# El-P
**El-P** is the stage name of Jaime Meline (born 1975), a Brooklyn rapper and producer who shaped New York independent hip-hop as leader of the 1990s group Company Flow, founder of the Definitive Jux label, and, since 2012, one half of the duo [Run the Jewels](https://www.edgepedia.org/run-the-jewels) with [Killer Mike](https://www.edgepedia.org/killer-mike).[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) His signature sound pairs hard-knocking, old-school drums with queasy, futuristic synths, a style Pitchfork describes as a combination of hard-knocking drums and "synths teleported from the year 3000."[2](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Jaime Meline, 1975; grew up in Brooklyn, New York[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) |
| First group | Company Flow, formed with Mr. Len by 1992; debut *Funcrusher* (1996) and *Funcrusher Plus* (1997) on Rawkus Records[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) • [3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) |
| Label | Co-founded Definitive Jux in 1999 with Amaechi Uzoigwe; roster included Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, RJD2, and Mr. Lif; folded in 2010[4](https://www.flavorwire.com/491659/run-the-jewels-the-definitive-history-of-how-killer-mike-and-el-p-became-hip-hops-favorite-odd-couple) • [5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) • [6](https://www.theringer.com/2020/05/19/music/el-p-interview-run-the-jewels-new-album-def-jux-killer-mike) |
| Solo albums | *Fantastic Damage* (2002), *I'll Sleep When You're Dead* (2007), *Cancer 4 Cure* (2012)[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) • [7](https://metacritic.com/music/ill-sleep-when-youre-dead/el-p/critic-reviews) • [8](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/18/make-some-noise) |
| Run the Jewels | Duo with Killer Mike begun in 2012 during the making of *R.A.P. Music*; four albums through *RTJ4* (2020)[9](https://www.slugmag.com/pdf/311-November-2014.pdf) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) |
| Signature production | Dark, noisy, dense beats; he builds tracks in Ableton Live from heavily processed samples[10](https://www.ableton.com/en/pages/artists/el_p/) |
## Company Flow and the 1990s underground
Meline knew from a young age that music would be his full-time pursuit; once he was kicked out of secondary school, he signed up for a music engineering course at an alternative education center, and in 1992 he started Company Flow alongside Mr. Len, initially performing as El Producto.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) The New Yorker dates his first notice to age eighteen, when he was the producer and one of two m.c.s in the trio, whose records reached a cult audience on the independent label Rawkus in the mid-nineties.[11](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/18/make-some-noise) In interviews he has recalled starting even earlier with a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder and a secondhand TR-505 drum machine, making tape loops and demos as a teenager.[5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/)
The group's debut *Funcrusher* appeared in 1996, and *Funcrusher Plus* followed in 1997.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) • [3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) Exclaim! later called *Funcrusher Plus* "one of the most important indie releases in hip-hop," noting that the group proclaimed their B-boy authenticity over raw beats influenced by the gritty New York streets under the motto "Independent as fuck."[12](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/el-p-fantastic_damage) Pitchfork's 2002 profile credited the album's sonic grittiness, lyrical experimentalism, and anti-industry rhetoric with helping cement the stature of Rawkus Records.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/)
Rather than quickly capitalize, the group stayed quiet for years, releasing only an instrumental album and scattered singles before Rawkus imploded after a series of poor decisions aimed at mainstream success. Company Flow then left the label after disagreements over business.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) • [4](https://www.flavorwire.com/491659/run-the-jewels-the-definitive-history-of-how-killer-mike-and-el-p-became-hip-hops-favorite-odd-couple)
