Before Run The Jewels had their meteoric rise to stardom, El-P had a hardcore fan base that reached from the back-packiest of Hip Hoppers to the cookie-cutterest of would be Brooklyn Vegans. Before that he was producing / rapping for one of New York's gulliest groups, Company Flow (shout out Jus and Len). His impressive catalog has never failed to amaze and Cancer 4 Cure takes what he has always done and amplified it times a thousand. Staying relevant by always doing what is true to him, his beats are outrageous sonic beatdowns that stand strong on their own and the raps give them force fields that even jet fuel can't melt. This album shows the direction he was heading into with the Run The Jewels project. It might be his most terrestrial album since producing Cannibal Ox's Cold Vein, but it also stands worlds apart from what everyone is doing... just the way he's always done.

• 10th anniversary reissue
• black double vinyl pressing
• housed in gatefold sleeve
• digital download included
• original release year: 2012
  
• music label: Fat Possum 2022

reviewed by Top Rah Man 03/2016