Backspin: Run-DMC — Run-DMC (1984)

Run-DMC solidified hip-hop’s cultural place by delivering its first classic album. Does it hold up today? (86.5/100)

Run-DMC’s self-titled debut was not the first collection of rap songs to be released as an album. It was, however, the first true rap album. While earlier long players from the likes of Kurtis Blow and The Sugar Hill Gang were essentially compilations of previously released singles bound together by forgettable filler tracks, Run-DMC was clearly constructed as a unified body of work; a musical and stylistic statement. That proclamation was as thunderous as the kick drum on “Hollis Crew (Krush Groove 2)” and as clear as the wailing guitars on “Rock Box”: “the game done changed and we’re the coach, commissioner, and lead official.”

Not only did the three teens from Hollis, Queens lay down the template for future rap albums, they provided the blueprint for the growth and survival of rap music, and they did it by stripping it down to its essence. Gone were the record label house bands of Enjoy and Sugar Hill replaying loops from disco hits, and with them the avuncular “announcer” deliveries of first generation microphone masters. Run-DMC was built around a drum machine, a turn table, and two electric MCs with the explosive chemistry of a backyard meth lab.