(AllHipHop News) El-P and Killer Mike are back with the new record titled “Oh LA LA” featuring legendary Gang Starr producer DJ Premier and Nice & Smooth member Greg Nice. The critically acclaimed Hip Hop tag team, collectively known as Run The Jewels, discussed the new single with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
“Big shout out to Preemo because he made this whole sh*t happen. We hit him up, so we just want to thank him because he was super generous with it,” El-P told Lowe. “We hit him up. We were like, ‘We want you to be a part of this. We want you to do the cuts.’ For people who don’t know, that’s DJ Premier cutting at the end of it… We were so honored. Through [Premier], we hit Greg Nice, and Greg Nice loved the record.”
The NYC-bred producer/rapper continued, “Listen, Run The Jewels, we don’t intentionally do ‘old school music.’ To us, we’re just making dope ass new rap music. But our influences and who we are comes from an era that is very real and that we really agree on and there’s a feeling that comes from that era that we know exists, that if you can grab it and put it out there, then it’s undeniable.”
El-P also talked about how this was the first time the group had a “real budget to clear samples.” That is part of the reason why “Oh LA LA” was able to include elements of Gang Starr’s 1994 single “Dwyck” featuring Nice & Smooth.
Killer Mike added, “It didn’t take much selling. I’m a Gang Starr diehard. So, when I heard it, it was all on. And Greg Nice, come on man. Nice & Smooth. F*ck out of here, man. It wasn’t hard to convince me. This is the basement party [song] right before everybody leaves or somebody gets beat up.”
“Oh LA LA” arrived after “Yankee and the Brave (ep. 4)” debuted on Instagram Live earlier this week. Both songs will appear on Run The Jewels’ forthcoming RTJ4 album. Killer Mike and El-P recorded most of the LP at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in California and the iconic Electric Lady Studios in New York.
