Run The Jewels Announce Full Details for RTJ3, Share New Song “Legend Has It”
Art by Timothy Saccenti
Run The Jewels have some happy words for fans: “RTJ3 IS READY!!!!” they wrote today on their website. At last, they’ve released full details about their eagerly awaited third album.
RTJ3 will be out Jan. 13, 2017, though CDs and LPs won’t be available outside of North America until Jan. 20. It’s not the 2016 release El-P and Killer Mike had hoped for, but it’s certainly close enough.
They’ve also announced the album tracklist, which includes the already-released singles “Talk to Me,” “Panther Like a Panther (I’m the Shit)” and “2100,” as well as a new song they’re sharing today, “Legend Has It” (listen below). The record will feature artists like Danny Brown, Trina, Boots, Kamasi Washington and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
Finally, they’ve given us the album artwork, designed by Timothy Saccenti, which transforms their logo to make a symbolic statement in tandem with their previous covers:
For us, the RTJ1 hands were about “taking what’s yours”—your world, your life, your attitude. The RTJ2 hands were wrapped in bandages, signifying injury and healing, which for us represented the growth in ideas and tone of that album. For RTJ3 the bandages are off, the chain is gone and the hands have been transformed into gold. For us this represents the idea that there is nothing to take that exists outside of yourself. You are the jewel.
Even more good news: El-P and Killer Mike will make RTJ3 free to download. But that’s not to say that you can’t instead “steal it from your annoying cousin,” a suggestion they also offer.
Preorder RTJ3 here and listen to “Legend Has It” below. Find the tracklist, album art and Run the Jewels’ previously announced tour dates beneath that.
