Album Spotlight # 1


Raising Hell – Run-DMC

This is the album that introduced me to rap music. I remember it quite well. I was at a family due and my cousin had the cassette tape. He made sure that the adults weren’t around and he played it for a few of his cousins.

One of the rappers swore in one of the songs, and that was all the kids huddling around the tape deck were focusing on. At the time, I didn’t think much of people who swore so I wrote it off as something that I didn’t want to hear.

It took me a while to come around and actually give the tape a good listen. I was glad that I actually did. It was amazing. Something about it really spoke to me and I discovered rap music.

Run-DMC became my favourite group and I bought their previous two albums. I collected all of their albums of cassette and on vinyl. When I finally started buying CDs, I bought all their albums again on CD. I think they are the best group ever and that this album is a hip hop classic.

This is the album that produced their biggest and most recognizable hit, Walk This Way. The funny thing is that they only wanted to sample the beat and not redo the entire song. The producer and label convinced them to do it and they very reluctantly agreed. The rest is history.

Run-DMC brought rap music to the masses. They were the first group to ever have a video on MTV and the first international success story. Quite frankly without Run-DMC, hip-hop would not exist, as we know it today. They are true pioneers and this album is a must have for any music collection.