Run-DMC Proved Hip Hop Was An Art Form

(spin.com) Written by Kyle Eustice | December 11, 2024 – 11:39 am

For those who were in the Bronx on August 11, 2023, the 50th birthday celebration of hip-hop culminated with a star-studded concert at Yankee Stadium, where the surviving members of Run DMC—Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels—reunited for the first time in years to honor not only the culture they helped cultivate but also their slain DJ, Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell.

Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story, a three-part documentary released in February, ends with several poignant backstage moments from the Yankee Stadium concert and cleverly intersperses their performance with footage from Run-DMC’s historic Live Aid appearance in 1985. What they’ve endured and survived in the last 38 years, including the 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay, is brilliantly captured in the film.

Directed by Kirk Fraser and produced by Believe Entertainment Group and May 3rd Films, Kings From Queens gets to the heart of Run DMC’s story and unveils a complicated yet triumphant tale of three unassuming trailblazers who forever changed the hip-hop landscape.

As a result, the film has earned Run DMC a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Music Film category. Shockingly, it marks only the second nod for the pioneering group. But, as Rev Run and DMC explain, they preceded the Grammy’s rap categories. More importantly, winning or not winning a gilded gramophone doesn’t define their career nor does it detract from the seismic impact Run-DMC had.

“I feel very well-loved from the music that I created for people to enjoy,” Rev Run tells me. “I’m listening to people play ‘Christmas in Hollis’ today, so I feel blessed. I don’t feel slighted in any way in this industry.”

Nor should he. As a rap group, Run DMC had many firsts; they were the first to go gold, first to go platinum, first to have a video on MTV, first to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, first to appear on American Bandstand, first to have a major brand partnership with Adidas and first to be nominated for a Grammy—and that’s only a sliver of their accomplishments.

“The good thing about being nominated once—that was a victory,” DMC says. “Being considered worthy enough for nomination means we’re being recognized. So for me, I don’t got to get the award. And the funny thing with Run-DMC is, when we got nominated, there wasn’t a hip-hop category, so we should have got Best New Artist. We could have got Best Rock Collaboration [for “Walk This Way” with Aerosmith].

“There were so many awards the Grammys could have given us, but they were hating on hip-hop because at the time, nobody believed in it. It was like, ‘It’s a fad. We can’t nominate this. It’s going to be gone in five years.’”

Now a multi-billion dollar industry, hip-hop has smashed to smithereens any preconceived notions that it was temporary. And, as Kings From Queens illustrates through interviews with the likes of Eminem, Def Jam Recordings co-founders Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, Big Daddy Kane, Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock and Mike D, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Pete Rock, and LL Cool J, Run DMC is largely responsible for establishing hip-hop as a legitimate art form. But arguably the most impactful part of the film is the interview with Jam Master Jay’s widow, Terri Corley, who recounts learning of Jay’s death with tears streaming down her face.

“She has a very emotional moment,” Believe Entertainment Group co-founder Bill Masterson says. “In the beginning, this was a subject that was taboo and we weren’t supposed to go there. But I’m like, ‘How can you not go there?’ It naturally presented itself because nobody talks about Run DMC without talking about Jay.”

Jam Master Jay’s murder happened in the middle of DMC’s personal struggles with his mental health and alcoholism, something he addresses in the doc. It’d gone unchecked for years as the once-shy, straight-A Catholic school student blossomed into a global superstar. Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, DMC—who loved comic books and writing rhymes alone in his room—eventually couldn’t function without alcohol. As he sank deeper into his depression, he contemplated ending his life, a feeling that was greatly exacerbated by Jay’s death and his parents’ bombshell confession that he’d been adopted. Plus, as shown in the film, Run had just announced the dissolution of Run-DMC at Jam Master Jay’s funeral, which was unbeknownst to him.

“As part of his eulogy to Jay at the funeral, Run announced that that would be the end of Run-DMC, that they couldn’t go ahead without Jay,” Def Jam’s first publicist Bill Adler recalls. “I think that was news to DMC. Run hadn’t discussed it with him and he just makes this announcement. I think it took D by surprise.

“Then again, Run and D, by that time, really weren’t speaking and hadn’t been speaking for a long time. They would perform together, but their relationship was kind of broken and Jay had done his best to work as a go-between. Without Jay, there would be no more Run-DMC.”

DMC finally mustered up the strength to go to rehab in 2004 and reemerged with a new lease on life. Once again, he could tap into what previously gave him the courage to step onstage in front of thousands of people—superheroes.

“I looked at what Peter Parker or Captain America was doing,” he says. “They were all awkward and clumsy and trying to figure out this life. I had this desire, which was a superpower in itself. When I was doing the documentary, I said every time I would go to the stage at whatever venue it was, I was pretending to be the most powerful entity in the hip-hop universe. I would always say, ‘What would Peter Parker do? What would Spider-Man do? What would Iron Man do?’My confidence came from me pretending to be a superhero on a microphone.”

Like everyone involved, Adler, who appears in all three episodes of Kings From Queens, would be ecstatic if the doc won Best Music Film. After all, he had front-row seats to Run DMC’s inspiring evolution.

“They’d established themselves as groundbreaking legends by the end of the ’80s,” Adler points out. “It’s just over 40 years since their first single was released, and that’s a long time in the music business. They’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they’ve been duly honored over and over again, but there has never been a documentary told with this much depth.”

While it’s uncomfortable at times to see the immense grief Jam Master Jay’s family and friends are still grappling with, it’s integral to the film.

“We collaborated closely with the band members and their families to ensure authenticity,” Fraser says. “This film was important because it tells the untold story of how Run DMC revolutionized hip-hop and broke down barriers for generations to come. Their music transcended genres and inspired millions, and their legacy deserves to be celebrated.”

“They provided the canvas and the art, and we just sort of painted it based on what they did,” Masterson adds. “The goal was to put something out that represents the amazing accomplishments of this band—and I think we did that.”