## Definitive Jux
**Building a label.** In 1999, after the split with Rawkus, El-P co-founded Definitive Jux with his friend Amaechi Uzoigwe to release his own and his friends' increasingly raw music.[4](https://www.flavorwire.com/491659/run-the-jewels-the-definitive-history-of-how-killer-mike-and-el-p-became-hip-hops-favorite-odd-couple) AllMusic notes the label was first called Def Jux and was renamed Definitive Jux to avoid a suit from Def Jam.[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301) The label adopted a quality-first approach, focusing on uncompromising acts that might otherwise have been ignored; its roster came to include [Cannibal Ox](https://www.edgepedia.org/cannibal-ox), Aesop Rock, RJD2, and Mr. Lif.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) • [5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) As a label founder, El-P used Definitive Jux to release what one reviewer described as dense, high-quality albums by artists including C Rayz Walz, Cannibal Ox, The Perceptionists, and [Aesop Rock](https://www.edgepedia.org/aesop-rock).[13](https://insomniacmagazine.com/i-ll-sleep-when-you-re-dead-by-el-p-review-by-todd-e-jones/)
**Production landmark.** El-P produced Cannibal Ox's 75-minute *The Cold Vein* (Def Jux, 2001), made by the duo of Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah after Company Flow's end.[14](https://www.scaruffi.com/vol7/elp.html) Pitchfork's 2002 profile called the album a classic and grouped its dark, cinematic, complex production with his own solo work as a possible answer to stagnancy in hip-hop production.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/)
The label folded in 2010.[6](https://www.theringer.com/2020/05/19/music/el-p-interview-run-the-jewels-new-album-def-jux-killer-mike)
## Solo career
*Fantastic Damage*, his Def Jux solo debut, was released in 2002 after upwards of a year and a half of recording.[3](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/) Exclaim!'s review described the beats as "a sonic onslaught" comparable to the Bomb Squad's work with Public Enemy, heavy like metal but unmistakably hip-hop, with nearly every song an aural overload and collaborations with Aesop Rock and Cage.[12](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/el-p-fantastic_damage)
Five years later, *I'll Sleep When You're Dead* arrived on Definitive Jux on March 20, 2007, and scored a Metascore of 80, with 27 of 32 critic reviews positive and none negative.[7](https://metacritic.com/music/ill-sleep-when-youre-dead/el-p/critic-reviews) Critics read it as a step forward: AllMusic called it one of the most powerful hip-hop albums of 2007, Spin heard "faithful-but-twisted boom bap" alongside avant-indie rock, and Vibe called it his most conventional and guest-heavy work while calling it a reminder that independent hip hop was once more than a curio.[7](https://metacritic.com/music/ill-sleep-when-youre-dead/el-p/critic-reviews) MusicCritic's retrospective describes the album as a "hulking, Bush-induced paranoia opus."[15](https://musiccritic.com/el-p/cancer4cure/)
In 2009 El-P later described losing everything: projects and creative relationships collapsed, he was broke, and he was eating once a day. In 2010 two offers arrived, a Fat Possum deal for the solo album that became *Cancer 4 Cure* and an introduction to Killer Mike.[5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) *Cancer 4 Cure* was released in 2012 on Fat Possum, by then a rapidly growing label, since Definitive Jux was defunct.[11](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/18/make-some-noise) Spin's review traced his contradictory impulses, from New York cynicism to mordant introspection and optimism, across the album's 13 songs.[16](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2012/05/el-p-cancer-cure-fat-possum/)
## Run the Jewels
The pairing with Killer Mike began in 2012, when El-P, born Jaime Meline, was approached to produce Killer Mike's album *R.A.P. Music*; the combination of a Southern rapper with ties to OutKast and T.I. and an underground New York producer seemed odd to outsiders, but both were confident in the chemistry.[9](https://www.slugmag.com/pdf/311-November-2014.pdf) That year also produced the duo's first album, *Run the Jewels* (2013), which The Independent called likely the best hip hop album of the year.[17](https://metacritic.com/music/run-the-jewels/el-p/critic-reviews) El-P has remained the duo's principal producer as well as a rapper across *Run the Jewels*, *[Run the Jewels 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/run-the-jewels-2)*, *[Run the Jewels 3](https://www.edgepedia.org/run-the-jewels-3)*, and *RTJ4*.[18](https://jazzapedia.com/artists/el-p) Time, reviewing *Run the Jewels 3* in 2017, described the two as hip-hop's middle-aged everymen at an unexpected career peak.[19](https://time.com/4632668/run-the-jewels/)
