Hip-Hop's Greatest Year: Fifteen Albums That Made Rap Explode : Rolling Stone

Run-DMC, Tougher Than Leather
Release Date: September 16, 1988
Key Tracks: "Run's House," "Mary Mary," "I'm Not Going Out Like That"
What Caught On: Neither a straight hip-hop album like Raising Hell nor a crossover album like King of Rock, Tougher Than Leather proved that a rap group could be everything to everyone. Nobody truly loved Tougher Than Leather, but everybody liked something about it (save for one of its creators). "I hated Tougher Than Leather!" says Darryl McDaniels, a.k.a. DMC. "That album was too rushed. I wanted to just be DMC, and I was stuck rhyming on this radio shit. Chuck D is always saying that Tougher Than Leather is his favorite hip-hop album, and I always tell him he's crazy!" But even McDaniels acknowledges its importance. "Raising Hell opened the door, and Tougher Than Leather kept it open for groups like EPMD, Jungle Brothers and Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince."
What Didn't: Run-DMC's acting career. The album spawned a film of the same name, but most people only allow Run to play himself on Run's House.