Two wrinkled white men stare at one another over the chasm of a United Nations-esque roundtable. They snarl, and Killer Mike’s voice comes from between their lips.
If you’re exhausted by election year brawls, I submit to you this: DJ Shadow and Run the Jewels’ “Nobody Speak.” Spend a deliciously brutal four minutes listening to El-P and Killer Mike spin incisive insults over DJ Shadow’s contrastingly smooth production. Watch a political chamber unravel into a chaotic, no-holds-barred fracas. There’s even a pig running around — whether that’s a sneering reference to pork-barrel legislation, police, political misogyny or something else is for you to decide. But that’s about where the subtlety ends.
In an election season where decorum is truly out the window, the absurdity of “Nobody Speak” is refreshing. Plus, we could all use a little Run the Jewels to tide us over until RTJ3 is finally, blessedly released.