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Hip-hop duo Run the Jewels has never been one to follow a cookie-cutter formula in music. So, it tracks that when the super duo—composed of Atlanta-born rapper Killer Mike and Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P—decided this past March to launch a canned cocktail brand, Juice Runners, they’d apply that same unconventional approach to their new drinks venture.
This isn’t another celebrity side hustle or splashy endorsement deal. It’s a full-bodied extension of their creative ethos. Like RTJ’s discography, Juice Runners is built on precision, collaboration, and an almost obsessive attention to detail. And just as they’ve cultivated one of hip-hop’s most loyal fanbases, they’re approaching the beverage world with the same blend of integrity and independence that’s fueled their decade-long partnership.
RTJ further cemented their place in the alcohol world by attending and performing at Tales of the Cocktail (ToTC), an annual, week-long cocktail conference in July held in New Orleans.
“We’re not supposed to be here. We’re amateurs, except that we’ve been doing art that we love for years,” El-P tells me over Zoom as we sip on his Paloma REMIX, the first expression from their Juice Runners brand. “So, the only thing that we ever have going for us is not mass appeal or power. We’ve only been able to connect our taste with the things that we are passionate about. We worked really hard to get it to be good, and we’re so cognizant of the fact that if the shit was bad, everyone would be like, ‘Get the fuck out of here!’”
Courtesy Phil Emerson
To El-P’s point, being a talented music artist doesn’t necessarily translate into being equally amazing in creating an authentic and delicious beverage. Fortunately, RTJ got it right with Juice Runners’ Paloma REMIX, which tastes like one of their bass lines: smoky, electric, and sharp with intention. It opens with a citrusy jolt that crackles like El-P’s production, then smooths into a bittersweet finish that echoes Killer Mike’s steady, grounded flow. Together, it’s neon grapefruit haze laced with grit and heat that’s audacious, balanced, and unmistakably RTJ.
“When me and Mike make music—the combination of our sensibilities and what we do—that’s the magic. We both have our own careers. We both have our own thoughts and our experiences. When we come together, there’s a rub and it makes sense, and we were able to apply that to Juice Runners,” El-P adds. “It’s not a Run the Jewels record unless I can get Mike inspired. And when he gets inspired, then that changes the way that I do the record as well. We’re not professional liquor makers. We’re just people who are getting an opportunity to be creative in a different way.”
RTJ’s Previous Liquor Projects
As RTJ fans and booze lovers may recall, this isn’t RTJ’s first time stepping into the beverage industry. As early as 2013, the duo’s shared passion for craft beer led to a partnership with Chicago’s Goose Island on a dry-hopped, Belgian Wheat Ale aptly named Run the Jewels. Then, in 2017, the duo debuted Stay G-O-L-D, a widely praised series of limited-edition IPAs created with craft breweries stateside and abroad.
“The food industry has been open-armed with us. We’d tour across the country, and there’d be a drink menu that was all Run the Jewels-inspired. Then, we were like, ‘Man, of course, we should do this someday,’” says El-P. “When we were doing the beer stuff, it was really cool. We really liked the people involved because they were like us—arty, nerdy, and obsessed. We were only doing collaborations, but we love doing our own thing. We wanted to be in charge of it all—the taste, the art, the whole thing.”
How Juice Runners Came to Be
The Juice Runners’ story unofficially began roughly five years ago when El-P’s wife visited family in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, and brought home unmarked mezcal bottles for them to enjoy. El-P was first apprehensive about trying mezcal because he thought it had a similar flavor profile to tequila, which he’s not a big fan. But he decided to try the mezcal and soon acquired an appreciation for the agave-based spirit. El-P then shared some of the mezcal with longtime RTJ manager, partner, and friend, Amaechi Uzoigweon, who also became “obsessed with it,” El-P remembers.
