We have previously (and repeatedly) quoted, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” variously attributed to Mark Fisher, Slajov Zizek, and/or Frederick Jameson. Honorable mention is always due, then, to anyone and everyone who actually tries to imagine it!

Rap duo Run the Jewels^[1]Made up of Killer Mike (a former associate of Outkast) and rapper/producer El-P. dropped their explosive fourth album RTJ4 Summer of 2020, the same week that the George Floyd riots erupted in Minneapolis. The fiery track “Walking in the Snow,” in fact, was even heard chanted by civil rights protestors in Killer Mike’s native Atlanta, on the strength of his line, “And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/’til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe'”–originally a reference to Eric Garner’s strangulation by cop in 2015, but suddenly horribly relevant again in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder.

Yet Run the Jewels was not just content to express the outrage of the moment, but to look beyond it, at what we are ultimately building up towards–that is, Run the Jewels has an eschatology, as do we (or at least we should) who essay to be Latter-day Saints.

Hence the video for RTJ4‘s second single, “Ooh LA LA”, opens with a quotation of its own: “One day the long fought battle between humanity and the forces of greed and division will end, and on that day, finally free, we will throw a motherf*cking party.” It is attributed to “Ancient Proverb” and “Probably.”

The rest of the video is a portrayal of that very party at the dawn of what I can only read as the Millennium. We see diverse crowds of people on the streets of the financial-capital of the world, New York City^[2]El-P is from the Bronx, remember, joyfully and defiantly dancing together, as they gleefully dump all their cash, credit cards, wallets, purses, and receipts into a giant, makeshift pile in the middle of the street and promptly set it on fire. They have been freed from the tyranny of money, and so celebrate accordingly.

In the background you see hot-air balloons launch, helicopters flying overhead, and fighter-jets releasing colorful smoke-trails in celebration, with nary a cop or national guardsman in sight^[3]Eagle-eyed viewers will also note Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine lurking in the background–who has also guested on RTJ’s “Close Your Eyes“, “A Report to … Continue reading. You briefly see corrections inmates dancing in the streets as well, for He “will bring out the prisoners”^[4]Isaiah 42:7 and “the prisoners shall go free^[5]D&C 128:22.” As a rap video, it is a clever inversion of the usual tropes of street parties and rappers showing off wads of cash in conspicuous consumption—since the cash is, again, burned.

But as a statement of values, it is downright prophetic: because what, do you need us to quote to you, for the umpteenth time, Acts 2:44-45, 4 Nephi 1:3, D&C 49:20, like we have a million times before? How seriously do you take “for what is property unto me? saith the Lord”^[6]D&C 117:4, anyways? What other form of society do you seriously think is acceptable before the Almighty? Do you honestly believe that you will be cashing out your stocks and bonds and portfolios at the Second Coming? Just what do you think is coming next?

Moroni famously said that we must with “surety hope for a better world,” which hope “maketh an anchor to the souls of men”^[7]Ether 12:4–which he also wrote after witnessing the complete and utter collapse of his civilization. What both Killer Mike and El-P likewise intuit, then, is not only that we must needs have hope even in collapse, but that they must derive their hope because of, not in spite of, the looming collapse of all things.

That is, when you look at the massive party in the “Ooh LA LA” video, just why does it strike you as unrealistic, or even undesirable? Why is it so hard for you to imagine that not only can this party happen, but it will happen, and must happen–as though God Himself won’t be the very instigator of that party? What else are you even hoping for??^[8]And if the song’s swearing offends you more than the gross income inequality they rail against, what does that say about your preparedness for the kingdom? What else do you even imagine?