Forming Run The Jewels with Killer Mike

Source: Youtube/ 'People's Party'

The venerable NYC producer dissects his production style and addresses an initial reluctance to work with Killer Mike in a clip from next week's People's Party.

El-P is the latest guest on Talib Kweli's weekly People's Party podcast.

In a clip from an upcoming episode, the Run The Jewels producer deconstructs his approach to beat-making, proudly carrying the torch for "noisy" east coast rap composition. With Kweli as his rap historian sounding board, the producer traces the style to Ice Cube's post-NWA embrace of The Bomb Squad and Rick Ruben's work with Run DMC, whose everyman aesthetic was pivotal to RTJ's onstage presentation.

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He also credits Cube's debut album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, as a crucial influence on the formation of Run The Jewels with Killer Mike, a session he admits he was initially reluctant to take on. "One of the things we connected on immediately, just on some rap shit, was when Ice Cube left NWA, went to the east coast and immediately hooked up with the noisiest, funkiest, most crazy, production squad," the producer notes.

Watch an excerpt from El-P and Talib Kweli's People's Party interview below. Hold tight for the full episode to go live Monday morning at 9am.