Backspin: Run-DMC — Raising Hell (1986)
35 years after rocking the world, Run-DMC’s opus still stands as hip-hop’s most important album. (90/100)
If Run-DMC’s 1984 debut created the “rap star” prototype, 1986’s Raising Hell retrofitted it, laying the blueprint for the rapper as rock star.
It was a natural fit, really. From the day the earliest mic rockers prompted block party goers to throw their hands in the air, rappers exuded all the hallmarks of rock ’n roll royalty: colorful personality, the impressible energy of youth, and enough counter culture edge to confound the squares and make parents of the world shout, seemingly in unison, “turn off that noise!”
Yet, it took an act with arena-sized presence to make the leap into rock stardom. It also required an unimpeachable stature within hip-hop to attempt that leap without alienating a fickle and notoriously territorial base. It’s a testament to the greatness of Run-DMC that Raising Hell, their third long player, makes it feel so effortless. As integral to the album’s outsized success as Run-DMC’s willingness to experiment was their confidence to stay true to themselves. Underneath the screeching guitars and high decibel hooks, Raising Hell remain’s rooted in hip-hop sonically, lyrically, and culturally.
