Reviews (page 13 of 14)
In honour of Adidas, 3 stripes, 3 stars.
Very listenable, generic 1986 rap? Check.
Still not a rap fan. Recognized "Tricky"
first listen i actually pictured breakdancing
Top notch
I want to give it a sentimental 4 but really there's so much filler
Rap, más de lo mismo
It definitely deserves to be here due to its influential style of rapping vocals and combining it with some great riffs on those who ruled the scene in the 90s. As an album itself, enjoyed half of it a lot while the rest was ok.
This album's a blast, very funny, a lyrical treasure. The drum machine + rock song doesn't always sound great, tho.
Didn't realize this album had SO many bangers, especially in a row. Very cool and interesting production as well.
Raising Hell is the third album by the American hip hop group Run-DMC. It was the first platinum and multi-platinum hip hop record - being certified platinum in 1986 and triple platinum in 1987 - and ushered in the golden age of hip hop. The most famous single from this album is the collaboration with Aerosmith "Walk This Way", which was the first rap rock song and brought hip hop into the mainstream when the single charted in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. One can argue that this album was the first great rap album, and made everyone in the music industry take hip hop seriously. I enjoyed listening to a few of these Run-DMC songs for the first time, and learned that their more popular songs were actually on this "first great rap album". This is your father's hip hop - and that's not a bad thing!
It's really cool getting to see the albums that helped rap transition from what it was in its early days to what it had become by the time I started hearing it. Run DMC seems to be one of the axes around which rap history turned. This album feels more mature than the last Run DMC album I got on this list (I think their debut album). A lot of that comes from advances in the music production side, as their lyrical style was mature pretty early on. Rick Rubin produced a lot of albums that I really like, and this is no exception. It's easy to see why this album was the first hip-hop album to break through to the mainstream. It's tough to overstate the influence of Run DMC on hip-hop, and this album is the clearest proof of that. The suburbs had to find out about hip-hop at some point, and we can be grateful that it was Run DMC that made that introduction 4/5
Seminal hip-hop album.
호호
Dit is rap die ik wel kan smaken. Verstaanbaar, toch wat rock in gemengd, en iets braver
so glad this isn't how hip hop remained
some songs (like the aerosmith feature one) genuinely slap but others are pretty boring
Otro disco bueno de cuando el Hip hop/Rap empezó a hacerse mainstream y llegó a oídos de los blanquitos. Peter Piper, It's tricky y por supuesto la mezcla valiente de Walk this way.
Prefs: Peter Piper, It's Tricky, Walk This Way, Raising Hell, You Be Illin' Moins pref: Hit It Run
8/10
This was great and i will 100% put this on at a party in the future.
When the album could easily be confused as a greatest hits compilation, you know its a five-star. 5/5.
7/10
1. Peter Piper - Shout out to the DJ, interesting mixup of word play with nursery rhymes. I liked this. 2. It's Tricky - Goddamn classic, brings back my childhood playing SSX Tricky. 3. My Adidas - I still sing this when I see Adidas... timeless. 4. Walk This Way - Probably one of the biggest hits in hiphop history. I want to note that the flow between the tracks to this point has been amazingly well done. The cohesiveness of the album is spot on. As far as mixing hiphop with rock music goes, does it get better than this? Somehow it works so well. 5. Is It Live - The flow! You gotta love the cymbals here man. 6. Perfection - They slow it down a bit here, not bad, not bad. Sounds like a garage hiphop song. Just a dude with a drumset and a couple MCs. 7. Hit It Run - Intensity is back up here but with a slower beat. Almost Run the Jewels vibes on this, surely they took some influence from this style. Kinda fun and silly too lol. 8. Raising Hell - Rock riffs once again, works well for em. Good song. 9. You Be Illin - Bring in the horns and more 808s. Word play, I'm digging it. 10. Dumb Girl - DAMN that 808 hits. 11. Son of Byford - Small intro 12. Proud to Be Black - I think I recognize the start of this. Maybe its been used as an anthem? Pretty good. Overall, I really enjoyed. The flow is really nice, the 808s hit, the DJ work is top notch, it sounds modern except for the interplaying MCs... That does date it a bit but man I love it. The energy is high throughout, feels good!
Good gym bangers
Break beats are great. Love the flow
Just a classic. This makes a nice change from the 70s prog rock albums.
Enjoyed it. A bit too old school for my regular listening playlist, but good beats and rhymes.
