Run DMC's "Run-DMC": A 30th Anniversary Retrospective

Run-DMC almost singlehandedly ushered in the New School Era of Hip-Hop and ended the Old School Era with the release of their 1983 smash single “It’s Like That”/”Sucker MC’s.”

The record captured the spirit and the stripped down, straight forward energy of the park jam and put it on a record at a time when people were making rap versions of popular radio singles and trying to appeal to audiences other than B-Boys and B-Girls. Run-DMC’s A side was a commentary of the Reaganomics 80’s and inner city blight in the mold of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s 1982 hit “The Message” but slightly edgier, more direct and urgent. The B-side, however, changed everything. “Sucker MC’s” was a straight forward beat from a drum machine with no catchy chorus in which DJ Run did exactly what he’d do on the mic at a throw down in the park. It was stripped down & bare. It was minimalist. It was also completely revolutionary.

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Photo: Profile Records

“It’s Like That” and “Sucker MC’s” both spread like wildfire. They got burn on every radio in every urban center and ghetto across America. Run-DMC captured the hearts and minds of Hip-Hoppers all across the nation. They weren’t trying to gain favor with the segment of Black music radio programmers that shied away from rap because of its unwillingness to compromise or assimilate. At this time, most leading rap groups of the Old School Era dressed like a mix between punk rockers and Funk/Soul/R&B acts like Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang or Rick James. Run-DMC dressed like straight up B-Boys from Hollis, Queens. This made them accessible and relatable to legions of Rap fans. The follow up single “Hard Times”/“Jam Master Jay” managed to raise anticipation for the album at a time when full length Rap albums were rarer than Black quarterbacks in the NFL.

After the release of Run-DMC’s self titled debut album on March 27th, 1984 it was clear that things would never be the same in rap music again. While they were on Profile Records they benefited fully from the push of the Def Jam/Rush Management machine which included the savvy and foresight of Russell Simmons and Bill Adler so the album was reviewed by leading music publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin, Village Voice, Billboard & New York Times that usually wouldn’t be receptive to rap. The critical response to the album echoed the streets which was yet another rarity for the times. It was universally recognized that Run-DMC were rap champions ushering in a new age for a daring, brash young American genre of music that was not to be denied its rightful place. Run-DMC’s debut album Run-DMC was released in late March 1984 and would be the first domino that fell just as Hip-Hop culture burst onto the American mainstream that year.

The studio film “Breakin'” opened in early May 1984, it became an instant box office hit and its soundtrack shot up the Billboard charts. In late May, the Fat Boys self-titled debut LP was released and it would become another Gold record and another crucial win for the burgeoning art form. Kurtis Blow’s singles “AJ Scratch” and “8 Million Stories” off of his 5th LP Ego Trip had the streets but it was his single “Basketball” that broke into Billboard’s Hot 100.  In early June 1984, the Harry Belafonte produced film “Beat Street” opened and became yet another box-office hit complete with a hot soundtrack album.

There were B-Boys present at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Michael Holman (who was an associate producer on “Beat Street”) got a pilot for a show about Hip-Hop culture aired on national TV called “Graffiti Rock” later that same month which aired in different markets at different times over the next two or three weeks. The B-Boying themed after school special “The Pilot” aired in September 1984 and was played repeatedly for a year afterwards. In October 1984, Whodini’s sophomore album Escape dropped containing the hits “Five Minutes Of Funk”, “Big Mouth”, “Freaks Come Out At Night” & “Friends” which cracked the elusive Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Run-DMC championed Hip-Hop culture and rap music in another crucial arena. MTV wouldn’t play videos by Black artists and after constant pressure from the urban music community they finally relented. The first two videos they played were Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Run-DMC’s “Rock Box.” The record was tailor-made for not only the young music network but it’s viewers thanks to the slick production of Larry Smith, Run & D’s back and forth rhymes and Eddie Martinez‘ virtuoso guitar work. Everything about the “Rock Box” video just made viewers wonder why rap videos hadn’t been on MTV before. The video was instrumental in pushing the Run-DMC album to Gold sales. After that barrier was broken down, the floodgates had been opened and Hip-Hop culture invaded the mainstream. Even Sister Sledge performed Run-DMC’s “It’s Like That” during their appearance on “The Jeffersons” in 1984. After five years of the first rap records being pressed up, the genre had finally managed to go mainstream.

Run-DMC was partly responsible for introducing rap music to a brand new audience thus they often were the go-to guys whenever anything rap or Hip-Hop culture related came up. Their style of dress was iconic (and an extension of Jam Master Jay’s personal style), the way they went back and forth harkened back to the Old School Era but the ferocity and power of their bars changed the way subsequent MC’s delivered their rhymes. Their live show with Jam Master Jay set the precedent for how future rap groups had to command a stage. In short, without Run-DMC’s debut album you wouldn’t be reading articles on a website called Hip-Hop Wired 30 years later.

Salute to the Kings From Queens, may they reign eternally. Rest In Peace, Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell.

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