Run-D.M.C.

Run-D.M.C., “Raising Hell”

I’m sure I’ve told the story before, but Raising Hell was the first album I remember buying for myself. I heard “Peter Piper” on the radio while we were driving to Pullman, WA, and I was entranced. I didn’t know exactly what that was, but I memorized the name of the act, and later found the cassette tape and bought it for myself. There was a certain excitement in buying a record with a bad word in the title, as well as just the unknown of not really knowing what to expect from it. I loved it, of course, and I still listen to this album to this day. While I didn’t become a music hound right away, this was my first step down that path, and will always hold a special place for me.

The Miracles, “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”

The vocal R&B band the Miracles are mostly known for launching the career of Smokey Robinson, but they had a long string of hits in their own right as well. I mean, this is basically irresistable.

Hammerhead, “Once Again…With Feeling”

Can I just re-iterate how delighted I am that Hammerhead got back together and recorded a bunch of new material? Coming across multiple Hammerhead records that I’d never heard before at once was such a delight. Listen to this! The urgency of the rhythm, the noisy grumbling of all the guitar and bass, the spacey breakdown, I’m just so happy.

One of the most important songs in my personal history today.

Run-D.M.C., “Walk This Way”

Run-D.M.C. had already declared themselves the Kings of Rock before 1986’s Raising Hell was ever released, but it took “Walk This Way” being a massive hit on both the radio and, more importantly, MTV for Run-D.M.C. to really actually take that throne. This crossover song not only brought rap into countless homes in America for the first time, it also was responsible for resurrecting Aerosmith’s career, so it also has a lot to answer for.

Here’s today’s tunes.

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah, “Cocoa Butter”

Action Bronson bubbled up from the underground after making the transition from chef to rapper. After breaking his leg, he decided to try making his hobby into his main career, putting together his debut Dr. Lecter, a fun album full of energy, food metaphors, and tons of rhyming. It’s an entertaining listen, but it remained to be seen if Bronson would move past the Ghostface worship. His next album, Well-Done, a collaboration with Statik Selektah, answered that question: no. No, he would not.

Today!

Run-D.M.C., “Dumb Girl”

This song is so stripped down that there aren’t even any keyboards on it. Unless you count them putting “dumb” into a sampler and using that. It’s proof that the alchemy of a drum machine and rapping really didn’t require anything else.

Black Tusk, “Bleed On Your Knees”

Sludge metal in the vein of Mastodon or Baroness, Black Tusk do a nice job on their second album of keeping up the energy and making sure the tunes are appropriately propulsive. While maybe not as memorable as the heights of those bands, it’s still fun stuff.

Pretty good one today.

Public Enemy, “Give It Up”

Pretty sure I’ve talked about how uneven Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age is, and it really is. It’s the album that marks the sharp decline of PE from the legendary band to the often baffling outfit that’s still out there still making stuff. But the album really has some peaks. This is one of them. The beat is dense and bouncy, Chuck kicks several different flows, and they basically capture their glory days. The verse that kicks off “I never did represent doin’ dumb shit” is one of my favorite verses from him ever.

From rap’s origins to its future.

Run-D.M.C, “Hollis Crew (Krush-Groove 2)”

It sounds downright primitive today, but this album (Run-D.M.C., their debut) was a massive milestone in the development of rap as a cultural force. Somewhat forgotten now, Run-D.M.C. were the first rap act to have a gold record, proving that this new genre could have significant commercial appeal. They would follow that up with rap’s first platinum album and first multi-platinum album, as their sales and fame kept increasing (they would, alas, peak with that third album, Raising Hell). Run-D.M.C. changed the way rap sounded, the way it was made, and the way it looked. Rap wouldn’t ever be the same.