Courtesy Run the Jewels
Killer Mike saw Juice Runners as another creative extension of RTJ. Though the Grammy Award-winning rapper isn’t big on drinking alcohol, when he does indulge in something boozy, he usually opts for Scotch. However, El-P’s enthusiasm for mezcal compelled Killer Mike to give the spirit a try, which triggered a memory tied to his family’s roots. “People tend to think that because my father was a police officer, I didn’t see much crime. They forget that my mother was a drug trafficker. So, my grandpa’s side of the family—on my mom’s side—were shine runners. They ran moonshine to Georgia and sold it in shot houses. So, I have an appreciation for liquor even though I’m not a regular drinker,” Killer Mike says. “So, once El started teaching me about mezcal and how it’s made in small batches, I told him how it felt a lot like the moonshiners because there were certain families that did it; everyone wasn’t privy to it. So, I started to appreciate it more.”
How RTJ Develops Cocktails
The recipe development for Juice Runners’ Paloma riff and their forthcoming Sea Legs cocktail, which is made with Detroit’s Doctor Bird Pineapple Rum, was a collaborative effort with mixologist Leif Huckman. RTJ’s approach to Juice Runners is similar to being in a joint studio session. “Every choice we’re making with these drinks has everyone like, ‘What are you doing? That’s crazy,’” says El-P.
“Like our music,” Mike says with a chuckle.
Sea Legs has been in the works for more than a year. “We had a functional batch of Sea Legs a year ago when Mike was doing his solo residency at Blue Note. I went backstage with Leif, and we mixed the drinks there—and this was after me and Leif spent two or three sessions together creating this.”
The guys then gleefully showed me the Sea Legs prototype, creating immediate FOMO that I didn’t head to TOTC to have a sip in person. “It might not be the final formulation, but it’s just exciting. We’re slow rolling it because, again, we know we’re not supposed to be in this space,” El-P states. “We’re not doing a brand sponsorship. This is our own money that we put into it. We’re trying to make something that we own, and that we care about.”
Courtesy Run the Jewels
Unlike many other celebrity alcohol brands backed by major investors or legacy spirit companies, El-P and Killer Mike took every dollar acquired from artist merchandise sales over the past two years to develop Juice Runners. El-P adds, “We don’t have a big machine that we have to feed. We just have drinks that we’re making, and we’re building a company around that. So, the next drink must be amazing, or we could be out of here!”
Quickly following up on El-P’s sentiments, Killer Mike blurts, “The next thing has to be amazing, or we’ll never let it come out! Even if you’re not supposed to be there, once you get there, you want to prove that you deserve to be there.”
For RTJ, timing and the double-edged sword of perfectionism have led to their further success in music and booze.
“We are chasing perfection in everything we do. When we drop a t-shirt, we go back and forth about the shirt a few times. When we do music, we go back and forth thousands of times. That habit has carried over into when we are making solo records. MICHAEL was supposed to drop a year before it actually came out, and it was because of how we do Run the Jewels music – it needs to feel the way we want,” Killer Mike says. “That habit from music has served us well in the alcohol space. With Juice Runners, I’m proud of it because as the ‘non-drinker’ in the group, this is something that when I sit down at a barbecue, I’ll grab one of my own drinks.”
Last Call Playlist: Run the Jewels
These are the five tracks (plus a bonus mixtape recommendation) that RTJ swear by for winding down, toasting up, or just drinking in the moment.
- “Gin and Juice” – Snoop Dogg
- “Margaritaville” – Jimmy Buffett
- “Brass Monkey” – Beastie Boys
- “Champagne And Reefer” – Muddy Waters
- “ooh la la (feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier)” – Run the Jewels
- The “St. Ides Promotional Tape” – a 1994 mixtape part of a collaborative campaign with malt liquor brand St. Ides – featured exclusive tracks from Wu-Tang Clan, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and other rap stars. El-P says, “I literally downloaded those the other day because I’m thinking about doing a joke on one.”
This story is part of Bar None, a column hosted by journalist Gabrielle Pharms, which charts the sonic and social roots of drinking culture.
