One of hip-hop’s first superstar groups, Run DMC not only produced some of the finest classics, but set a tone for masculinity that would go on to dominate the industry as it aged. Hip-hop has had this obsession with a brave and tough exterior, and the ideals of machismo, money, drugs, sex and so on are synonymous with the genre, in spite of the countless artists who increasingly turn away from the stereotypes. Run DMC weren’t the first to present themselves as hypermasculine figures, but they were monolithic figures whose hard, half-rock-half-hip-hop music raised a generation. Smiles were a rarity, leather jackets were everywhere, and let’s not forget that legendary Aerosmith collab.
Behind that macho exterior, however, people are still human, and in 2016, that’s become clearer every day, even in hip-hop. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, one third of the group, has revealed in his new memoir Ten Ways Not To Commit Suicide that he was affected heavily by alcohol addiction to the point that he was close to taking his own life. In an exclusive excerpt from the book over at People, McDaniels writes about what got him through it all.
“I was probably at my suicidal worst in 1997 during a two-week-long tour in Japan. The only song I listened to then was a soft-pop ballad by Sarah McLachlan called ‘Angel.'” Apparently, the rapper heard the slow ballad first in a cab ride in 1996. The song has since been used in a PSA to raise funds for the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
“I thought long and hard about killing myself every day in Japan. I tricked myself into thinking that my family might be better off without me. I considered jumping out of a window. I thought about going to a hardware store to buy poison to ingest. I thought about putting a gun to my temple. Whenever I’d listen to ‘Angel,’ though, I always managed to make my way back from the brink.”
https://youtu.be/i1GmxMTwUgs
The same year as that Japan tour, McDaniels met Sarah McLachlan at a pre-Grammy’s party. “I went over to her and was like, ‘Ms. McLachlan, you sing like an angel; you’re a God to me. I listen to that record every day of my life. That record takes all of the suicidal thoughts out of my life.'”
In 2000, McDaniels discovered that he was adopted, and his depression worsened along with his drinking. He approached McLachlan do do a duet with him, covering Harry Chapin’s “Cat In The Cradle.” They recorded it at McLachlan’s home studio, and after the recording session, she told him she was also adopted.
DMC McDaniels is currently sober and spends his time helping The Felix Oranization (his charity) mentor children who came from the foster care system.
The latest issue of People magazine is available now on newsstands, and digs deeper into McDaniels’ life and relationship with his biological mother. Ten Ways Not To Commit Suicide is available to all on the 5th of July. You can order it here.
Read more: Depression in Hip-Hop is being Embraced at Last
Image: Run-DMC
30 years ago, Rick Rubin gathered together down-and-out rock gods Aerosmith and up-and-coming hip-hop crew Run-DMC in a studio in Manhattan to make history. They didn’t know it then but what they created in that studio would launch hip-hop into the world of popular culture. It paved the way for rap to take over MTV and pop radio, and for Run-DMC to become rap’s first rock stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOKMWSR2Aio
In 1986, Run-DMC were working on releasing their third album, Raising Hell, and they were about to hit it big. A visionary 22-year-old kid from New York University named Rick Rubin was producing their album. Rubin said, “We had finished the album . . . and I listened to it and felt like there was something missing. That idea worked simultaneously with this conversation about how hip-hop and rap music was not music. To people who were not already fans of it, the gap was so far that not only did they not understand it, but they did not understand it to be music.”
He was clearly yet to realise at the time that the song he envisioned for the album would achieve exactly what he intended.
“I was looking for a way to bridge that gap in the story of finding a piece of music that was familiar and already hip-hop-friendly so that on the hip-hop side it would make sense and on the non-hip-hop side you’d see it wasn’t so far away.”
