Welcome to OnMeowaukee Cat Week, a meowsome bunch of articles, photos, videos and an Instagram contest celebrating all aspects of Milwaukee cats. Sponsored by Bark N' Scratch Outpost, these seven days are dedicated to those creatures with nine lives who make our lives more paw-sitive.
Forget Ryan Adams' cover of T-Swift's "1989." No, the remix event of the year dropped last night when Run the Jewels – the brilliant rap duo of El-P and Killer Mike – released "Meow the Jewels" and introduced the world to cat rap, because the world is a beautiful, wonderful place where anything is possible and dreams do come true.
Some backstory: Last year, Run the Jewels released their hotly anticipated second studio collaboration "RTJ2." The record was easily one of the best of the year, an electric 11-track roaring rager that delivered face-melting beat after face-melting beat, mixed with some sharp potent politics. Basically, it was "Mad Max: Fury Road" for your ears.
So how do you perfect something that's already pretty much perfect? Cat sounds, obviously.
Before "RTJ2" even hit the digital shelves, an anonymous fan created a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of feline-ifying the new record. It was assumably a joke – though the Internet takes its cat appreciation very seriously. When the news reached El-P and Killer Mike, however, the two went with it, saying that if the goal was met, they would make the free remix with the added plus of donating any of its profits "somewhere that will directly benefit the families of Eric Garner and Mike Brown," according to El-P.
Do you really think the Internet would let an idea like an all-cat rap remix go to waste? Of course not. So of course the Kickstarter raised $20,000 more than its original goal.
And almost one year later, "Meow the Jewels" has been gifted to us unworthy sinners.
The free download – complete with digital booklet thanking friends, fans and fam and noting, "Together we have managed to do a little good using the stupidest method possible, and for that we salute you" – transforms all of the previous album's awesome tracks into ... more awesome tracks, just now with cat meows and roars echoing in the background and helping to provide the beat. "Close Your Eyes and Count to F***" is now the completely adorable-sounding "Close Your Eyes and Meow to Fluff." Same with "All Due Respect," now "Paw Due Respect," and "Angel Duster," transformed into "Angelsnuggler."
As for the music itself? It's actually a pretty genius collection of ridiculous remixes. The arrangements are playfully fun, purring through your speakers. It's not just a meme; it seems like thought actually went into these new renditions.
The only problem? Personally, I'd have called it "Run the Mew-els" rather than "Meow the Jewels." Other than that, it's a meowsterpiece.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.