#5: Run-D.M.C. — Raising Hell (1986)
New York, NY — Profile Records
Run-D.M.C.! Classic hip-hop trio, surely one of the most influential of all times. Composed of MCs Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels and the late DJ Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell (why’s he not in the group name? That’s unfair), this ’86 joint is the group’s third album, which comes to show that they’re definitely among the old-timers. But that doesn’t mean the rap they rap is that old school stuff, though, as is well demonstrated in this work right here.
I have jammed a fair amount of their later stuff, but never this particular record back to back if I recall correctly, just some loose tracks, so I’m fairly excited for this. First track, Peter Piper, is one door-kicker of an opener: rhyming in an insane word-for-word back-to-back, the two MCs kick this off with a quick acapella verse, soon to be joined by a classically 80’s beat — quick cuts, scratches and 808 tones included. This one is quite clearly this almost aggressive display of both lyrical and musical ability by the team, in a frantic sequence of intricate, fast verses and syncopated scratching. One thing that stood out to me somewhat is the constant references to fairy tales and nursery rhymes on this one — Pied Piper, Humpty Dumpty, Dr. Seuss, the list goes on -, which seems to me like a repeating comparison between a fable’s ability to entertain and their own. Nothing too in-your-face too, it’s that kind of stuff that you’ll hardly notice if you’re just bumping this without a lot of attention, but a pleasant surprise when you catch it. Overall, the message here is clear: we know what we’re doing, we’re in our turf, so you better be prepared for what’s coming.
It’s Tricky keeps up with this lyrical braggadocious theme, albeit a bit toned down and intercalated with some random ramblings about the artist’s life and general amenities. Beat on this one is simpler, with somewhat softer drum tones, but some bangin’ rock guitar samples — by the way, this album is notable for being one of the first to make extensive usage of samples if I remember correctly. Another one of its defining characteristics is being the first to really promote a fusion between rap and rock music, which is quite present on this track (more on that later). Flows here are more sophisticated, with some quite pleasant inflections and grooving, complete with a little moralistic but understandable ranting at the end about how they’re not thugs, they don’t use drugs, they do get offered coke but they leave it alone (which, turns out, was a big fat lie).
Track three, My Adidas, besides being an obvious sponsored publicity stunt, is a bit shorter and simpler, with some more basic rhyme schemes and flows. Not really a lot to say about it to be honest, it’s kind of just there, really, neither great nor terribly offensive I guess. Walk This Way, the next track, is their very famous Aerosmith cover/collaboration. And it does have good reasons for being famous, apart from the obvious; energy here is very high, rapping is fast, precise, and this version’s painfully 80’s guitar riffing, while decidedly not my kind of thing in a normal day, works pretty well with their rapping, his own singing and the rest of the beat. A pretty fun tune I gotta say, kinda brainless and all but that’s not a bad thing.
On Is It Live (which, by the way samples El Shabazz from LL Cool J’s Radio) we get back to our normal schedule of bragging about being a master rapper while simultaneously doing a demonstration of such mastery. I gotta say Run’s intricate multisyllabic rhyming and flowing is quite a bit more sophisticated than DMC’s on this one, which comes off a bit basic and even low-effort, if I dare say so myself? Perfection, the next one, has that same characteristic in my opinion, although in this case it’s not that much of a problem; this one is overall funky, syncopated, could even say it’s jazzy in a roundabout way, and DMC’s subpar rapping is complemented by some pretty witty and funny backing-vocal responses from Run.
Hit It Run, track number 7, is entirely rapped by DMC, but, as the title suggests, has some central participation by Run under the form of some frankly gnarly beatboxing, complemented by some scratching and DJing that honestly goes pretty well with it. DMC’s flow is even more basic on this one, but in this case it’s not that much of a problem, since the beatboxing is the main schtick and is pretty well done and shown overall. Raising Hell, despite being this album’s title track, it’s my least favorite so far. Both on Walk This Way and this one, Rick Rubin (he worked on this even though it wasn’t a Def Jam release, at least as far as I know) doubled down on the rock approach; while it might have somewhat worked on the former, this one definitely does not do it for me, even considering the lyrics, which are actually the best so far I’d say. Yeah, not even that manages to save it, which is a shame. This is straight up annoying to me. Next.
Fortunately, You Be Illin’ considerably picks it up. Beat is immediately more laid back, funky, disco-ey even, and apparently samples its bassy piano riff from a Kurtis Blow song from two years before. Nothing much going on in terms of rapping, but the chorus is pretty catchy and fun, and there are some small verses with whimsical little stories about ordering a big mac at KFC, yelling “touchdown” at a basketball game, eating dog food on accident and other such nonsense. Quite the palate cleanser, if not impressive by any means.
Though this one now… See, Run-D.M.C’s earlier works are notable for their misogynistic content, and, while Raising Hell generally doesn’t do it as much, this next track suggests that old habits can be hard to kick. Dumb Girl is pretty obnoxious and uncreative, and, between an ok-ish beat with unimaginative sampling and some plain flows, it has little to no redeeming qualities, save for a couple witty lines here and there. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily dislike misogynistic rap songs as a matter of principle; while it’s obviously not a theme I particularly appreciate and go after, I don’t mind it that much provided it comes in a package with more to offer, i.e. Slick Rick, 2Pac, Coolio, etc. But this… There’s just not really a lot else to it, you know? Yeah, not like I’m terribly scandalized or anything, but also not entertained at all.
Next up is a little acapella-beatbox skit called Son of Byford which is actually pretty cool, and then onto the final track of the OG release, Proud to Be Black (the 2005 CD version I have downloaded actually has some more bonus tracks but honestly I can’t be fucked). It’s the only track from this album that I know I’ve jammed before (there are others but I don’t remember which), and, as its title suggests, it’s quite politically-charged. I quite like this one; the beat is nothing to really write home about, but the lyrics are concise and effective, even if this isn’t by any means the lyrical apex of this joint, and the flow is reasonably slick and outstanding.
As much as it saddens me to admit it, this album has been mostly disappointing to me, even with the handful of good moments in there. Maybe I was putting incorrect expectations on it, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood, maybe it’s just not my thing, but it didn’t convince me that much. Now, I quite like some of Run-D.M.C.’s later works, mostly Back From Hell and Down With the King (or at least I remember so, been a while since they’ve last been jammed by yours truly), and I would no doubt place them before this one in terms of musical and lyrical quality, diversity of beats, flows, etc. But I definitely understand how, historically speaking, this one was much more of a game changer than these other ones, and I can see how much it influenced groups like Public Enemy (with whom I’m much more familiar with).
