RJD2 has had quite the curious career. The Eugene, Ore., native lives in West Philly, has transitioned from dirty, jazzy hip hop to wonky electropop, leapt from El-P’s Def Jux label in 2004 after several critically acclaimed albums to his own RJ’s Electrical Connections in 2010 (with his The Third Hand LP at the XL label in between). Though he doesn’t think of himself as a film composer, he has one of the most recognizable theme songs ever: AMC’s Mad Men. Now, he’s changed his sound around completely with one of the most compelling albums of 2013 in More Is Than Isn’t. RJD2 will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
RJD2: I think we all have figured out how great Breaking Bad was as a TV show. Fans of the show will no doubt have multiple favorite moments in the shows’ history. But I have yet to see any uproar over something that was done in the second to last episode. One of the biggest moments for me happened in this episode. The fact that the opening credit theme for the show was so short was a thing that always worked in its favor for me. I just want the show to start, so I don’t need a big long theme after five seasons. The opening credits/theme to the show was just quick, to the point, and great. So toward the end of season five, episode 15, when they did a “long form” version of the theme, I was totally floored. As it was unfolding, I started to anticipate that it was an alternate take on the main theme, so when the slide guitar finally kicked in, it was so satisfying. And the fact that they showed so much restraint, to basically wait till the end of the show to do something like this, was pure genius. Kudos to that whole team—job well done.
Video after the jump.