Buenas canciones. un estilo muy marcado. 7/10
peter piper, it's tricky, is it live, you be illin,
Didn't know I knew most of the songs from here. Pretty good album for a hip-hop thing
ALBUM GRADE: B ALBUM RATING: 3.87 TRACK RATINGS: 1. Peter Piper - 4.0 2. It's Tricky - 4.0 3. My Adidas - 4.0 4. Walk This Way - 4.0 5. Is It Live - 4.0 6. Perfection - 3.5 7. Hit It Run - 4.0 8. Raising Hell - 4.0 9. You Be Illin' - 3.5 10. Dumb Girl - 3.5 11. Son of Byford - 3.0 12. Proud to Be Black - 4.0
Fun classic hip hop. Has strong Beastie Boys vibe with regards to instrumentation and rapping style. Hints of the rock/rap collaborations that would take place in the future weee evident on this album.
I had to turn the bass up on my equalizer for this revolutionary album. The rock and 80s hip-hop fusion is immediately recognizable as Run-DMC. “Peter Piper” makes me feel like playing basketball at the park and is my favorite cut off of this album.
Ooooold skool! The album starts very strongly but does run out of energy on some of the latter tracks, but it definitely set the foundation for much that followed, and OF COURSE it broke down barriers and that's a great thing. 3: for the music 5 for the barrier breaking = 4 stars
Classic
This is a great album. An absolute classic. "It's Tricky" and "Walk This Way" are amazing songs. "Walk This Way" might be the best cover song/collaboration song of all time. Not all the tracks are classics, but every one of them is worth hearing.
I don't really need to hear "Walk this Way" ever again, but it's a solid album.
This is some of the funkiest shit I've ever listened to, very very good, can't stop moving my head to the beat, and the rhymes are great
fun
Nope.
It was pretty good, I enjoyed quite a few songs off of the album.
Best Song: It's Tricky. Guaranteed to get the whole room going along with the chorus. Worst Song: Hit It Run. Are those straight up fart adlibs? Overall: Hasn't aged that well. Every song kind of blends together with that staccato, in-your-face delivery. This style had its era, but once the DK Rap came out on the N64, I think it just reads as corny now.
Awesome!
Good fun
Decent. A few songs are very good but it's to much of a difference between the high and the low. Like the cover song with Aerosmith.
For its time, this album is extremely experimental and 1 of a kind. Its not my favourite, but i have nothing but appreciation for the foward thinking energy that RUN-DMC bring to the table. (Also , those gawd damn riffs... shhhhhheeeshhhh) Best: walk this way Worst: Adidas
dope
I loved listening to this one. You can hear how they influenced other musicians. It was very enjoyable.
1 point off for a lack of variety but still great.
its tricky
Come one, come all. It's time to learn the story of Rick Rubin. Rubin started making music in the early 1980's primarily in the punk scene. During this time he started Def Jam, which would go on to be a force within the music industry. But for now, it's a means to get his own stuff out there. His punk band had broken up by 1984, but he had already found a new love: hip hop. Rubin had learned hip hop production techniques and started working with other guys in the east-coast scene. I cannot stress enough how excellent of a producer Rick Rubin is. He's mastered simplicity and knows how to wield dynamic range for harder-hitting moments (save for his atrocities in the loudness war). So, in 1986, he'd be credited for his standout production work on on Run-D.M.C.'s album Raising Hell, their best yet. He was also a producer on Slayer's Reign In Blood that same year. I'm sure I'll get to talk about that album later though. For now, I will say that Rubin's hard-hitting production on Raising Hell has given Run-DMC the edge they needed to stand out. They were already fantastic rappers to begin with, I just think this album cements their hardcore style thanks to big, booming drums and complimentary sample hits on the first beat. Some things on this album don't work nearly as well, such as uncomfortable beatboxing on Hit It Run or the overly-long collaborative remix of Aerosmith's Walk This Way. Other songs easily make up for this though, as It's Tricky, My Adidas, and Raising Hell all earned their spot in the pages of hip hop history. Classic.
Some more OG hip hop. I can always recognize the impact these dudes had on the genre but tbh their style isn't my favorite. Crazy that Walk This Way really broke hip hop into the mainstream. I think a lot of people discount the actual difference Run DMC made in hip hop. That being said, imo the album just doesn't age that well due to the structure of the rhymes. I definitely prefer the more lyrical, creative acts in this age like Rakim, Kool G Rap, etc.
