Run–D.M.C.

Run–D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York, founded in 1981 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay. The group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture. Run–D.M.C. is one of the best-known hip hop acts in the 1980s who, along with LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy, signified the advent of the new school of hip hop music. They were the first group in the genre to have a gold album (Run–D.M.C., 1984) and be nominated for a Grammy Award. They were the first to earn a platinum record (King of Rock, 1985), the first to earn a multiplatinum certification (Raising Hell, 1986), the first to have videos on MTV, and the first to appear on American Bandstand and the cover of Rolling Stone. Run–D.M.C. was the only hip hop act to perform at Live Aid in 1985.

The group was among the first to highlight the importance of the MC and DJ relationship. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them number 48 in their list of the greatest musical artists of all time. In 2007, Run–D.M.C. was named "The Greatest Hip Hop Group of All Time" by MTV.com and "Greatest Hip Hop Artist of All Time" by VH1. On April 4, 2009, rapper Eminem inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In doing so, Run–D.M.C. became only the second hip hop group in history to be inducted, after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Run–D.M.C. (album)

Run–D.M.C. is the debut studio album of American hip hop group Run–D.M.C.. Produced in 1984, it was considered groundbreaking for its time, presenting a harder, more aggressive form of hip hop. The album's sparse beats and aggressive rhymes were in sharp contrast with the light, funky sound that was popular in hip hop at the time. With the album, the group has been regarded by music writers as pioneering the movement of new school hip hop of the early 1980s. The album was reissued as a "Deluxe Edition" in 2005 with four bonus tracks.

Reception and influence

Debby Miller of Rolling Stone complimented Run–D.M.C.'s boasts about "messages that self-improvement is the only ticket out" and viewed their style as a departure from most hip hop acts at the time, stating "they get into a vocal tug of war that's completely different from the straightforward delivery of the Furious Five's Melle Mel or the everybody-takes-a-verse approach of groups like Sequence. And the music [...] that backs these tracks is surprisingly varied, for all its bare bones". In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A- rating and described it as "easily the canniest and most formally sustained rap album ever, a tour de force I trust will be studied by all manner of creative downtowners and racially enlightened Englishmen". Christgau commented on the group's "heavy staccato and proud disdain for melody", writing that "the style has been in the New York air long enough that you may understand it better than you think".