S. Samuel
With an aim to reclaim his crew's spot atop the competition, Run-DMC's DMC recently hit up SOHH to dish out details on his upcoming solo album.
Hinting at collaborations from rockers like drummer Travis Barker, DMC said expect a project deeper than an urban tag.
“Well this next upcoming album is going to be “King of Rock” on steroids,” DMC promised SOHH. “It’s going to be fun, and I worked with the best producers and musicians in the business. The majority of the music is all live music instruments. The reason why I say “King of Rock” on steroids was because you had beats and guitars being played. This album is completely live. I think what I’m trying to do with this album, if you look at [rockers] Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Kid Rock said ‘Run-DMC and Aerosmith had a baby and I popped out.'” (SOHH)
While a title is still forthcoming, DMC hopes to open fans’ eyes and perceptions with the new LP.
“We’re known for creating it but even when we were on Arista Records, those A&Rs and radio and all that stuff, they kept us urban but Run-DMC was never just an urban rap group,” DMC added. “We were universal. We were rock and rap. So this record is saying, ‘OK, you say we created this now this is how we did it.'” (SOHH)
Run-DMC’s 1985 album, King of Rock, is most celebrated for combining rap and rock.
Take the title of Run-D.M.C.’s King of Rock somewhat literally. True, the trailblazing rap crew hardly abandoned hip-hop on their second album, but they did follow through on the blueprint of their debut, emphasizing the rock leanings that formed the subtext of Run-D.M.C. Nearly every cut surges forward on thundering drum machines and simple power chords, with the tempos picked up a notch and the production hitting like a punch to the stomach. If the debut suggested hard rock, this feels like hard rock — over-amplified, brutal, and intoxicating in its sheer sonic force. What really makes King of Rock work is that it sounds tougher and is smarter than almost all of the rock and metal records of its time. (All Music)
Recently, DMC shared his thoughts on the current state of hip-hop.
“Hip hop–there’s nothing bad about it except the people who run it don’t care about the culture and I can’t understand that. I used to say “we’re going out to labels but record companies is only in the business to sell records”–so they’re not my fight. It just irks me when somebody says hip hop is a young person’s music. No it ain’t! Bruce Springstein is probably 50-60 years old. No rock-and-rollers’ going around saying “Oh I’m 50 now, I’m not rock and rolling no more. The problem is all the guys running the labels don’t want to sign none of the older artists because they know the older artists will put a foot in the behinds of the fake groups they’ve been signing for the last 10 years, so they trying to keep them out. Listen, if the music business ends tomorrow there’s still going to be hip hop–why? Hip hop was here before a rapper ever got signed.” (BET)
DMC has not yet decided when the album will drop.
Check out a recent DMC interview below:
