“Fetch the Bolt Cutters” by Fiona Apple and “Run the Jewels 4” by Run the Jewels

By: Peter Nomeland

Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple and hip-hop duo Run the Jewels, despite having made music since the late ’90s, have not only released two of the best albums of the year and arguably the best of their careers, but have also conveyed the experience of what it’s like to live in 2020 better than almost anyone else. With Apple’s critically acclaimed return to music, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” and Run the Jewels’ ferocious call to action in their fourth self-titled project, “Run the Jewels 4,” the two veteran artists have created what many have considered the soundtrack of the pandemic and the movement this summer. But the most impressive part of the two records is that they aren’t in response to these times: they predicted them.

Most of the time, the records that connect with our “current moment” are in response to the world around them. And in the broken simulation that has been the Year of Our Lord 2020, many artists have gone ahead and attempted to capture that exact feeling. Charli XCX and Taylor Swift have both dropped albums written and recorded in quarantine as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while artists such as Wale and J. Cole have released music in response to the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd that reference events that have happened in recent months. These projects succeed in that they will very likely become time capsules of what these unprecedented times were like.

What separates “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” and “Run the Jewels 4” from these other albums is that they were written and recorded before the events of 2020. “RTJ4” is the fourth project from Killer Mike and El-P. The duo has been extremely outspoken about their progressive views, but this album has a wave of anger and urgency to it that their previous works did not. Released a few days before its initial release date, in reaction to the protests sweeping the nation following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, the record sees the duo tackle issues such as economic inequality, the legacy of slavery, and the abuse of power at the hands of police. The duo’s usual incredible production remains the same and the chemistry between Killer Mike and El-P continues to be the best in the game right now. But as entertaining as the album is, it is difficult to listen to and not think of the time of protest and rage that coincided with its release, and the lyrics from the group and their features, such as Pharrell, make you want to do something.

Apple is a more complicated case. Her record is not about a certain event, but about a feeling. She is an artist who has been lauded for always going against the grain but has held her fans hostage with the amount of time between her releases. But with “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” her first release in 8 years, she created a cultural moment. The album, mostly recorded from her home, includes the acoustics of her room, GarageBand recorded instrumentals, and even her dogs barking in the background. The project was met with overwhelming critical praise, including the first "10" grades given by the music publication “Pitchfork” in almost a decade. Many people commented on how not only the aesthetic of the album felt impactful during the time of its release, but also it’s content. Apple is as angry and poetic as ever, solidifying herself as one of our greatest songwriters, commenting on things like sexual assault, the male gaze, and her own past. You can almost feel her getting a monkey off her back with how cathartic this project must have been for her. And if the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that we probably need to reassess our past and ourselves.