Critics give Run the Jewels 3 a B-Side Breakdown of 85 (B), from 9 reviews at outlets we track. Scores run 80 to 100.
The verdict on Run the Jewels 3
9 of 9 critics liked it, and they mostly agree.
- Highest 100 NME
- Lowest 80 Q, Rolling Stone, The Guardian and 2 more
- Career #3 of Run the Jewels's 3 albums with a Breakdown
- By the numbers The second best-reviewed Hip-Hop & Rap album of 2016 we've tracked.
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NME via Wikipediaby Joe Madden | 5/5 | 100 | 2017 | “Run The Jewels third album is another bar-raising collaboration from the most buzzed-over act in rap. Read the NME review” |
| The A.V. Club via Wikipediaby Chase Hutchinson | B+ | 88 | 2022 | “The A.V. Club digs deep into film, TV, music, games, books and more.” |
| Chicago Tribune via Wikipediaby Greg Kot | 3.5/4 | 88 | 2017 | “For hip-hop veterans El-P and Killer Mike, their collaboration in Run the Jewels has outgrown its boisterous, blow-off-some-steam origins. The self-released “Run the Jewels 3” is an album that megaphones…” |
| Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Sheldon Pearce | 8.6/10 | 86 | 2017 | “RTJ3 is essentially the Run the Jewels manifesto, an outpouring of rage and defiance that never loses sight of the objectives: rallying the troops, holding all accountable, and toppling oppression.” |
| Q via Wikipediaby Matt Mason | 4/5 | 80 | 2015 | |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Keith Harris | 4/5 | 80 | 2017 | “Killer Mike and El-P broaden their sound on 'Run the Jewels 3' with help from guests including Kamasi Washington and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe.” |
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Paul MacInnes | 4/5 | 80 | 2017 | |
| The Independent via Wikipediaby Roisin O'Connor | 4/5 | 80 | 2017 | |
| AllMusic via Wikipediaby Neil Z. Yeung | 4/5 | 80 |
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More from Run the Jewels
More Hip-Hop & Rap from around 2016
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How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.






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