Loved it
Just legendary. You can hear the samples used decades later. For me this is 5th and 6th grade in Dallas. I remember I had a friend named Skip who would back flip off anything. We would hang out at his house and rap and hip hop were always on. We would sit around and listen to this. LL cool j and beastie boys.
I think this album is why (subliminally) I love adidas.
“It’s Tricky!”
Fantastic
Not a go to listen to any day, but instrumental in hip hop and a great sound.
I have an interest in early rap, so it was a treat to hear an older classic in the genre. It hasn’t aged 100% well in terms of lyric but it has charm and a few hits on it
I obviously loved walk this way but otherwise found this too old for my ears. Don't understand the hype
This was ok, but not my jam.
Old skool hip hop...a bit shouty. A bit repetitive at times...but the energy. Some classics. Solid 3
Man, that's just good. The only reason it doesn't rate a five is because the beats get REALLY repetitive when listening to a whole album. But every track, taken by itself, is a banger.
Not my fave style of hip-hop, but the immense influence on the genre is undeniable
Fun for a minute, felt dated after that.
I need to start out with this Caveat. I like hip hop, and I know how iconic and important Run-D.M.C. is to the entire genre. With that being said, this album is just okay. The album starts by exemplifying the groups natural chemistry. The word play and the coordination on these songs is out of this world. My issue is due to all of the repetition on the album. I get that Raising Hell came out in the 80s, but the loud snare beats on every song knock this down a peg. Maybe it was my speakers, or the audio mixing for spotify, but the beats drowned out the rapping many times. If I really enjoyed the beats, maybe this wouldn't be as big of an issue, but I just didn't. With similar beats and flows on every song, it was hard to differentiate between songs, and they all blended together in my mind. This album has great and classic songs, but it is not built to listen to all at once. Best Songs: It's Tricky, My Adidas, Walk This Way, Proud to be Black Worst Songs: Dumb Girl, Son of Byford
The great tracks still great but the rest, not so much. Feels very dated.
Sounds so dated and hasn't aged well at all.
The 2 hits from this album are great and "Walk This Way" is a much more successful blend of rock and rap than "Rock Box" from the previously reviewed self-titled album. I felt the album as a whole was disjointed and some tracks I found to be really quite poor. I much preferred the previous album.
Some great tracks on here. Reminds me of growing up with my older brothers. Was headed for a 5, but there were a few later songs that were like munching a driller’s bit.
Hell yea!
Not my favorite, but I can understand it's importance in hip-hop and rock. Obviously walk this way is a stand out. Some of the rhymes are just a little too cheesy for me.
First four are awesome. Lost a little steam in the late middle, but pretty enjoyable and ends strong. One track #10 is real bad. Clever rhymes, plenty willingness to write about more than “how special I am” in contrast to many of the most successful rappers.
Super catchy, though it’s not my style, It’s obviously an amazing album. The lyrics alone are worth 5 stars, but the flow of beat/rhythm kept while not being monotonous throughout the album is down right impressive.
It really is tricky to rock a rhyme.
It's Tricky and Walk this Way are the stand out tracks.
Groundbreaking with rap & rock.
Great!
Classic for a reason, but listening to the full album the hooks/beats/flows all sort of blend together.
This is easily the most fun album I've listened to on this list. It's hard for me to separate nostalgia for quality, but I "fave"d just about every song on it. This is back when the only thing that mattered in rap was the lyrics so every song follow the same basic musical pattern: Run: 2 measures DMC: 2 measures Run: 1 measure DMC asks a question: 1 measure Run + DMC answer together louder: 2 measures But it fucking works. 5 stars
Finalmente um disco de hip hop que funcinou para mim. Até porque tem a pegada mais de rock, inclusive com a participação de Aerosmish.
8/10. They say you can't imitate DMC the great, but the Beastie Boys definitely did.
Really lost steam after the two classic songs. 6/10
Hot fire, one of the first mainstream rap albums and it's full of bangers
legends of hip hop, impeccable rapping, but musically very spare... i think i prefer a little more texture in the music
Rollicking, high-impact and true-sounding. Hard to resist the purity of the rhyming and the hooks and beats, which start big and keep getting bigger. One certainly wishes for less Aerosmith in the world generally and rap-rock is long since played-out, but the cover of “WTW” is pretty great fun, though borderline novelty and just barely makes the top 5 songs on the record. Considering all that’s happened in hip-hop in the 35 years (including the baleful emphasis on violence and the virulent sexism), this can seem quaint at times, but it holds up awfully well and remains a stone-cold classic for a reason, the definition of old-school hip-hop.
