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Theft of the Dial®

Theft of the Dial: Run the Jewels

El-P and Killer Mike of Run the Jewels
El-P and Killer Mike of Run the JewelsMPR/Nate Ryan
  Play Now [52:46]

by Daniel Nass and Sean McPherson

March 05, 2017

Ahead of their recent Valentine's Day show at the Myth in Maplewood, Minn., Killer Mike and El-P of Run the Jewels stopped by The Current to take over our airwaves with a special love-themed playlist for Theft of the Dial.

They kicked off their playlist with one of their own tracks, "Stay Gold," off the RTJ3 album. It's a dedication of sorts, which El-P describes as "a song about knowing and respecting that you have a very bad-a** and intelligent woman by your side."

From there, RTJ takes us through tunes like "God Blessed Our Love" — which Mike explains is "the perfect cross-section of the make-love/club Al Green that my mom loved, and the Al Green who sang gospel that my grandmother loved" — and Lenny Williams' "'Cause I Love You" — Mike advises, "when you get caught in stupid stuff, boys, what you should is play Lenny Williams outside her window, holding up a boombox, singing 'cause I looooove you... oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-ohhhh!'"

After tunes from Sade and Ready for the World, RTJ added some local flavor to their mix with Prince's iconic ballad, "The Beautiful Ones" — "the greatest love song of all time," according to El-P. "I remember watching [Purple Rain] and just thinking 'I don't know what could have possibly made this man feel whatever he's feeling ... but I wanna grow up as soon as possible and experience that.'"

After Ivan Neville's "Why Can't I Fall in Love" (from the soundtrack to Pump Up the Volume), RTJ closed out their playlist with their own "Love Again" — a song that El-P notes "you're gonna be offended by, until you're not anymore."

Theft of the Dial: Run the Jewels Playlist

Run the Jewels — "Stay Gold"
Al Green — "God Blessed Our Love"
Lenny Williams — "'Cause I Love You"
Sade — "Your Love is King"
Ready for the World — "Love You Down"
Prince — "The Beautiful Ones"
Ivan Neville — "Why Can't I Fall in Love"
Run the Jewels — "Love Again"