Run-DMC Biopic Heading to the Big Screen With Help of "Notorious" Writer

First the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, now Hollywood: Run-DMC are going to be the subject of a big-screen biopic, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Notorious screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker will adapt the authorized biography Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC, written by the rap trio's former publicist Bill Adler, the second ever employee at Def Jam Records. Coker and Adler will both executive produce for entertainment company DJ Classicz.

"It's an extraordinary rags-to-riches journey that I'm eager to bring to the screen," DJ Classicz president Dallas Jackson said. "And I'm hoping to have Run, DMC and Russell Simmons' involvement. This will be a big movie about the 1980s hip-hop movement that took over the world." The only question now is who should be cast as Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay? Knowing Hollywood, they'll do something foolish like cast Soulja Boy Tell'em, Bow Wow and Will Smith's kid, but we're keeping our fingers crossed for another diamond-in-the-rough find like rapper Gravy in Notorious.

Run-DMC will become the second hip-hop act in history to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a special ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio on April 4th (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first). Of course, you don't have to wait until the movie hits the big screen to find out Run-DMC's quest from Hollis, Queens to the Rock Hall: We've got you covered with the trio's first-ever Rolling Stone cover story from 1986, career-spanning photo galleries and much more on Metallica, Jeff Beck and the rest of the Rock Hall Class of 2009:

• Beating The Rap: Run-DMC Want To Be Heroes, Not Hell-Raisers
• Run-DMC's Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck Lead Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2009
• Photos: The Rock Hall's Class of 2009

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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