At the time, DJs including Run DMC’s Jam Master Jay were already using the breakbeats of rock songs as backing tracks for rappers, but they weren’t really embracing the genre. Darryl McDaniels (DMC) said of the beat from Aerosmith’s Walk This Way, “Our thing was, ‘Go get ‘Toys in the Attic’ and play number four.’ We had no idea that there was singing or what the song was, but we knew the beat. It was a hard breakbeat.”
It was Rick Rubin who actually had the idea to bring Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry into the studio and re-record the single with Run and DMC rapping the lyrics. He believed it would help them break the mainstream market which, until then, had not embraced rap and hip-hop. Some pop radio stations played R&B, but they would never have considered rap – especially if it came from the urban “hood” culture that Run DMC represented.
Image: The Rumpus
If Rubin could get them to rap Aerosmith’s lyrics, maybe people would realise that the content is the same, but it’s the delivery that’s different. Originally, the Queens rappers weren’t particularly thrilled at the idea of rapping what DMC described as “hillbilly gibberish, country-bumpkin bulls—”.
When they actually went in to record, DMC said, “You know how you make a kid sit down and eat his vegetables? ‘Oh, hell no, you sit down and eat those greens.’ And it takes the kid an hour to eat one green at a time? That’s what me and Run were doing.”
They threw down the verses, altering bits as they saw fit while Steve Tyler sang and Joe Perry played that iconic guitar riff. When reminiscing on that day in the studio, Rick Rubin said, “The main thing I remember from the session was Joe playing guitar and how impressive it was and Run and D doing the calls in front of Steven and Steven doing the ad-libs and the chorus. And I remember just thinking how Run and D didn’t like the lyrics and here’s the guy who wrote the song.”
Aerosmith were seemingly past their prime. There were bad record sales, unresolved issues among band members and far too many drugs. They needed something to help launch a comeback and re-invigorate them to get sober and serious about their music. They agreed to re-record the song without really knowing what to expect.
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry left the studio that day not knowing if the song would even be released, but Walk This Way was indeed released as a single from Raising Hell in July 1986.
In order for the song to make it big, it needed to be played on MTV. At the time, MTV were the taste-makers of pop culture. They had real power and they weren’t playing rap music. Jon Small, who directed the video for Walk This Way, had the idea of putting a physical wall between the two bands and having them tear literally it down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
The video is essentially the visual representation of what Walk This Way did for Run DMC and rap as a genre. Rock became rap and rap became rock. The video showed that rappers could waltz onto a huge stage with one of the biggest rock bands in the world and command it with equal strength. Watching Steve Tyler in leopard print flairs throw his arms around Run and DMC in laceless Adidas sneakers is definitely something to behold.
Walk This Way became a huge success hitting number 4 on the Billboard charts and showing the world that rock and rap could work together – they weren’t that different. Run DMC became rap legends after that. They probably would’ve done it on their own, but this song forced the white kids in the suburbs to listen to real hip-hop and sparked a legacy that continues today. The coming together of those two unlikely artists paved the way for rap to be incorporated into any genre and vice versa. This song was a precursor to some of the incredible collaborations and samples that are mixed together to form modern music’s most innovative hip-hop songs.
To read all about the making of the song and watch footage of Run-DMC, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry in the studio recording, check out The Washington Post’s oral history of Walk This Way.
Image: Washington Post
Washington DC has never been a ‘must-see’ destination on my hip-hop sightseeing tour of North America. I figure The Bronx, Harlem World, Compton, Rucker Park, 5Pointz, and the bodega where a 17-year-old Biggie Smalls delivered his dope freestyle would make the list, but now it seems we have to also add the Smithsonian.
Bill Adler, music journalism and former director of publicity at Def Jam Recordings, has a collection of more than 400 photographs representing two decades of hip-hop history. Since closing his Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery in New York in 2007, the collection has been filed away, but Adler’s collection now gets to see the light again as part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
Adler is something of a hip-hop historian, producing and writing the authorised Run D.M.C. biography and the VH1 documentary series, And You Don’t Stop 30 Years of Hip Hop. He now brings us his extensive collection of rare vintage hip-hop photographs from both amateurs and famous professional photographers, featuring some of hip-hop’s greats like Nas, Eazy E, Jay Z, Queen Latifah, KRS-One, Run D.M.C. and more.
“The Smithsonian has resources that I could never dream of. They’re going to preserve the photos in a way that I couldn’t. They’ve already digitized these materials,” Adler told Smithsonian Magazine. “Soon enough this stuff will be online and the idea that it’s going to be available to anybody anywhere with an interest in this culture. It’s completely thrilling to me.”
An official date for the online release of the collection is yet to be announced but until then, there have been some previews unveiled below like the photo above which features Jaz-O, Queen Latifah and Jay-Z.
Run D.M.C. – Photo: Ricky Powell
KRS-One – Photo: Al Pereira
Nas – Photo: Danny Clinch/Sony Music
The NMAAHC is an extension of the Smithsonian and sits alongside it on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The museum, including the Vintage Hip Hop Photography exhibit, is set to open this fall. Check out the museum’s promo video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYlWLZMAPNA
Image: Smithsonian (Al Pereira)
One of the most important and influential producers of all time, Rick Rubin has had a hand in the development of countless artists, albums and entire genres – notably including hip-hop. In a new feature with Rolling Stone, Rubin has broken down his experiences working with a number of artists across the past few decades, including LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, Eminem, Jay-Z and more.
LL Cool J was one of the first ever acts signed to Rubin’s then-fledgling imprint label Def Jam Records, which he founded in 1984 with Russell Simmons. The pair worked together on his 1985 album Radio, paving the way for an R&B-tinged form of rap which would quickly become considered somewhat revolutionary in the development of the genre’s countless subtypes. It also kickstarted an extremely successful career for LL, who most recently hosted the Grammy Awards last week.
Speaking about I Need A Beat, Rubin revealed, “It was a beat that I programmed at the dorm room on a DX drum machine. I think that was the first one that we ever recorded with LL.”
“Back then, I would say LL was kind of a nerdy 16-year-old kid. He was really smart, well read. He came to the dorm room and was very motivated. He’s one of the more hardworking artists I’ve worked with, even from then. And I felt like he really kept to himself. He was friendly with the other artists, but I felt like he was a little bit of a loner type guy. He was in his head a lot. It was different than so many artists that were much more outgoing.”
The Beastie Boys’ relationship with Rubin is perhaps one of the most famous of his career, and in the article, Rubin discusses working on No Sleep Til Brooklyn.
“The title came from Adam Yauch,” he began, explaining that Yauch had used the title in a punk rock band he was in before the Beasties.
“All four of us always wrote lyrics and then kind of pooled ideas, and we hung out a lot. We would go out to Danceteria pretty much every night and hang out and come up with lines to make each other laugh,” he reflected.
“I remember there were a lot of really funny lines in that one. It definitely entertained us at the time.”
He talks about how Kerry King of Slayer recorded the track’s monumental guitar solo, and how strange it was for a stanch metalhead to record on a rap track. “I don’t think he liked the song. I think he just thought it was bizarre. He’s a real, serious metalhead. He really loves metal, and I don’t think he listens to much music outside of metal… At least then he didn’t. I don’t think it spoke to his aesthetic.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Y0cy-nvAg
Rubin also discussed the making of Walk This Way, the hit collaboration between Run-DMC and Aerosmith.
“The rest of the Run-DMC album [Raising Hell] had already been finished. I just had a feeling that there was something more that we could do that would help it. It was a funny time in rap music in that the majority of people didn’t understand what it was at all. People didn’t think it was music.” Rubin had the idea to bring the two groups together to help “bridge that gap” between hip-hop and the rest of the music world at the time.
“Getting Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to participate was easy,” he went on, explaining how their recent album had flopped, and they were “really excited to participate in real, urban street music.”
“I remember when we discussed the idea of having Aerosmith come in with the Run-DMC guys, and they were really against it. They didn’t want to say words that they didn’t write. They thought they were kind of like, country. It didn’t relate to their mentality. And I remember Russell [Simmons] called them and said, “Just do what Rick says.””
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
Eminem and Rubin have collaborated a number of times throughout the rapper’s extremely successful career, and here, Rubin discusses the making of the Marshall Mathers LP2 standout single Bezerk. “That was a case where Eminem said, “Let’s make one of those old records that we grew up on,”” he revealed – and that feel can be immediately held upon listening. The entire track was programmed, save for Rubin playing guitar, and a sample of a news reported saying “go berserk.”
Eminem recorded the vocals to the track entirely alone, without anybody else watching. “Once he raps to a beat, you can’t change anything. It’s almost like all the drops, all the moves in the song have to happen before he writes to it because he writes into the music in a way that makes it hard to change anything after he raps. He uses his voice as another instrument that plays off of all the different rhythms going on in the track.”
“He’s a real, unbelievable student of hip-hop. He’s maybe the most obsessive artist I’ve ever worked with in terms of someone who just full-time is writing rhymes. It’s what he does.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab9176Srb5Y
One of the most insightful tracks Rubin breaks down in the article is Jay-Z’s smash single 99 Problems.
“Jay Z was coming out of retirement and asking different producers that he liked to each do a track,” he began, before revealing that the song’s inspiration came from Chris Rock, who had pointed out that Ice-T also had a track titled 99 Problems. “The idea was, it’s the opposite song. In the Ice-T original song, it’s all about the girls. Our idea was, “OK, this will be a song with the same hook about the problems.””
Jay-Z wrote the verses in “about half an hour,” before going on to record and re-record every single part numerous times. Each time he recorded it, “the inflection and flow would be different.”
“He said it was the first time he had ever physically wrote anything down before for any record. He was just very inspired by that beat, and it was a miraculous thing to behold.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Xh9L-AqA8
Read the full article on Rolling Stone, which also features Rubin delving into his work with artists including Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Queen, Slayer, Danzig, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Black Sabbath.
Image: TheSocialMediaSamurai
Throughout their career, Run-DMC have been widely accepted as one of the most iconic hip-hop groups in history, with the group consistently staying at the forefront of the scene. It’s only fitting, then, that they will be receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at next month’s ceremony.
Paving the way for, well, the entirety of hip-hop, they were the first hip-hop group to ever see an album go gold, with the release of their self-titled debut in 1984, and were the first rap group to ever be nominated for a Grammy. They were also the first rap group to earn platinum and multi-platinum records, the first to have a video air on MTV, the first to grace the cover of Rolling Stone, and more. This marks their first ever Grammy award.
Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy, made a statement regarding the award, stating that, “each year, The Academy has the distinct privilege of honouring those who have greatly contributed to our industry and cultural heritage, and this year we have a gifted and brilliant group of honourees. Their exceptional accomplishments, contributions, and artistry will continue to influence and inspire generations to come.” While Run-D.M.C absolutely meet all of the requirements above, this will be the first Grammy award they’ve won. Their last shot at a win was in 1986, when the trio was the first rap collective to be nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance, as the rap category was yet to be formed.
Joseph “Reverund Run” Simmons (who formed Run-D.M.C in 1982 along with Darryl “DMC” Mcdaniels and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell), tweeted his pride at winning the award.
I just got a call from the Grammys!! They shocked me!! We're the first rappers to get this award!! Shocked! … https://t.co/xHlzCPAgHz
— Rev Run (@RevRunWisdom) January 13, 2016
The Recording Academy will also be giving honorary awards to Celia Cruz, Earth Wind & Fire, John Cage, Ruth Brown, Jefferson Airplane, Herbie Hancock, and Linda Ronstadt.
