Side profile head shot of El-P, bathed in red light against a dark background looking up to the top left

Rapper. Producer. Composer. Writer. Performer.


A message from El-P:

This is a thank you letter to everyone who has helped and allowed me to live my life doing the music and art I love. To everyone who has been moved in some way by what I do, to everyone who has been listening from the beginning, to those that stuck with me as I changed and grew and to everybody who’s just discovered the music.

I’ve always focused on the next piece.  I’ve always only ran to my future. But despite my habit of not looking back much, this year marks the 20th (FANTASTIC DAMAGE), 15th (I’LL SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD) and 10th (CANCER 4 CURE) anniversaries of the major records in my solo career and it feels good to get them back on vinyl and into whomever’s hands might want them. 

But most of all it feels good to just be here. Still allowed to do what I love, still thrilled about it in every way.

So again, thank you.

Love,
El-P

March 2 2022

Fantastic Damage vinyl sat opened up slightly

Fantastic Damage

20 Year Anniversary

Featuring: Aesop Rock, Ill Bill of Non Phixion, Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox, Mr. Lif, Camu Tao, DJ Abilities & more

Cover Art by Dan Ezra Lang
Vinyl sleeves designed by Phase 2

El-P is a trailblazer in the hip hop underground

Rolling Stone

Fantastic Damage picks up where Company Flow left off – slamming jagged boom baps into computer crash squeals, like the score for a Blade Runner sequel set in Brooklyn.

Spin

Fantastic Damage is unquestionably the rap album of the year

The Independent
I'l Sleep When You're Dead vinyl sat opened up slightly

I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead

15 Year Anniversary

Featuring: Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta, Cat Power, Mr. Len of Company Flow, Slug of Atmosphere, MURS, Ikey Owens & more

Cover by Tim Saccenti

El-P helped pioneer the indie-rap movement, first with his revered group Company Flow and later with his record label Definitive Jux …He commands respect in rock as well as rap circles

The New York Times

Nothing here is superfluous or inane; like his fellow heavyweight Ghostface, the density of metaphoric and visual content is incredible…that’s what Hip Hop has always been about at its core—and that’s why El-P remains so intoxicating.

Rap Reviews

Nobody makes hip-hop as textured and atmospheric as El-P.

AV Club
The Cancer 4 Cure vinyl sleeve showing 2 grey records coming out

Cancer 4 Cure

10 Year Anniversary

Featuring: Killer Mike, Danny Brown, Paul Banks of Interpol, Jaleel Bunton of TV on the Radio, Despot, Camu Tao, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, Mr. MuthaFuckin’ eXquire & more

Cover by Tim Saccenti

It’s the best kind of tribute El-P could make: a record that you can pump like they do in the future.

Pitchfork

In a century subsumed by depersonalized media and manipulation, El-P seems determined to point the way to humanity’s still-beating heart by getting personal.

Wired

An art illustration of El-P in a blue yankee cap with the text 'What Had Happened Was with El-P and open mike Eagle'

Listen to the story behind these records

El-P sits down with host Open Mike Eagle to talk about his storied career—from Company Flow to the founding of Definitive Jux to Run the Jewels and beyond.

A POV shot of our hand in the foreground holding up five fingers, showing El-P looking at us strapped to a lie detector, holding up for fingers

Discography

The Fantastic Damage album cover

Fantastic Damage

2002

The I'll Sleep When You're Dead album cover

I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead

2007

Find El-P on:

Discogs | IMDB | Metacritic

Photos by Timothy Saccenti