As a member of Company Flow, he honed his production skills alongside DJ Mr. Len and Bigg Jus. His unique style helped Company Flow gain critical, then popular success, culminating in 1997 with Funcrusher Plus. Eventual differences between the group & label Rawkus, lead to El-P & Len leaving the label in 2000.
El-P then started his own record label, Definitive Jux. Of the many albums he has helped produce (most on Definitive Jux), the most influential and successful has been Cannibal Ox's album, The Cold Vein (2001). In 2002 he released his debut album, Fantastic Damage, which received critical acclaim. His follow-up, I'll Sleep When You're Dead, hit stores in March of 2007. It featured a wide range of artists, including The Mars Volta, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and Cat Power. El-P has also contributed productions and guest raps to albums by DJ Krush, Aesop Rock, Murs, Cage, Mr. Lif, Prefuse 73, Del the Funky Homosapien, Mike Ladd, The High and Mighty, Aceyalone, and Alec Empire on the first Handsome Boy Modeling School album.
Cannibal Ox member Vordul Mega can be heard on "Linda Tripp", El-P's rebuttal to Sole's "Dear Elpee". He was also selected to work on Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha's solo album.
In 2012, El-P released his 3rd solo album, Cancer 4 Cure, on Fat Possum Records. The album was released to general acclaim, aggregating a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic.
In 2013, Meline formed rap duo Run the Jewels, with Michael Render (aka Killer Mike).
Sites: Discogs, Wikipedia and SoundCloud.
How to Serve Man
El-P Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
I really wanna know. I'm not going to hold it against you, I promise I′m a big boy, I can handle it, just tell me what's going on in your head...
ìMr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! The rest of the book, to serve man, it′s- it′s a cook book!
That's not a hand, it′s a claw
And this is not a song, it's an exorcism of numbness
This isn′t skin, it's a scramble suit with a thousand me's rotating
That′s not your mouth, that′s a boredom generator powered by irritation
We aren't a couple, we′re isolationists who to try to use the buddy system
And that wasn't sex, it was a competition for power that I′m clearly winning
But that's not victory, matter of fact I think I′m better off forfeiting
You go for de gold, girl, I'm about to bounce out to Deadwoods Hills for cleaner living
And I really do
I hope it all works out like you want it to
This is not Brooklyn, it's a colony of wayward bees without a queen
And we′re not people, we′re like Sims controlled by childish deities
But see we're alive now and it′s not time we're wasting here
Nah this is life and you′re so (pretty)
Like the gleam off that blade when you slipped my ribs the shivy
This ain't a break up, I like to think of it as a stay of execution
And that′s not the air I'm clearing, it's the wispy trails of our cumulus pollution
And that′s not despair you′re feeling, it's the petulant reaction of a wounded child
And that′s not the door I'm looking at, it′s an escape hatch to the zeppelin we're inside
And I really do
I hope it all works out like you want it to
You′re not a woman, you're a piranha with cuttlerry for dentured up smile
And I'm not a man, I′m an incomplete punchline of a joke I don′t understand
That's not your diary, it′s a cook book and I'm your favourite chapter when you′re bored
And that's not a love letter, it′s a recipe for the same slop you served before
This ain't an insult, it's the clearest truth I′ve ever had the misery to speak
These aren′t words, these are the terms of my surrender and defeat
But I'm not sorry beyond the sorry nature of existing with no plans
Please don′t touch me, just wave goodbye with that claw that not's a hand
Did I mention that...
I hope it all works out like you want it to and I really do...
The lyrics of El-P's "How to Serve Man" are complex and difficult to interpret, but they revolve around the idea of deception and manipulation in relationships. The song begins with the artist expressing his reluctance to share what's on his mind, but he encourages his partner to do so. Things take a turn when the artist alludes to the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man," where aliens come to Earth with a book called "To Serve Man," which turns out to be a cookbook for humans. This is where the theme of deception emerges in the song.
From there, El-P's lyrics paint a picture of a relationship full of illusions and lies, where neither partner is truly themselves. He compares himself to a prisoner, and his skin to a "scramble suit," which could be a reference to the novel "A Scanner Darkly," where people wear suits that create an endless array of alternate personalities. The artist also deconstructs the idea of love and sex, insisting that they are nothing more than power games in his relationship. The song ends with the artist resigning himself to defeat, but also hoping that things work out for his partner.
Overall, "How to Serve Man" is a dark and paranoid examination of modern relationships, where self-deception and manipulation are rampant.
Writer(s): Jaime Meline
Contributed by Avery B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
WildWasteland
You can just feel the raw emotion in this. It’s incredible how El-P can so eloquently describe his feelings; you can just clearly feel the exact things he was going through when he wrote this. All this over an instrumental that perfectly complements the sci-fi themes of the song. I’m probably not sober enough to be writing this but my god am I in love with this song.
Tbird761
This might be one of his best ever songs.
Crispy Banana
i always appreciated this song for the creative wordplay and lyrics, amazing beat but after going through a breakup this song is something else to me now, just wow El-P may just be the most amazing artist i know out of any medium for art there is
AllDopedUp13
Thank u for still keeping this up on here! Been in my playlist forever & I hope to keep it! Thank u for this!! 👊🏼♥️🙏🏼
David Westwood
El-P needs to score a movie
_____case
+David Westwood He has. It's called Bomb the System.
Vic F
David Westwood And also did the score for the new Blade Runner, unfortunately they rejected it.
leololozone666
That synth at the beginning is from a john carpenter soundtrack
vyct8rcir r 6ex r c7xxrc
He did Capone
mr. vincent van goghIII
El-p is the best producer of all time...and a dope m.c. as well