About Me
Every turning point in American music has its originator, its progenitor, its King. The blues had W.C. Handy and jazz had Louis Armstrong. Swing had Benny Goodman and bebop had Charlie Parker. Rhythm and blues had Ray Charles and rock and roll had Elvis Presley. Punk rock had the Stooges and disco had Barry White. And hip-hop had Run-DMC – and always will, with their uncompromised vision and attitude, as laid out on their formative albums and singles, serving as the DNA of rap music for more than two decades and counting.
From the first beats of 1983's "It's Like That," their debut single, Run-DMC ignited a revolution that brought hip-hop into the front-line, across television barriers, into the RIAA platinum realm, and straight ahead to the mash-ups that are today's new frontiers of rap and rock. It all starts with Run-DMC's first 4 albums, 1980s classics which have been newly remastered as expanded editions with multiple bonus tracks – a total of 17 tracks between them, including demos, live performances, single B sides, remixes, spiels, and radio spots, most of which are previously unreleased. Arriving in stores September 6th on Profile/Arista/Legacy, are deluxe digipaks of RUN-D.M.C. (1984), the 20th anniversary special edition of KING OF ROCK (1985), RAISING HELL (1986), and TOUGHER THAN LEATHER (1988).
Providing an up-to-the-minute context for the release of these four titles is news of Run's House, the brand new family-based reality sitcom starring Rev Run (aka Joey Simmons). Run's House, brought to MTV by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy TV and Russell Simmons, will premiere this fall. Underscoring the series is the long-awaited first solo album project by Rev Run, Distortion, which will arrive in stores September 13th on Russell Simmons Music Group/Island Def Jam. "Mind On the Road," the album's first single pick, is highlighted in "Madden 2006," the latest edition in E/A's mega-successful football video game series. Due for release on August 9th, the video is expected to sell over 7 million units in North America. All this marks the return to center stage for Rev Run. His activities were dramatically curtailed after the tragic murder of close friend and Run-DMC founding member Jam Master Jay on October 30, 2002, just weeks after the group finished a major tour with Aerosmith and Kid Rock.
In addition to the bonus tracks material on the four new expanded editions, each CD booklet features rare photography and memorabilia from the Run-DMC archive. Also included in each volume are tribute quotes from Eminem, 50 Cent, Ice-T, Pete Rock, MCA of the Beastie Boys, Chris Rock, MC Lyte, Kid Rock, and producer Rick Rubin.
"Until Run-DMC I thought that hip-hop was something that was only going to be done in basements and in clubs," said Ice-T. "I went to a Run-DMC concert and they actually made me believe that hip-hop could be big. Rap was never at that level. We'd never seen it like that." Adds Eminem, "Run-DMC broke down the barriers. They were the first real rap stars. Everyone in the game today owes something to them."
Liner notes have been painstakingly assembled for each album. Bill Adler, original publicist for Rush Management and Profile Records, and author of the definitive biography, Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC (Consafos Press 2002), has written a newly commissioned 1,600-word essay for RUN-D.M.C. Andrew Graham, a Boston-based writer who has covered hip hop and punk for MTV and a variety of publications, has written a newly commissioned 1,700-word essay for KING OF ROCK, which references his interviews with producers, DJs, Profile Records executives, and contemporary indie hip hop figures Larry Smith, Sam Sever, Prince Paul, Ricky Powell, Cory Robbins, El-P, DJ Chuck Chillout, DJ Red Alert, and others.
A newly commissioned 1,700-word essay for RAISING HELL has been written by Sacha Jenkins, editorial director of Mass Appeal magazine, former editor of Vibe, co-founder of egotrip magazine, and executive producer of the compilation album egotrip's The Big Playback (Priority, 2000). Last but not least is the indispensable 1,900-word essay for TOUGHER THAN LEATHER written by Chuck D, former frontman for Public Enemy, acclaimed rapper, composer, actor, producer, and co-host of "On The Real," a daily show on the Air America Radio network.
The accomplishments of Run-DMC – Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniel, and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell – are unparalleled:
• The first rap act to have a #1 R&B charting rap album
• The first rap act to have a Top 10 pop charting rap album
• The first rap act to earn RIAA gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums
• The first rap act to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
• The first rap act to receive a Grammy Award nomination
• The first rap act to have a video added to MTV
• The first rap act to appear on Saturday Night Live and American Bandstand
• The first rap act to win crossover appeal with rock and hip-hop fans
• The only rap act to perform at Live Aid in 1985
• AND the first rap act signed to an athletic product endorsement deal
Despite the Run's House locale of affluent Saddle River, New Jersey, the roots of Run-DMC remain firmly planted in the working class New York neighborhood of Hollis, Queens. Russell Simmons was managing pioneering rapper Kurtis Blow when younger brother Run began to hone his "rhyming apparatus." Stuck for inspiration while writing "It's Like That" – described by Adler as musically, a nasty, grimy version of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," and lyrically, a less hardcore version of Melle Mel's "The Message," both 1982 rap hits – Run turned to his childhood pal Darryl McDaniels (DMC), for help. Their collaboration continued on the B side, "Sucker M.C.'s," which built on a drumbeat from "Action" by Orange Krush, the band led by Larry Smith, Russell's production partner.
The "It's Like That" 12-inch hit the streets on the indie Profile label in the spring of 1983, and ruled beat boxes for the rest of the year, forcing many R&B radio stations to move it from night-time rap "mix shows" (where it lit up the switchboards) into day-time regular rotation. After 250,000 copies were sold (Profile's biggest seller), the road beckoned with real money offers, so Run recruited his old basketball teammate and DJ pal Jason Mizell, who performed as Jazzy Jase. Audiences got their first taste – and look – at the Run-DMC trio and were hooked. The "battering-ram percussion and rough vocals" (as the Village Voice characterized "It's Like That") of Run-DMC's sparse beats and rhymes was a slap in the face that fans couldn't get enough of. Run-DMC made the transition to full-length albums with plenty of swagger to spare.
