This is what it sounds like to remix Run the Jewels with cat noises

It’s been some time since we’ve heard anything about Meow the Jewels, a remix of Run the Jewels’ eponymous second album using nothing but cat noises. Curious how that might actually sound? This past weekend the Run the Jewels duo (that’s El-P and Killer Mike) premiered the first track on their Beats 1 show, WRTJ. It’s now also available as a free download.

With “Meowrly” — as in, the RTJ song “Early” but with meows — producer Boots does keep some of the beats from the original song (on which he also collaborated), but introduces some guttural purrs, meows, and hisses from various tabbies (presumably). There are also some indiscernible sounds I can only assume are remixed cat sounds. The structure of the song is largely kept intact, albeit with some extra cat cacophony bookending the track. Killer Mike, El-P, and Boots’ verses, alas, were not replaced with kitten counterparts.

Point is, what started as a bizarro Kickstarter project might actually be listenable — even at the expense of keeping with the spirit of the album (Grantland’s Rembert Browne has provided the relevant hot take here).

No word on a full release. For more Meow the Jewels, find a few felines and blast “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” while shaking a bag of Friskies Party Mix.

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