Two Words, One Answer.
Run Dmc
 Ultimate Run Dmc (with Bonus DVD) $8.99 Run DMC, recognized as one of the pioneers of hip-hop/rap, gives us a treat with this album's release. Most of their top hits are loaded in this album, and many of the songs will take you back to the years when hip-hop was original and free of sample-heavy copycats as it is today. The album kicks off with "Rock Box", which is a rather underexposed hit, but true DMC fans will remember the song a few seconds into it. It's followed up by "Run's House", which is a decent song... but, the third track, "Walk This Way", is recognized as one of the most popular songs ever. The combination of rap and rock (Aerosmith lends their skills in this track) in this track became a signature song for Run DMC, as the song went on to hit multiple charts and was played regularly on several radio stations. "King Of Rock" is another popular hit that is included on this album, and the song is an original that became popular during the break-dance craze era of the early '80's. "It's Tricky" is a slightly different song compared to the others, hinting at a dance-beat rhythm as opposed to a more street-beat rhythm that most of their other tracks offer. "It's Like That" and "Raising Hell" provides listeners with the more street-beat sound, as "My Adidas" provides the more contemporary/radio sound that younger listeners enjoyed back then. "Sucker MC's" was one of their initial hits that made radio waves and "Mary Mary" definitely stuck on listeners' minds when it was popular in 1988. There are multiple hits on this album, and if you've ever had the heart for Run DMC, this collection is definitely a treasure.  Run-D.M.C. $13.98 Run DMC may not have had that mucn in common with the Beatles musically but they were both pioneers for creating album music for their respective genres. Beatles for Rock in the 1960's and Run DMC for Hip Hop in the 80's when they released this album in 1984, which was the first real Hip Hop album with a coherant theme and songs with some substance. Before this, Hip Hop was mostly abouting having fun and dancing and as fun as Sugar Hill Gang had been it just wasn't something you wanted to hear throughout an entire album. Run DMC's sound was much harder and relied on hard hitting sparse electronic beats kind of like Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" from two years prior and tough, confident sometimes daring rhymes. They also mixed alot of Rock in their music instead of Disco or Soul that had been the thing before this. Simply put, Run DMC's debut album was vastly important for the develoment of Rap Music and has often been praised as one of the best albums in the genre. Formed in New York, Run DMC was Joe "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and their DJ Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell 1965-2002. Run being the brother of Def Jam Co founder Russell Simmons who also had a hand in this album. Thir first single was "It's Like That" which set the tone for the rest of the album. Although the song is one of their alltime best and very good to dance to, it's actually political and deals with wars and poverty. "Hard Times" is simular in both sound and meaning, even if it's less obvious while "Rock Box" with it's fierce guitar riffs and rough lyrics is about respect and self praise which was quite new at the time. On the next song, "Jam Master Jay" we get plenty of scratching and more street smart lyrics. "Hollis Crew" (Krush Groove 2) and "Sucker Mc's" (Krush Groove 1) later gave it's name to the cult flick Krush Groove about the early days of Def Jam and Rusell Simmons struggling to promote it's music. If you like old skool Hip Hop, check it out cause there's alot of music in it. "Wake Up" is a really good peace song. "30 Days" seems to be a song for the ladies when they talk about what they can offer while the closer "Jay's Game" is another song where their DJ have the spotlight. Overall, Run DMC's eponymous debut album is a classic and it had a huge effect on the evolution of Hip Hop, without this album who knows what would have happened?. The album is full of memorable old skool hits and for anyone interested in classic hip hop this is a good way to start the collection and getting a better knowledge how things used to sound back in the heyday. It may sound dated by now but it's a very fascinating and important album in every possible way. Further interested? Also check, "King of Rock" and "Raising Hell" where "Walk This Way" became their biggest hit.  King of Rock $13.98 A great sophomore effort, though not as important as its predecessor or successor. The title track is a classic example of the group's imaginative fusion of roaring guitars and dance beats - next time someone tries to tell you Korn was original, or any good, point them to this record and tell them the rap-metal thing had been around long before Korn, and was actually good once. And there are more great songs than just that: the funny "You Talk Too Much," which also offers some sweet synths; "Jam-Master Jammin'" is a great showpiece for Jay; a fine reggae experiment ("Roots, Rap, Reggae," one of the first songs to make the connection between the two genres - Yellowman adds a great vocal), and a bunch of songs with great riffs and turntable work: "Can You Rock it Like This?," "Rock the House," "You're Blind." The group's tendency to base an entire song on an obnoxious novelty comes along to hurt the otherwise respectable "It's Not Funny" - in this case, it's a deep, vocodored voice reciting the title track - but there's great rapping throughout ("Darryl and Joe"). Really, there isn't a single bad song on this album, but since there's no real progress here beyond the debut (other than the reggae song), I have to give it a much lower rating. Still good, though. |
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