In the early 80's, hip-hop, which had started in the 1970's as the expression of poor and working-class black youth in the South Bronx, relocated to middle-class Queens. Run-D.M.C. was the standard bearer for this second wave of hip-hop, maintaining the music's minimalist "street" sound but writing their own music (most, though not all, of the first wave's tunes were lifted from popular songs of the day), and raising the standard for complex wordplay in lyrics delivered at high speed, internal rhymes and puns all over the place. The pair of vocalists swap parts in mid-sentence and even mid-word, often to dazzling effect. And while their sense of humor was always evident, they weren't self-parodying clowns like the Sugarhill Gang and some o ther early rappers. Although Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang (and Blondie, for that matter) had released hit rap singles years before, Run-D.M.C. was the first rap act to hit the album charts, the first rap act to release a CD, and they really la unched rap and hip-hop into the public consciousness. For the first couple of years they towered above their nearest competitors, Whodini and the Fat Boys. They then sabotaged their career by fighting with their record company for two critical years in the development of the music, fell off the cutting edge, and became irrelevant with appalling speed. Although there are faster talkers (Young MC), better lyricists (Salt-N-Pepa), more sophisticated musical collagists (Eric B., Public Enemy), they were at the top of the wave at a critical moment in history; I still haven't heard any duet or group that's even close to them at trading lines. (DBW)
Members: Run (Joseph Simmons), vocals; D.M.C. (Darryl McDaniels), vocals; Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), DJ, various instruments.