Released after a five-year gap, the longest between El-P releases, Cancer 4 Cure ended the darkest part of El’s career — the twilight and end of Def Jux, and the untimely passing of friend and fellow Weatherman Camu Tao. That Cancer 4 Cure came to exist is a surprise. That it is such a rebellious and energized album for much of its runtime is shocking. In many ways it is the depressing and bleak album one might expect (the title is a reference to Tao’s battle with lung cancer), but for all that it’s one of his most raucous releases. The album pretty much steamrolls banger after banger from opener “Request Denied” (wherein tellingly, El says “This is our timing, we are not dying”) on through “True Story.” The record, with its Burroughs sample introduction and more violent lyrics, seems reminiscent of Funcrusher Plus, like the record represents El trying to cash the check his earlier career wrote, and for much of the runtime it pays off. The album finds him refining his live instrumentation production style, with faster tempos, and more guitar solos, hand drums and wailing organs. In that sense, the first half of Cancer 4 Cure lays the blueprint for Run The Jewels. It also shows off El’s improved storytelling ability: one can almost feel the sweat drip down his cheek during drug-deal-gone-passive-aggressive track, “Works Every Time,” or the backroom interrogation narrative of “The Jig Is Up.” El’s increased roster of guest stars keeps the first half of the album varied and interesting, even if Danny Brown’s verse on “Oh Hail No” comes out of left field and breaks the flow of things — Killer Mike’s appearance on “Tougher Colder Killer” primed the public for Run The Jewels before the project congealed the next year. Still, Cancer 4 Cure has its downsides — particularly its third act, which is full of great beats and soundscapes, such as “Stay Down,” that never congeal into great songs. It’s a deflating ending to El’s love letter to Brooklyn (the briar patch of “$4 Vic/Nothing But You + Me (FTL)”), and his statement of renewed purpose.