Editing New-school hip-hop (section)

===Run-D.M.C.===
Run-D.M.C. rapped over the most sparse of musical backing tracks. In the case of "Sucker M.C.'s", there was a loud, [[Oberheim DMX]] [[drum machine]], a few scratches and nothing else, while the rhymes harangued weak rappers and contrasted them to the group's success. "It's like That" was an aggressively delivered message rap whose social commentary has been defined variously as "objective fatalism",<ref name="christgau">Christgau, Robert. [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=run+dmc Consumer Guide], ''Village Voice'', 1984. Retrieved on July 2, 2008.</ref> "frustrated and renunciatory",<ref>Rose, Tricia. "'Fear of a Black Planet': Rap Music and Black Cultural Politics in the 1990s", ''The Journal of Negro Education'', Summer 1991.</ref> and just plain "reportage".<ref>Breihan, Tom. [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21440-run-dmc-king-of-rock-raising-hell-tougher-than-leather "Run-DMC / King of Rock / Raising Hell / Tougher Than Leather"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228053354/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21440-run-dmc-king-of-rock-raising-hell-tougher-than-leather |date=2008-02-28 }}, ''Pitchfork'', September 23, 2005. Retrieved on July 2, 2008.</ref> Run-D.M.C. wore street clothes, tracksuits, sneakers, one even wore glasses. Their only possible concession to an image extraneous to that of kids on the street was the stylistic flourish of black fedoras atop their heads. This stood in sharp contrast to the popular artists of the time, who had variously bedecked themselves with feathers, suede boots, jerri curls, and red or even pink leather suits.<ref>Dennis, Reginald C. "Born Again", ''The Source'', February 1993.</ref>

The group's early singles are collected on their [[Run-D.M.C. (album)|eponymous debut]] ([[Profile Records|Profile]], 1984), introducing rock references in "Rock Box", and recognized then and now as the best album of hip hop's early years.<ref name="christgau" /><ref>Shapiro, p. 327</ref> The next year, they appeared at [[Live Aid]] and released ''[[King of Rock]]'' (Profile, 1985), on which they asserted  that they were "never ever old school". ''[[Raising Hell (album)|Raising Hell]]'' (Profile, 1986) was a landmark, containing quintessentially hip hop tracks like "Peter Piper", "Perfection" and "[[It's Tricky]]", and going platinum in the year of its release on the back of the huge crossover hit "[[Walk This Way]]".<ref>Shapiro, p. 327. Shapiro has ''Raising Hell'' as the first platinum hip hop album, while Dennis and Coleman ascribe that distinction to ''King of Rock''. RIAA's certification dates [https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=king%20of%20rock&artist=RUN-D.M.C.&format=ALBUM&debutLP=&category=GROUP&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=ST&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=Platinum&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2008&sort=Artist&perPage=25] [https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=raising%20hell&artist=RUN-D.M.C.&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=Platinum&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2008&sort=Artist&perPage=25] (retrieved on July 4, 2008) bear out Shapiro's statement. Though ''King of Rock'' may be the earliest release to receive platinum status, it did so after ''Raising Hell'' did.</ref> The group had rapped over the beat from the 1975 original in their early days, without so much as knowing the name of the band.  When ''Raising Hell''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s producer [[Rick Rubin]] heard them playing around with it in the studio, he suggested using the [[Aerosmith]] lyrics, and the collaboration between the two groups came about.<ref>Coleman, p. 401</ref> The album's last track was "Proud To Be Black", written under the influence of Chuck D of the as-yet unrecorded Public Enemy.<ref>Coleman, p. 404</ref> On "My Adidas" the band rapped that they "took the beat from the street and put it on TV".

Comments from [[Darryl McDaniels]], AKA DMC of Run-D.M.C., make this connection to the underground explicit: "[T]hat's exactly what we did. We didn't really think it was pioneering, we just did what rappers did before us was doing on tapes. When a lot of the old guys, like Kool Moe Dee, [[the Treacherous Three]], and Grandmaster Flash, got in the studio, they never put their greatness on records. Me and [[Joseph Simmons|Run]] and [[Jam Master Jay|Jay]] would listen ... and we'd say, 'They didn't do that shit last night in [[the Bronx]]!' ... So we said that we weren't going to be fake. We ain't gonna wear no costumes. We're gonna keep it real."<ref>Coleman, p. 395.</ref>