El-P is somewhat of a legend in the underground hip hop game. The Brooklyn rapper/producer co-founded Def Jux in 1999, and has contributed beats and verses to plenty of well-respected releases, including Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein, Cage's Hell's Winter, and his own group, Company Flow's Funcrusher. More recently, apart from his solo material, El has teamed up with artists like Mr. MFN Exquire and Killer Mike.
El and Mike worked together extensively on the latter's latest project, R.A.P. Music. They've also formed a duo under the name Run The Jewels. El recently detailed in an interview how Ice Cube's debut album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, played a large role in their work together.
"When Ice Cube had a falling out with the whole N.W.A. camp he did a really surprising thing," El-P said. "He went east and he worked with the Bomb Squad. At the time it didn't make sense to anybody... Because me and Mike both had that history of knowing that that's how that panned out, that reference was really good for us because in our minds, that's what we can do."
Killer Mike and El-P are heading out on tour together this summer. Check the full list of dates here.
Check out one of El's more Bomb Squad-influenced productions in Killer Mike's "Big Beast" below.
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