Ils ont marché pour que Bigflo & Oli puissent courir.
je me ferais pas l’album tous les jours mais vazi cest sympa
That's the way it is.
to rock a rhyme
Lots of catchy and fun songs. I really enjoyed the first half of the record, up to and including "Perfection". The cover of "Walk this Way" was brilliant. However I found the second half of the record got boring and repetitive. I especially disliked "Hit It Run".
Okay, about what you'd expect
Bit cheesy but good fun!
this was interesting. it felt like my white ass mom's idea of rap lol. the beats were simple and it was overall kind of goofy, but there were also times that it sounded like a proto-Beastie Boys.
Obviously the rhymes are dated, but even for being almost 40 years old some of the bars are still pretty great. Classic use of actual instruments for the beat in Perfection. With Raising Hell and obv Walk This Way there's the obvious crossover between rock and rap--I guess trying to see where emerging hip hop could go.
Standard stuff really
Great bit of classic hip hop for a sunny Friday. Stripped down beats, sometimes problematic lyrics with a few scuzzy guitar interludes. Great stuff
No thank you..
I think it's very vital.
Liked the Aerosmith song
now here is a classic hip hop album I've been waiting for. And we got the two songs I know with Tricky and Walk This Way. I used to watch Runs house with Stevie and Bryan back in the day and been a fan of them since. Very classic album and glad it's on this list.
Undeniably old school. I haven't listened to much from Run-DMC, in fact the one thing I think of is that I think Alex used to watch a sitcom starring Rev Run called Run's House? There's a couple signature hits on here, but overall this style is just very outdated for me. The beats are super rudimentary, and while I certainly respect it as foundational, it's just not the kind of classic hip hop that I seek out. I enjoy '90s stuff a lot more. It's alright. Favorite tracks: Walk This Way, It's Tricky, You Be Illin'. Album art: I've seen this one a lot before. The colors are nice but it's pretty basic. Very much of its era. 3/5
I noticed that both this album and Licensed to Ill dropped within 6 months of each other. Same label, same producer, both equally classic. And yet, I never heard the tracks on this album on top 40 radio unless they were samples. Institutionalized racism sucks. This album rules.
Definitely some cracking songs on here, but some show their age. The melding of rap and rock is good and I still love Walk This Way. Not so keen on the track about a ‘dumb girl’. Could do better.
Pretty fun, great old school hip hop. Love the Aerosmith collab (better together ;) ). Faves: Peter Piper, It's Tricky, Walk This Way, You Be Illin'
It’s tricky and walk this way are both awesome but I did get a little tired of the signature run dmc flow that emphasizes the last word in a bar after a while. Also enjoyed the title track
Some pretty popular songs on the album but I was never quite the fan of early rap though I can certainly appreciate this. 7/10
Un grand classique du Hip Hop. Probablement le plus grand succès du groupe grâce à Walk This Way. Une petite révolution à cette époque. La touche Rick Rubin est aussi évidente puisqu’on est dans les mêmes sonorités que l’album Licensed To Hill des Beastie Boys paru la même année.
p556, 1986. 2 stars. I can see why it's influential - rap meets rock - but not my thing. The impression I get is other than the singles, a lot of the tracks sound the same and seem like filler. Unlikely to listen to this again. Well done of its kind though.
3.6 - The Atari equivalent of rap. It’s obviously crude - the beats and rhymes are simplistic considering how far hip hop has evolved. But there’s an elegance in the craft and I’m struck by how well the sound holds up. I just want to pop this cassette into a boom box and carry it around on my shoulder. I also hear the beginnings of so many different strains in hip hop that would eventually blossom through other artists, like the call and response style perfected by the Beastie Boys. Similar to an Atari game, on some rare occasions it feels good to revisit an art form in its near-infancy.
Really liked the album but got a bit repetitive at times. Def some absolute bangers on there tho. RDMC’s style is very fun and distinctive.
A few great classics. A few misses. Over all good shit.
Foda fuck Everybody hates chris
Alright, actually.
Ah we've come across another historic hip-hop landmark! 86 was a great year for rap License to Ill also came out.
i should re-listen to this. I remember thinking. OH. this is where that's from several times. so let's say that's 4 stars.
