1993. I'm 18, and I'm rushing home from college to hit record on the VCR and capture every single moment of Yo! MTV Raps Live Fridays. The same show had me rushing home from school when I was 15. It's where I hear music I'm not hearing anywhere else. Yo! MTV Raps is how I'm discovering so much of the music that's the soundtrack to my life.
I first wrote about this on an old blog of mine in February 2008, after listening to some old tapes of the show. Eighteen years on, I want to share it again, because it's still one of those hip hop moments I'll never forget.
The undisputed Kings of Rock
Today I'm sharing another dig from the Yo! MTV Raps Live Fridays vault. I have to be honest and say this one is very special to me. I've been into Run-DMC since Rock Box, when I first heard it around 1984. Taken from sometime around 1993, Ed Lover introduces this as "10 years of hard hittin and I ain't bull-beep". That was 1993. I taped it on VHS, transferred it to cassette, and I've still got that tape kicking around somewhere. Thirty-three years later, when I hear that version, I mean, come on. Everything about it.
I could probably write for days about Daryl, Joe and Jason (a.k.a. DMC, DJ Run and Jam Master Jay), about the influence they had on me, or how Run started out as DJ for Kurtis Blow. Instead I'm going to let the music speak for itself as the Kings of Rock perform the classic Here We Go and then freestyle over the instrumentals for Beats to the Rhyme and Peter Piper.
Rest in peace, Jam Master Jay.
Why there are two tracks here
Here's the interesting thing. On Yo! MTV Raps they started with the Here We Go bit, then went into a freestyle, a whole different version, over the top of the Beats to the Rhyme instrumental. Different words, same energy. It was something different, and it was awesome.
The clip isn't easy to find any more, so here are both records. Play one, then the other, and you'll hear how they fit together.
What they mean to me now
Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay changed the face of the world. I've been wearing Adidas trainers since the mid-1980s, and I think Run-DMC are to blame for that.
I still love them. I've read DMC's books, and they showed me a different side of the band's story. But for me, growing up, they were hip hop. They weren't the only hip hop I was into, but as far as I was concerned you couldn't be into hip hop and not be into Run-DMC.
They really were the kings of rock, and of rhyme.
What does any of this mean for you?
Think of the record that had you rushing home. It might be the record you bought and had to get home to play. Maybe it's the one you taped off the telly or the radio. Whatever it is, play it today and play it loud. Then send it to someone you think of when you hear it, and share the memories the song gives you.
I mean, I can't be the only person who thinks music is a love language, can I?