The 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards will air on Sunday, Feb 15th.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-O5IHVhWj0&w=420&h=315]
This week is National Prevention Week in the US, an annual event run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. To kick off events and help promote awareness, an anti-drug PSAs from the 1980s has just been re-premiered over on Ambrosia for Heads.
While drugs have commonly been a well-known and used theme in hip hop lyrics, these PSAs show a different side to the genre – one where drugs aren’t a blindly accepted part of the culture, and one where rappers encourage kids to stay in school and work hard.
The PSA comes from the legendary Run DMC, who, at the time of this video, were on the brink of releasing their third album Raising Hell. As a group probably more aware than most of the gangs, violence, drugs and in particular, the crack epidemic tearing through the streets – both in their local neighbourhood of Queens, New York and elsewhere, the trio encourage fans to go to school, to not use drugs or associate with gangs. It might be hard for some kids to avoid gangs and street problems completely, but that doesn’t mean they need to get involved – they could play basketball, stick their heads in the books, or even rap. “Wanna be like us three? We’re Run DMC! It’s not that hard, it’s very easy. Just go to school, don’t be a fool, don’t mess with drugs or thugs and you’ll be cool. Word.”
We’ll bring more later this week about National Prevention Week.
If you find yourself wanting to cause power surges in public spaces (you’d find a way, you know you could) just so the ‘Christmas’ it will stop, here’s a nice little festive list that doesn’t involve power ballads or a Glee soundtrack. Oh – and maybe, if you work in retail or hospitality, you can send your boss this article along with a big ole hint: you will not endure another twenty-odd days of Michael Buble and Mariah Carey. Together, we can make a change.
1: Frightened Rabbit, She Screams Christmas
Consistently beautiful and constantly overlooked, Frightened Rabbit like to put out Christmas songs out for free quite often. There was a lot of toing and froing, but eventually, 2012’s She Screams Christmas won out. It’s got all of the usual Frabbit cosy charm, matched with and a soft, wintery echo that makes it sound like it belongs in a movie soundtrack.
2: The Knife, Reindeer
If it weren’t for the fact that the opening lyrics are “Reindeer, reindeer, reindeer” you probably wouldn’t even think this was a Christmas song. Maybe it still isn’t, but it’s a great alternative to renditions of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Creepy, confusing and enthralling all at once, it’s the Knife, doing what the Knife do (or rather, did) best.
3: Los Campesinos! When Christmas Comes
Familiar with the whole ‘writing your own Christmas songs’ (past festive offerings have included Kindle a Flame in Her Heart and A Doe To A Deer) bit, Los Campesinos! have come out with their offering for the 2014 season. It’s a 6-track EP titled A Los Campesinos! Christmas and When Christmas Comes is the lead track, making not of the fact that once November comes, Christmas has pretty much already begun. Complete with bells, chimes and layered vocals, it’s possibly the most “Christmassy” thing you’ll find on this list.
4: Sufjan Stevens, Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It)
In one box-set alone, Sufjan Stevens has 42 Christmas songs. Released over the course of five years (2001-2006) Songs For Christmas is a collection of five separate EPs. If not for the hilarious title or the dream-like qualities of the song itself listen to Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? for the pure relatability of dysfunctionality that seems to come Christmas-time described in the lyrics.
Honourable mentions:
Iggy Pop, White Christmas (or even just his Season’s Greetings video from last year for some major WTF factor). That is all.
Bad Religion, Joy To The World
What is it about punks and Christmas? There are many a punk-Christmas cover out there, Bad Religion came out with an entire album of them last year. Joy to The World was the lead track.
Julian Casablancas, I Wish It Was Christmas Today
SNL live cover? Check. Sleigh bells? Check. Casablancas drawl? Check. Get on it.
Paul Kelly, How to Make Gravy
For when you’re a bit drunk and ready to just feel the feels.
Run DMC, Christmas in Hollis
Run DMC + Christmas. There are no actual words. Other than “yes”.