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Run-DMC

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Run-DMC

Run-D.M.C. was a pioneering hip hop group during the 1980s, founded by Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell. The group had an impact on the development of hip hop through the 1980s and is credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music.[1] The three members of Run-D.M.C. grew up in the neighborhood of Hollis in the New York City borough of Queens, USA.

Mainstream success

The band signed a record deal with Profile Records in 1981 , and Run's older brother Russell Simmons signed Run-D.M.C. to his newly formed management company Rush Productions that same year. On their first major United States tour, the group set new Fad trends by performing dressed in tight leather pants and jackets, fedora hats, huge chains around their necks, and their signature Adidas sneakers. This image was inspired by the hip-hop street look of the 1980s.

Mainstream success continued as the group performed at the famous US Live Aid concert in 1985, and their 1986 album Raising Hell became the highest-selling rap album in history (this record was later broken as rap gained more popularity with such artists as Notorious B.I.G), reaching number 6 on the Billboard album charts and selling over 3 million copies. The album featured the famous cover version of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way", a rap-rock collaboration performed with Aerosmith members Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The song was the first hip-hop track to make the Top 10 on Billboard's singles charts. "Walk This Way" has been attributed to being the first song to make hip hop mainstream due to its frequent airings on MTV.

"It's Like That" and "Sucker MC's" (1983) were among the first hip hop tracks that relied only on electronic beats, an approach pioneered by "Godfather of Hip-Hop" Afrika Bambaataa on tracks such as "Planet Rock". Run-D.M.C. became the first rap act with a platinum album and multi-platinum album, as well as the first rappers to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and to receive a Grammy nomination. They were also only the second rap act to appear on American Bandstand, the last being The Sugarhill Gang in 1980. Contrary to popular belief, they were not the first rap act to appear on Saturday Night Live. That distinction belongs to the rap group Funky Four Plus One, who appeared on February 14, 1981. Run-D.M.C. also appeared at WrestleMania V in 1989 to perform the "WrestleMania Rap." In the same year, the song "Ghostbusters", performed by the group and written by Ray Parker Jr., was featured in the movie Ghostbusters 2.

The 1988 album Tougher Than Leather lent its name to the band's concert film that year, which was directed by Rick Rubin and contained special guest performances by the Beastie Boys and Slick Rick. Run-D.M.C.'s executives at Profile Records were unimpressed[citation needed] by the excessive amount of times the Def Jam Records logo popped up in the film, which was mostly because of Russell Simmons' involvement with the project.

In the late 1980s, Run was accused of rape, though not charged, and the early stages of DMC's vocal-cord problems begun. The group re-invented itself as born again Christians and released Back From Hell in 1990. The album suffered poor sales.[citation needed] It had two singles, the clean, anti-drug song "Pause", and "The Avenue".

The group enjoyed mainstream success again in 1993 with Down With the King, which cracked Billboard magazine's Top 10. Pete Rock and CL Smooth contributed verses on the first single, "Down With the King". The album's second single, "Ooh, Watch'cha Gonna Do?", failed to match its predecessor's chart success. Other guests featured on the album were Mad Lion, Q-Tip and Tom Morello.

In 1998, Jason Nevins remixed It's Like That and It's Tricky. The remix of It's Like That hit number 1 in the United Kingdom, Germany, and many other European countries. A video was made for It's Like That, although no new footage of Run-D.M.C. appeared in the clip.

In 1999, Run-D.M.C. recorded the theme song for WWE wrestling stable D-Generation X entitled "The Kings".

Although Run-D.M.C. enjoyed plenty of commercial success, the effects of this were not solely positive. In Arts and Letters: An A-to-Z Reference of Writers, Musicians, and Artists of the African American Experience, the article on Run-D.M.C. notes that in 1985, when their second album, King of Rock was released in 1985, there were also a number of violent incidents at rap concerts. While the media lauded Run-D.M.C. for their music, it also began to focus on "rap as a reflection of violence and drug abuse among young black males." Thus, the group felt torn between their mainstream appeal during the time of negativity in other manifestations of rap music. But the fucking retards kept making their rap music which was so full of shit and really needed to find some talent, so they called up Jimmy Bum Bob and told him to get his ass down to the recording studio. He brought his 12 string guitar with him and the rapper faggots got pwned.

Firsts

Run-D.M.C. is the first rap act to have reached a number of major accomplishments:

Run-D.M.C. was also the only rap act to perform at Live Aid in 1985.

Discography

Albums

Album information
Run-D.M.C.
King of Rock
  • Released:January 15, 1985
  • Chart positions: #52 US, #12 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums,
  • Last RIAA certification: Platinum
  • Singles: "King of Rock", "Can You Rock It Like This", "You Talk Too Much"
Raising Hell
Tougher Than Leather
  • Released:May 16, 1988
  • Chart positions: #9 US, #2 Top R&B/ Hip Hop
  • Last RIAA certification: 2x Platinum
  • Singles: "Run's House", "Mary, Mary", "I'm Not Going Out Like That"
Back From Hell
  • Released:October 16, 1990
  • Chart positions: #81 US, #16 Top R&B/ Hip Hop
  • Last RIAA description: Gold
  • Singles: "Pause", "What It's All About", "Faces", "The Ave".
Down With the King
  • Released:May 4, 1993
  • Chart positions: #7 US, #1 Top R&B/ Hip Hop
  • Last RIAA description: Gold
  • Singles: "Down With the King", "Ooh Wathcha Gonna Do ", "Can I Get It, Yo"
Crown Royal
  • Released:April 3, 2001
  • Chart positions: #37 US, #22 Top R&B/ Hip Hop
  • Last RIAA description:
  • Singles: "Rock Show", "Let's Stay Together (Together Forever)"

Singles

Year Title U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B
1983 "It's Like That" - 15
1984 "30 Days" - 16
"Hard Times" - 11
"Hollis Crew (Krush Groove 2)" - 65
1985 "Can You Rock It Like This" - 19
"Jam-Master Jammin'" - 53
"King of Rock" - 14
"You Talk Too Much" - 19
1986 "My Adidas" - 5
"Walk This Way" 4 8
"You Be Illin'" 29 12
1987 "It's Tricky" 57 21
1988 "I'm Not Going Out Like That" - 40
"Mary, Mary" 75 29
"Run's House" - 10
1989 "Pause" - 51
1990 "What's It All About" - 24
1991 "Faces" - 57
1993 "Down with the King" 21 9
"Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do" - 78

Greatest Hits Albums

Other Singles & Compilation Albums


Retirement

After group member Jam-Master Jay died in 2002, Run-D.M.C. announced their retirement.

References

  1. ^ (nr.40) The Guardian

2. Appiah, Kwame Anthony and Gates Jr., Henry Louis. Arts and Letters: An A-to-Z Reference of Writers, Musicians, and Artists of the African American Experience. Running Press: Philadelphia: 2004.


See also

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