Run the Jewels, a hip-hop collaboration between rap veterans Killer Mike and El-P, is named after this line. The phrase is also seen in Ice Cube’s “The Product,” (December 1990) and it also opens RZA’s 1993 verse on “Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber – Pt. II”:

Ya gettin stripped from ya garments, boy, run ya jewels

A play on the ideal of an attractive man being a “tall, dark and handsome stranger”.

El’s juxtaposing the fact that while he’s rather short, has white skin/light hair and is not very handsome, he’s quick to kidnap someone and talk “dark” (graphic threats, etc.) for ransom money. Much more intimidating.

Observe the difference:

What’s funny about El-P and Killer Mike emerging via the internet recently is that they’ve both had lengthy careers: El released the classic Funcrusher Plus with Company Flow in 1996, and Mike made his grand entrance in 2000, debuting on the track “Snappin and Trappin” from OutKast’s seminal Stankonia record.

That was a long time ago, but they’ve been trudging through in the underground, still making awesome records, all this time. What El is saying that they’re legitimately oldschool and matured, and what they’ve released is of a higher pedigree than other rappers out now. Their affinity to classic rap is evident in even their name, an LL Cool J reference. El has also referred to the album in interviews as “grown man shit.”

The whole “Run the jewels” line and name of this project suggests that Killer Mike and El-P together are just robbing everybody as they take over the rap game.

The name is from a line from the LL Cool J song “Cheesy Rat Blues” (off his Mama Said Knock You Out album):

Just throw your hands in the air
And wave ‘em like you just don’t care
Keep 'em there
Yo, run the jewels, run the jewels, run the jewels