By 2020 Pitchfork reported that Meline, then 45, was enjoying the greatest popularity of his career, as Fat Possum reissued his solo catalog and *RTJ4* was released.[5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/) He described *RTJ4* as built on the model of EPMD's run of four straight classic albums, recorded at [Shangri-La](https://www.edgepedia.org/shangri-la) in [Rick Rubin](https://www.edgepedia.org/rick-rubin)'s studio, at Electric Lady, and at his own New York studio.[5](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/)
## Production style and method
Ableton's artist profile describes him as a fixture on New York's hip-hop scene who prefers to fly under the radar, with an unusual production style evolving along a dark, feverish creative seam.[10](https://www.ableton.com/en/pages/artists/el_p/) When sampling from obvious sources became too expensive, his approach called for musicianship plus skill in chopping, programming, and signal processing; he grew up under the tutelage of his piano-playing father.[10](https://www.ableton.com/en/pages/artists/el_p/) On *I'll Sleep When You're Dead*, Ableton Live played a key role: the tremolo solo in the middle of "Tasmanian Pain Coaster" began as a chopped-up sitar sample whose note order he changed and ran through tremolo and other effects. He has said Live lets him take a sample's mood and manipulate it until it is unrecognizable while keeping the spirit of the original, a practical answer to the risk of being sued.[10](https://www.ableton.com/en/pages/artists/el_p/)
## References
1. [El-P: Biography, Discography, Albums & Expert Reviews, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/el-p-mn0000794301)
2. [El-P on the Music That Made Him, Pitchfork (2020)](https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/el-p-run-the-jewels-music-that-made-him/)
3. [El-P, Pitchfork interview (2002)](https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/5866-el-p/)
4. [Run the Jewels: The Definitive History, Flavorwire (2015)](https://www.flavorwire.com/491659/run-the-jewels-the-definitive-history-of-how-killer-mike-and-el-p-became-hip-hops-favorite-odd-couple)
5. [Make Nasty Shit and Keep Moving: The Way of El-P, The Ringer (2020)](https://www.theringer.com/2020/05/19/music/el-p-interview-run-the-jewels-new-album-def-jux-killer-mike)
6. [Critic Reviews for I'll Sleep When You're Dead, Metacritic](https://metacritic.com/music/ill-sleep-when-youre-dead/el-p/critic-reviews)
7. [Make Some Noise, The New Yorker (2012)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/18/make-some-noise)
8. [El-P: Fantastic Damage review, Exclaim! (2002)](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/el-p-fantastic_damage)
9. [Run the Jewels RTJ2 coverage, Slug Magazine (2014)](https://www.slugmag.com/pdf/311-November-2014.pdf)
10. [El-P: Def by Manipulation, Ableton](https://www.ableton.com/en/pages/artists/el_p/)
11. [I'll Sleep When You're Dead review by Todd E. Jones, Insomniac Magazine](https://insomniacmagazine.com/i-ll-sleep-when-you-re-dead-by-el-p-review-by-todd-e-jones/)
12. [El-P: Cancer 4 Cure review, MusicCritic](https://musiccritic.com/el-p/cancer4cure/)
13. [El-P: Cancer for Cure review, Spin (2012)](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2012/05/el-p-cancer-cure-fat-possum/)
14. [The History of Rock Music: El-P, Scaruffi](https://www.scaruffi.com/vol7/elp.html)
15. [Critic Reviews for Run the Jewels, Metacritic](https://metacritic.com/music/run-the-jewels/el-p/critic-reviews)
16. [El-P, Jazzapedia](https://jazzapedia.com/artists/el-p)
17. [Rap's Middle-Aged Everymen Return, Time (2017)](https://time.com/4632668/run-the-jewels/)
Note: citation 8 in the body for the I'll Sleep When You're Dead review panel corresponds to reference 6.
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Music scenes › Transnational genre scenes › Hip hop scenes worldwide › Artists, groups, and people: Hip hop scenes worldwide › East Coast rap (New York and Philadelphia) › Golden era East Coast rap (1980s–1990s)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license