378. Run-DMC, "Run-D.M.C."

 


My first thought was "Man, this sounds dated," but then I realized it came out in 1983, making it essentially the "Rock Around the Clock" of hip-hop.  The top 3 songs of 1983 were "Every Breath You Take," "Billie Jean," and "Flashdance...What a Feeling," and although those are all incredible songs in their own regard, none of them have the immediacy and the urgency of any song on this album.

Listening to it again now, you're struck by the heaviness of the beat and the frequent interplay between DMC and Run.  They frequently trade off vocals in the middle of a line, finishing each others' thoughts.  Their rhythm became so understood to be the voice of hip hop that it's the go-to whenever anybody wants to do the I'm-a-white-person-doing-a-rap, like "My name is MICHAEL and I'm here to SAY I like doing RAP in an obvious WAY."  That dot-dot-DOT-dot-de-dot-dot-DOT vocal pattern is the backbone here and became ubiquitous.

It's probably hard to overestimate the effect this had on hip hop culture and American culture in general.  In the beginning, MTV didn't play music videos by black artists, but eventually relented, and two of the first videos they played were "Billie Jean" and "Rock Box," off this album.  


Iconic.  My last thought, after listening to this song in particular, was, "This actually doesn't sound that dated at all."

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