Down With the King

by

Run-D.M.C.

Edit

By 1993, a lot of people had counted Run-DMC out. Their last album, Back from Hell, failed to have much commercial impact. It seemed like the rappers they helped to inspire had bypassed them, just as they had bypassed genre-birthing rap acts like Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Fortunately, the `Kings from Queens' still carried respect among those who followed in their wake; under the auspices of Profile Records, they set about recording a comeback album.

For Down with the King, Run-DMC made use of a then-unprecedented laundry list of then-contemporary beatmakers in hip-hop production. Since the release of this album, it has become a common (and some would say, tedious) trend to make use of several "star" producers on hip-hop albums. Here, at least, the tactic works.

Among the big names here are Pete Rock, who collaborated on several album cuts, including the gold-selling title track. Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest gets behind the boards on "Come on Everybody", and EPMD pump up the bass on "Can I Get it, Yo!"

Naughty By Nature's Kay Gee threw in his group's trademark piano-riffs for "Hit `em Hard", and Public Enemy's Bomb Squad contributed "3 in the Head" and "Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do". Fresh of the success of Kriss Kross, Jermaine Dupri helmed "Can I Get a Witness". A then-unknown Tom Morello (Audioslave, R.A.T.M.) added guitar work to "Big Willie", the only nod to rock-rap fusion here.

The album sold over 500,000 copies, enough to go gold, and the group toured with Naughty By Nature and several acts from Death Row Records (for a time, they were briefly courted by the label). This would be Run-DMC's last studio album before the release of Crown Royal in 2001.

Arista Records bought the Profile catalog in the late 90's and re-released the standard versions of Run DMC's studio LPs. However, Down with the King was not included in the 2004 expanded versions of the group's albums. Period interviews confirmed that there were sessions with Bay Area-rappers N2Deep, but they didn't make the final cut. That makes for at least one potential bonus cut that could be included for a proper re-release.

Down with the king

Come on everybody

Can I get it, yo

Hit `em hard

To the maker

3 in the head

ooh, whatcha gonna do

big willie

three little Indians

in the house

can I get a witness

get open

what's next

wreck shop

for 10 years

If you own Run DMC's self titled debut album and love it like I do, then you may feel disappointed when you hear "Down with the King". Run DMC's last original and worthy record was "Tougher than leather". The creativity, original rhymes, and hip hop spunk of Run DMC ended there. Why in the world would arguably the most influential hip hop band need famous and less skilled rappers to guest appear on their records? To get the MTV crowd listening. You know who I'm talkin' about. The same crowd who thinks ODB has skills and Fred Durst can rock the mic. Both of these "artists" are scheduled to appear on Run DMC's upcoming album, "Crown Royal", by the way. Hip Hop has definitely changed from when it began in the early 80s. It used to be about skills, now it's mostly about fake a$$ personalities and gettin' paid. Run DMC doesn't need anybody's help in the rap game. If they did, why would they say this "When asked who's best, y'all should say, Run DMC and Jam Master Jay!" Did you hear anybody else's name in that? I would'nt mind if the guest appearances were by real rappers like LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, KRS-ONE, Chuck D, Rakim, etc. - Y'all get my point? It's a shame to see Run DMC cuttin' tracks with the "Sucker MCs who did not learn". All in all it should go back to being "Run's House" and stop leasing it out to all these suckers. Peace.