Run-DMC: Difference between revisions
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* [http://www.rundmc.com/ RunDMC.com] The Official Run-D.M.C. Website |
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* [http://www.rundmcmusic.com/ The Run-D.M.C. Website] |
* [http://www.rundmcmusic.com/ The Run-D.M.C. Website] |
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* {{Musicbrainz artist|id=5ecc3f72-20a6-47a0-8dc5-fb0b3dadeea0|name=Run-D.M.C.}} |
* {{Musicbrainz artist|id=5ecc3f72-20a6-47a0-8dc5-fb0b3dadeea0|name=Run-D.M.C.}} |
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Revision as of 18:16, 24 September 2007
Run-DMC |
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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 [1]. The three members of Run-D.M.C. grew up in the neighborhood of Hollis in the New York City borough of Queens, USA.
History
Early history
"Run" Simmons is the brother of hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, and entered 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".
A while later, 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.
Mainstream success
The band signed a record deal with Profile Records in 1983, and Run's Skippy 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 (this record was later broken as rap gained more popularity with artists like Notorious B.I.G), 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" (1983) 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 hit number 1 in the United Kingdom, Germany, and many other European countries. A video was made for It's Like That, although no new footage of Run-DMC appeared in the clip.
Later in 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".
Later career
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 (which included ideas of hiring a live band for their shows) 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 (Together Forever)" 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 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.[2]
Run-DMC was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (www.limusichalloffame.org) on Oct 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.
Post-Run-D.M.C.
Joseph "Run" Simmons
Run recently completed his first solo album, titled Distortion. The first single from the album, "Mind On the Road", is featured in EA Sports Madden NFL 2006. Run also starred, along with his family, in the MTV reality-sitcom Run's House starting in the fall of 2005. As of April 2007, MTV had already renewed the series for a third season.
As well as MTV, Run has been working together with D.M.C. on a comeback single entitled, Come 2Gether. Also as of this year, Run put together a mix tape with KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions and confirmed he will do an album with the group as he did earlier in his career. He is also planning on doing an album with Kid Rock.
Darryl "DMC" McDaniels
DMC released his first solo album, entitled Checks Thugs and Rock N Roll, on March 14, 2006. The first single is "Just Like Me", using samples and the chorus from Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle", with the chorus sung by Sarah McLachlan. The second single is planned to contain samples from Starship's "We Built This City".
When "This Iz Tha Final Kut" was unreleased, DMC decided to make it into an album. Guests will feature, DJ Run, BDP, N.W.A., Kid Rock, and DMC's new group, Tha All-Stars which consists of Nas, MC Ren, Jay-Z, and newcomer, Knock-Out. The album will be produced by himself.
DMC made a surprise guest appearance during the encore of Aerosmith's Hyde Park Calling set on Sunday 24th June 2007, performing the classic rock-rap version of Walk This Way.
Discography
Albums
| Album information |
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Run-D.M.C.
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King of Rock
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Raising Hell
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Tougher Than Leather
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Back From Hell
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Down With the King
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Crown Royal
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Greatest Hits Albums
- Together Forever: Greatest Hits 1983–1991 (1991) (Profile Records)
- High Profile: The Original Rhymes (2002) (Profile Records)
- Greatest Hits (2002) (Profile Records)
- The Best of Run DMC (2003) (Profile Records)
- Ultimate Run-D.M.C. (2003) (Profile Records)
- Artist Collection: Run DMC (2004) (Arista Records)
- Live At Montreux 2001 (2007) (Eagle Records)
References
- ^ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1821231,00.html (nr.40)
- ^ "The Immortals: The First Fifty". Rolling Stone Issue 946. Rolling Stone.
See also
External links
- RunDMC.com The Official Run-D.M.C. Website
- The Run-D.M.C. Website
- Run-D.M.C. discography at MusicBrainz
- Official Site of DMC
- Jam Master Jay, 1965–2002 - Harry Allen The Media Assassin reflects on the passing of JMJ and the impact of Run-D.M.C.