RUN DMC

by Alberto Castelli
AL 44 March 2000

“It was the year of Run DMC, and when I heard a DJ doing some amazing things with “Sucker MC's,” then I knew that in Hip Hop was what I was looking for. Sure enough...” (DJ Funkmaster Flex)

That year was 1983 and “Sucker MC's” was the B-side of “It's Like That,” Run DMC's first single for Profile. It was a heavy ‘mix,’ one of those you opened by running them over your pants or running your fingernails over them (what a time...). The cover was completely red, the Profile logo resembled that of a baseball team, and the sound was really powerful. The bass came to your stomach like reggae, Run and DMC had style and energy while Jam Master Jay built a real wall of sound with the cymbals. A bang. Released in America on May twenty-first, that single reached the top twenty positions on the R&B charts hands down, and so did the next singles, “Hard Times” and “Rock Box.” It was only the beginning. Within a few years, in fact, Run DMC in 1984 with their debut album became the first rap group to win a gold record (a nice item they give you in America when you sell more than half a million copies). In 1985, “King Of Rock,” their second work, was the first rap album to go platinum (a more than nice item they always give you in America when you exceed one million copies sold). Then when the three released “Raising Hell” in 1986, the platinum records (a full on sympathy...) became a small collection. It was then that all, but really all, of America took notice of them. It was a resounding bang, at least as resounding as their version of Aerosmith's “Walk This Way,” the same one that swaggeringly celebrated the meeting of two hitherto distant cultures, that of rock and that of Hip Hop. It was then, only then, that MTV also began broadcasting Hip Hop videos, as thousands of American teenagers literally discovered another world. In those days Run, whose real name is Joseph Simmons and DMC, the initials of Darryl Mc Daniel, were only twenty-two years old, Jam Master Jay (stage name of Jazon Mizell) was even one less. They had been in that world forever. Since it had all started. Run was running with his brother Russell (yes, that Russell Simmons who would later become the Berry Gordy of Hip Hop with Def Jam) from club to club, writing rhyme after rhyme and catching the early masters with his eyes, people like Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa, Whodini, Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang.

These were the roots, but Run DMC were from the very first something different. If the others of the old school, especially Bambaataa, sported clothes reminiscent of the total funk of George Clinton and his Funkadelic, Run DMC wore only black. And everything they wore was Adidas (remember “My Adidas”?). And if that old-school sound often echoed more classic funk, Run DMC responded with a simple, deep, sparse, hard beat. They were brash and aggressive. They were the ones who in “It's Like That” exclaimed, “... the thing is like that/ whether you like it or not.” They were the ones telling New York, inviting movement, overlapping heavy beats and guitar solos, but with “Proud To Be Black” (a track that not coincidentally opens “Louder Than A Bomb,” the anthology recently edited by Chuck D) they anticipated Public Enemy by a few years. With the explosion of “Raising Hell,” things changed dramatically. Run DMC discovered within a few years that there is only one thing that is harder than getting to the top: staying there. In 1988 they recorded “Thougher Than Leather,” which was followed by a movie of the same title (they had made their film debut three years earlier, however, by participating in “Krush Groove,” alongside Kurtis Blow, Beastie Boys and Fat Boys) that turned out to be a disaster, and the results got worse two years later with “Back From Hell.”.

The scene had changed. New protagonists had taken over, and their lives plummeted to hell. Darryl had serious problems with alcohol, Run was accused of rape. As had happened many times in African American musical history, the two found refuge in religion. When Run was acquitted he decided to become a preacher, while his rhyming brother managed to get out of that nightmare. “Down With The King” (1993) marked their comeback. Celebrating it were EPMD, Pete Rock, Naughty By Nature, Q-Tip and even Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, among others. Reverend Run went on to produce a collection dedicated to new gospel and rap talent, while a few seasons ago Jason Nervis rocked out with a (rather annoying, between you and me) remix version of the glorious old “It's Like That.” Still, it was nice, a few months ago, to see the three of them again, still dressed in black but with scarred faces, on a magazine ad page announcing the release of “Crown Royal,” their new album. It was nice, but seeing their faces, those days, Profile and “It's Like That” and “Hard Times” and “King Of Rock,” seemed even more distant. What was that rhyme like? The thing stands like this/whether you like it or not....