Run the Jewels 2 is PopMatters‘s pick for the Best Album of 2014. Of the many highlights off of that riotously fun and culturally incisive LP, “Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck)”, now has a music video to accompany it, directed by AG Rojas and starring Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire and Wolf of Wall Street) and Keith Stanfield (Selma and Straight Outta Compton). The video depicts the troubling state of citizen/police relations in the United States, especially following the 2014 tragedies of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice.
For El-P of Run the Jewels, the video “is a vision of a seemingly never ending struggle whose participants are pitted against each other by forces originating outside of themselves.”
Killer Mike adds his thoughts: “This video represents the futile and exhausting existence of a purgatory-like law enforcement system. There is no neat solution at the end because there is no neat solution in the real world. However, there is an opportunity to dialogue and change the way communities are policed in this country. Salutes to AG Rojas for his unique take on the subject matter and to Shea and Keith for giving us their all and bringing it to life.”
Upcoming Run the Jewels tour dates:
3/27 — Washington, DC — American University
4/2 — Atlanta, GA — Afropunk Festival
4/4 — Athens, GA — Georgia Theatre
4/10 & 4/17 — Indio, CA — Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
5/9 — Ft Lauderdale, FL — Big Guava Festival
5/23 — Boston, MA — Boston Calling Festival
5/25 — George, WA — Sasquatch Festival
5/30 — Barcelona, ES — Primavera Sound
5/31 — Dublin, IE — Forbidden Fruit Festival
6/5 — Porto, PT — Primavera Sound
6/6 — London, UK — Field Day Festival
6/7 — London, UK — The Forum
6/12 — Manchester, TN — Bonnaroo Music Festival
6/14 — Brooklyn, NY — Northside Festival
6/27 — Ljubljana, SI — Flow Festival
7/2 — Aarhus, DK — Roskilde Festival
7/4 — Tilburg, NL — Woo Hah! Festival
7/5 — Keflavík, IS — ATP Iceland
7/15 — Ottawa, ON — Ottawa Bluesfest
7/17 — Pemberton, BC — Pemberton Music Fest
7/19 — Chicago, IL — Pitchfork Music Festival
7/24 — Barrie, ON — HomeAway Festival
7/30 — Montreal, QC — Club Soda
7/31 — Montreal, QC — Osheaga Fest
8/13 — Gothenburg, SE-Way Out West
8/14 — Helsinki, FI — Flow Festival
8/22 — Los Angeles, CA — FYF Fest
8/28 — Reading, UK — Reading Festival
8/29 — Leeds, UK — Leeds Festival
8/30 — Paris, FR — Rock En Seine
9/5 — Pula, HR — Outlook Festival
9/13 — Berlin, DE — Lollapalooza Berlin