More than any other hip-hop group,
Run-D.M.C. are responsible for the sound and style of the music. As the first hardcore rap outfit, the trio set the sound and style for the next decade of rap. With their spare beats and excursions into heavy metal samples, the trio were tougher and more menacing than their predecessors
Grandmaster Flash and
Whodini. In the process, they opened the door for both the politicized rap of
Public Enemy and
Boogie Down Productions, as well as the hedonistic gangsta fantasies of
N.W.A. At the same time,
Run-D.M.C. helped move rap from a singles-oriented genre to an album-oriented one -- they were the first hip-hop artist to construct full-fledged albums, not just collections with two singles and a bunch of filler. By the end of the '80s,
Run-D.M.C. had been overtaken by the groups they had spawned, but they continued to perform to a dedicated following well into the '90s.
All three members of
Run-D.M.C. were natives of the middle-class New York borough Hollis, Queens. Run (born Joseph Simmons, November 14, 1964) was the brother of
Russell Simmons, who formed the hip-hop management company Rush Productions in the early '80s; by the mid-'80s,
Russell had formed the pioneering record label Def Jam with
Rick Rubin.
Russell encouraged his brother Joey and his friend
Darryl McDaniels (born May 31, 1964) to form a rap duo. The pair of friends did just that, adopting the names Run and
D.M.C., respectively. After they graduated from high school in 1982, the pair enlisted their friend
Jason Mizell (born January 21, 1965) to scratch turntables;
Mizell adopted the stage name
Jam Master Jay.
In 1983,
Run-D.M.C. released their first single, "It's Like That"/"Sucker M.C.'s," on Profile Records. The single sounded like no other rap at the time -- it was spare, blunt, and skillful, with hard beats and powerful, literate, daring vocals, where Run and
D.M.C.'s vocals overlapped, as they finished each other's lines. It was the first "new school" hip-hop recording. "It's Like That" became a Top 20 R&B hit, as did the group's second single, "Hard Times"/"Jam Master Jay." Two other hit R&B singles followed in early 1984 -- "Rock Box" and "30 Days" -- before the group's eponymous debut appeared.
By the time of their second album, 1985's
King of Rock,
Run-D.M.C. had become the most popular and influential rappers in America, already spawning a number of imitators. As the
King of Rock title suggests, the group were breaking down the barriers between rock & roll and rap, rapping over heavy metal records and thick, dense drum loops. Besides releasing the
King of Rock album and scoring the R&B hits "King of Rock," "You Talk Too Much," and "Can You Rock It Like This" in 1985, the group also appeared in the rap movie Krush Groove, which also featured
Kurtis Blow,
the Beastie Boys, and
the Fat Boys.
Run-D.M.C.'s fusion of rock and rap broke into the mainstream with their third album, 1986's
Raising Hell. The album was preceded by the Top Ten R&B single "My Adidas," which set the stage for the group's biggest hit single, a cover of
Aerosmith's "Walk This Way." Recorded with
Aerosmith's
Steven Tyler and
Joe Perry, "Walk This Way" was the first hip-hop record to appeal to both rockers and rappers, as evidenced by its peak position of number four on the pop charts. In the wake of the success of "Walk This Way,"
Raising Hell became the first rap album to reach number one on the R&B charts, to chart in the pop Top Ten, and to go platinum, and
Run-D.M.C. were the first rap act to received airplay on MTV -- they were the first rappers to cross over into the pop mainstream.
Raising Hell also spawned the hit singles "You Be Illin'" and "It's Tricky."
Run-D.M.C. spent most of 1987 recording
Tougher Than Leather, their follow-up to
Raising Hell.
Tougher Than Leather was accompanied by a movie of the same name. Starring
Run-D.M.C., the film was an affectionate parody of '70s blaxploitation films. Although
Run-D.M.C. had been at the height of their popularity when they were recording and filming
Tougher Than Leather, by the time the project was released, the rap world had changed. Most of the hip-hop audience wanted to hear hardcore political rappers like
Public Enemy, not crossover artists like
Run-D.M.C. Consequently, the film bombed and the album only went platinum, failing to spawn any significant hit singles.
Two years after
Tougher Than Leather,
Run-D.M.C. returned with
Back From Hell, which became their first album not to go platinum. Following its release, both Run and
D.M.C. suffered personal problems as
McDaniels suffered a bout of alcoholism and Simmons was accused of rape. After
McDaniels sobered up and the charges against Simmons were dismissed, both of the rappers became born-again Christians, touting their religious conversion on the 1993 album
Down With the King. Featuring guest appearances and production assistance from artists as diverse as
Public Enemy,
EPMD,
Naughty by Nature,
A Tribe Called Quest,
Neneh Cherry,
Pete Rock, and
KRS-One,
Down With the King became the comeback
Run-D.M.C. needed. The title track became a Top Ten R&B hit and the album went gold, peaking at number 21. Although they were no longer hip-hop innovators, the success of
Down With the King proved that
Run-D.M.C. were still respected pioneers.
After a long studio hiatus, the trio returned in early 2000 with
Crown Royal. The album did little to add to their ailing record sales, but the following promotional efforts saw them join
Aerosmith and
Kid Rock for a blockbuster performance on MTV. By 2002, the release of two greatest-hits albums prompted a tour with
Aerosmith that saw them travel the U.S., always performing "Walk This Way" to transition between their sets. Sadly, only weeks after the end of the tour,
Jam Master Jay was senselessly murdered in a studio session in Queens. Only 37 years old, the news of his passing spread quick and hip-hop luminaries like
Big Daddy Kane and
Funkmaster Flex took the time to pay tribute to him on New York radio stations. Possibly the most visible DJ in the history of hip-hop, his death was truly the end of an era and unfortunately perpetuated the cycle of violence that has haunted the genre since the late '80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine