Run-D.M.C. (or Run
DMC) was a major pioneering hip hop group during the 1980s, founded
by Joseph "DJ Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels,
and the late Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell. The group
had an enormous impact on the development of hip hop through
the 1980s and is credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream
music. The three members of Run-D.M.C. grew
up in the neighborhood of Hollis in the New York City borough
of Queens, USA.
Early life
"Run" Simmons is the brother of hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons,
and reentered the hip-hop scene by DJing for his brother's first big act, Kurtis
Blow under the name "Run Love". He shared his experiences on stage
with Darryl McDaniels, one of his best childhood friends. The pair began performing
at an underage club in Hollis, and remained in contact as they went off to
college - Run to Community College and Darryl to St. John's University. They
soon brought in a third member, Jam Master Jay, and in 1983 released their
first single, "It's Like That".
They became the first rap act to have
a music video played on MTV and their self-titled debut album
was the first rap album to go gold. They had the first rap
album to go to number one on the R&B charts, as well as
the first to break into the top ten charts for pop albums.
Career
The band signed a record deal with Profile Records in 1983, and
Run's older brother, Russell "Rush" Simmons signed
Run-D.M.C. to his newly formed management company Rush Productions
that same year. On their first major U.S. tour, the group set
new trends by performing dressed in tight leather pants and
jackets, adidas sneakers, and Fedora hats.
Their 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,
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.
Run-DMC was renowned for breaking new ground in rap music. "It's
Like That" and "Sucker MC's" were among the first
hip hop tracks that relied on electronic beats and nothing else,
an approach pioneered by "Godfather of Hip-Hop" Afrika
Bambaataa on tracks such as "Planet Rock". Run-DMC
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 2nd rap act to appear on American Bandstand,
the first 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-DMC also appeared
at WrestleMania V in 1989 to perform the "WrestleMania Rap."
Although it never received the commercial success of Raising
Hell, the 1988 follow up album Tougher Than Leather is today
regarded as a cult classic. The name "Tougher Than Leather" was
also used for their flop 1988 film, which was directed by Rick
Rubin and contained special guest performances by the Beastie
Boys and Slick Rick. Run-DMC's executives at Profile Records
were unimpressed 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.
The late 80's were not kind to the group; Run was accused (and
almost charged) of rape and the early stages of DMC's vocal chord
problems begun. The group re-invented themselves as born again
Christians and released Back From Hell in 1990. The album suffered
poor album sales. 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 the Billboard'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 the chart success of "Down With
the King". 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 made the number #1 Billboard spot
in both the United States and the United Kingdom. A video was
made for It's Like That, although no new footage of Run-DMC appeared
in the clip.
In the later years of 1998, Isoe one joined the group for a short
time. He was introduced through his expertice in graffiti art,
and freestyle dj mixing.He departed the group shortly after to
pursue a solo career.
In 1999, Run-DMC recorded the theme song for WWF wrestling stable
D-Generation X entitled "The Kings".
Run-DMC remained relatively quiet throughout
the end of the '90s. During this period of time the group seemed
to lack direction, with Run wanting to explore rock and DMC wanted
to take their music to a more relaxed, intellectual level. Jam
Master Jay was determined to update the group's formulas by making
their beats more R & B, and less old school sounding. Rumors
of a new album had been in speculation since Jason Nevins' remixes
had peaked the charts in 1998, although new rumors of solo projects
were also appearing - as well that Run-DMC had broken up.
In 1999, Arista Records bought out Profile Records, and although
the group had started recording new material the album's status
appeared to be in arrears for almost two years. Eventually, a
date was finalized and Crown Royal released in 2001. The album
was not greeted with open arms by the group's fan base, as guest
artists (including Everlast, Fred Durst, Nas, Jermaine Dupri
and even Sugar Ray) had seemed to replace DMC all together. In
fact, only the title track does not contain a guest artist. The
album had two singles, "Let's Stay Together " which
featured Jagged Edge and "Rock Show" which featured
Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.
Run-DMC opened for Aerosmith and Kid Rock for the Girls of Summer
Tour in 2002. While this saw the return of Run-DMC performing
at large scale arena venues, the nasaly voice of DMC was gone.
After years of vocal chord treatment and reconstruction, DMC
revealed that he had "put on" his rapping voice. By
doing this for so many years, he had strained his vocal chords
almost to the point that he would have lost his voice all together
if he had not changed his approach to rhyming.
On October 30th 2002, Jam Master Jay was shot and killed by an
unknown gunman in his 9/11 recording studio in Queens, New York.
The shooting of Jam Master Jay was rumored as being drug related,
although the DJ's involvement with discovering and recording
the gangster rapper 50 Cent is also speculated as the motive.
In an interview with Grandslam Magazine in November 2002, Run
said "No one will want to see Run-DMC without Jam Master
Jay. Run-DMC is officially retired".
Aerosmith was one of many bands to pay their respects and contribute
to a fund to help find the killer.
Prior to Jay's murder, the group had filmed a Dr Pepper television
commercial with protégé LL Cool J. When the commercial
aired in the winter of 2003, a dedication to Jam Master Jay was
appended to the initial airings of the commercial.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #48 on their list
of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Run-DMC was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
on October 15, 2006.
A live DVD entitled Live At Montreux 2001 was released a on April
3, 2007. Also in 2007, Run-DMC was voted as the Greatest Hip
Hop group of all time by MTV.
Run-DMC will be eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
in 2008.
Discography
1984:Run-D.M.C
1985:King of Rock
1986: Raising Hell
1988:Tougher Than Leather
1990:Back from Hell
1993:Down with the King
2001:Crown Royal
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