Run-D.M.C.

Hollis

Run-D.M.C. came out of Hollis, Queens, where Joseph Simmons (Run), Darryl McDaniels (DMC) and Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) formed the group in 1983. Simmons had started as a DJ for Kurtis Blow, who was managed by his older brother Russell Simmons. McDaniels, known as Easy D, wrote rhymes before he would rap in public, and Mizell was known as Jazzy Jase before he became their DJ. Russell Simmons marketed them as Run-D.M.C., a name the group hated at first. DMC said they had wanted to be the Dynamic Two or the Treacherous Two.

Their first single on Profile in 1983 paired It's Like That with Sucker M.C.'s. Both tracks relied on an Oberheim DMX drum machine, and Sucker M.C.'s added only a few scratches. Peter Shapiro wrote that the release "completely changed hip-hop." The group also changed how rappers looked, dropping glam stage clothes for Kangol hats, leather jackets and unlaced Adidas, and performing with only Run and DMC out front and Jay on two turntables behind them.

Rock and rap

The debut album, Run-D.M.C., came out on 27 March 1984 and became the first rap album certified Gold. Russell Simmons and Larry Smith produced it, and Smith's group Orange Krush supplied the music. It included Rock Box, for which Smith brought in the guitarist Eddie Martinez. The video, shot at the club Danceteria, put the group on MTV. Robert Christgau graded the album A minus and called it "the canniest and most formally sustained rap album ever."

King of Rock followed on 21 January 1985 and went Platinum. It was the first rap album released on CD. The group played Live Aid in 1985 and appeared in the film Krush Groove. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later described them as a group of firsts: the first rappers to go gold, platinum and multiplatinum, and the first on MTV. Tom Breihan of Pitchfork wrote in 2005 that the debut remained their most powerful and immediate studio record.

Raising Hell

For Raising Hell (1986) Rick Rubin took over from Smith. After touring, the group spent three months at Chung King studios in Manhattan. DMC said that despite the production credits the three of them really did everything, having written their rhymes on the road. When the album was nearly done, Rubin wanted something to appeal to rock fans, and that led to Walk This Way with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first hip-hop single in the top five.

The album also held My Adidas and It's Tricky. It went to number one on the R&B albums chart, a first for a hip-hop album, and was certified 3x Platinum by April 1987. Critics in the Village Voice's 1986 Pazz & Jop poll voted it fifth among albums and Walk This Way the best single. In 1987 the group toured with the Beastie Boys. The Library of Congress later added Raising Hell to the National Recording Registry.

Afterwards

Tougher Than Leather (1988), produced by the group, Davy D. and Rubin, leaned harder on sampling and went Platinum, with Run's House and Mary, Mary among its singles. A film of the same name, directed by Rubin, was panned by critics. Down with the King (1993) brought in producers including Pete Rock, Q-Tip and EPMD, reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the R&B albums chart. Its title track was their last hit, and Crown Royal followed in 2001.

Mizell died on 30 October 2002 and the group disbanded afterward. In 2009 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the second rap act after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and in 2016 they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Simmons and McDaniels gave what they said would be their final performance as Run-DMC at Yankee Stadium on 11 August 2023.

RUN DMC is the chief architect of hip-hop.

Chuck D, quoted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography