Run-D.M.C.

Run-D.M.C. took hardcore hip-hop from an underground street sensation to a pop-culture phenomenon. Although earlier artists, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Sugar Hill Gang, made rap's initial strides on the airwaves, it was Run-D.M.C. that introduced hats, gold chains, and untied sneakers to youth culture's most stubborn demographic group: white, male, suburban rock fans. In the process, the trio helped change the course of popular music, paving the way for rap's second generation.

The members of Run-D.M.C. grew up together in the middle-class New York neighborhood of Hollis, Queens. By the time Joey Simmons reached his teens, his older brother Russell was becoming a major figure in the burgeoning rap scene, establishing Rush Productions and later cofounding the trailblazing rap label Def Jam along with his white partner Rick Rubin. With Russell’s help and encouragement, Joey and Darryl McDaniels started rapping together in the Simmons home.

Upon graduating high school in 1982, the two recruited their old basketball buddy, Jay Mizell, to back them on turntables. Run-D.M.C.’s first single was the groundbreaking 1983 anthem “It’s Like That” b/w “Sucker M.C.’s” (#15 R&B); it was followed the same year by “Hard Times” b/w “Jam-Master Jay” (#11 R&B). The songs’ sparse music and booming vocal delivery was informed as much by rock as by the pseudo-jazz of earlier recorded rap songs. Moreover, the first single introduced Simmons and McDaniels’ unconventional vocal style. Rather than trade off on the verses, they finished each other’s lines. The group followed up with a string of R&B chart hits, including “Rock Box” (#22, 1984), “30 Days” (#16, 1984), “King of Rock” (#14, 1985), “You Talk Too Much” (#19, 1985), and “Can You Rock It Like This” (#19, 1985). In 1985 Run-D.M.C. starred in the movie Krush Groove alongside Kurtis Blow, the Fat Boys, and the Beastie Boys.

Run-D.M.C.’s third album, 1986’s Raising Hell (#3 pop, #1 R&B, 1986), confirmed the group’s self-professed “King of Rock” status. In a clever marketing scheme, Rick Rubin teamed Run-D.M.C. with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of then-fading pop-metal band Aerosmith for a remake of the latter’s 1976 hit “Walk This Way.” The song sent suburban metalheads jumping for their air guitars, as it reached #4 on Billboard’s pop chart (#8 R&B), while helping to reinvigorate Aerosmith’s career. Other singles from Raising Hell included “My Adidas” (#5, 1986), which won the group a corporate sponsorship, “You Be Illin’” (#29 pop, #12 R&B, 1986), and “It’s Tricky” (#57 pop, #21 R&B, 1987).

Run-D.M.C. began its decline after 1988’s Tougher Than Leather, putting out albums but barely making it into the Top 100. Tougher Than Leather, though it reached #9 on the pop-album chart and went platinum, was a critical failure, and the film of the same name was a box-office bomb. Back From Hell was the group’s first album not to go gold; by then, McDaniels and Simmons were recovering from drug and alcohol problems, as well as a rape charge (later dropped) against the latter. In 1993 Run-D.M.C. bounced back with their cleaned-up, Christian-themed seventh album, Down With the King, which entered the R&B chart at #1 (#7 pop) and sold nearly 500,000 copies. By 1995 McDaniels was a deacon in his church and Simmons an ordained minister. Simmons also founded a gospel label, REV RUN Records and wrote a self-help book, It’s Like That: The Way to Spiritual Abundance. Run-D.M.C. continued to tour throughout the ’90s and enjoyed an international hit single via Jason Nevins’ 1998 remix of “It’s Like That.” In 2001 Arista released the group’s album Crown Royal (#37), which featured contributions from Kid Rock, Fred Durst, Method Man, Nas, and Sugar Ray.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)