Sounds a bit corny for an album made by inner city black dudes. I can get behind this oldie hip hop better than a lot of stuff I hear now, I guess
I would love to mentally time travel and hear this sound with fresh ears. The production is perfection but inevitably sounds dated. To hear it in 1986 when this was the hardest, freshest sound would have been awesome. This still hits hard though. These drums are so tight, so crisp. And the shouted style of the rapping matches the intensity of the music (and vice versa). The use of guitar throughout is killer, especially on the title track. Rap and rock are fused beautifully (gotta love some Rick Rubin production) and “Walk This Way” is an inspired song to remix (cover?). Steven Tyler sounds insane here too. Great that they brought him in on the fun.
What a brilliant idea to take some nursery rhymes that literally ANYONE can relate to, and throwing them over some sick beats! I know it feels kind of cheesy now, but thinking back to how new and different it was at the time, I am sooo impressed with the innovation.
I had a writeup that accidentally got deleted so i'm summarizing: It's a really dope album that is definitely deserving of a spot on this list. Production is incredibly tight and the added layers of instrumentation are impressive, quirky, and really elevates the overall album.
The production is sharper if it's possible, lyrical exchanges still impeccable. After the initial stretch of songs, there seem to be fewer ideas. The formula was perfect for the record-as-product; With about as many worthy riffs as the debut, it feels like a step sideways.
It’s tricky. No it isn’t. It’s fabulous
First Hip hop/rap I ever owned. Been a while since I listen to the entire album. It's still awesome and yes this album everyone needs to listen to.
Frábær plata.
Fun for what it is. Was revolutionary, feels very vintage now, and quite misogynist. Again, nothing starred into my favourites
Listened to on 3/22/22 4/5 Favorite song: It’s Tricky, Walk this Way Hip hop is not my cup of tea but there were too many classics on this album to not give it at least a 4 - hidden gems but definitely still gems
This album had three really famous songs from Run DMC and was a decent listen all the way through. It’ll get a 4 based on the merit of those songs and the overall listenability of the album, but not a 5 since I didn’t LOVE anything.
A beaut!
Decent
Hell yea
Wow this is excellent and good thank you for this. Still think that their Walk This Way cover is kinda weird. Front half has all the hits, but back half of the album might be better?
I occasionally listen to an ‘oldies’ radio station on my short drive to work. I’m not sure when my music or myself became old, but as the great songwriting duo Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen observed in their enchanting tune (famously covered by Frank Sinatra) ‘The September Of My Years’: ‘One day you turn around, and it’s summer. Next day you turn around, and it’s fall. And the springs and the winters of a life time, whatever happened to them all?’ Just for the record, I’m rather enjoying growing old. But back to the matter at hand, this ‘oldies’ station I sometimes enjoy. Now, I’m not talking about 90s grunge oldies (um hum, that’s 30 years ago, friends), or 80s new wave oldies, or 70s classic rock oldies. I’m talking the rock n' roll and R&B of the 60s and 50s. The real shit. And, unfortunately, often recorded/produced like shit. Because that’s the way things were back then. The studio technology was still pretty rudimentary, as well as the songwriting, and performances. A good friend of mine, hundreds of LPs ahead of me on this project, argued the value of Buddy Holly and the Crickets for its historical significance, and I agree. But he also honestly confessed that the record still sounds like shit, and on both sides of the studio glass, performance (including lyrics) and production. One has to remember context, though. For its time, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were revolutionary. And that’s where I’m going with Run-D.M.C. and 'Raising Hell.' I double dog dare you to listen to the likes of Kanye West or Eminem and then to this LP. Run and D.M.C. brag (and this LP is nothing if not bursting with braggadocio) about ‘Perfection’ on the last track of side one. But with elementary rhymes and missed beats (the fellas are too quick on the mic relative to Jam Master Jay’s scratching), this is hardly perfection. They should’ve named the song, ‘Deficient;’ no that’s a little harsh. How about ‘Middling,’ or in street vernacular, ‘middlin’.’ That would even rhyme well: Middlin- I’m just a chillin- I’m a superhero, I’m not a villain. I never claimed I could rap. Nor did you pay to read this review; so, clam up. (How’s that for an old expression?) The best thing on this LP is the production by the two very talented, and now famous (and getting old themselves) gentlemen, Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Rubin’s credits now include a tremendous variety of artists from Johnny Cash to Slayer! His work on Tom Petty’s 'Wildflowers' is exquisite. Listen for yourself. So 'Raising Hell’s' at least has that working for it. The worst thing: a close call between the sad, tired, drugged out Aerosmith collaboration on, ‘Walk This Way,’ (credited as the first rock/hip-hop fusion to significantly chart, but it would take another five years for LA’s Rage Against The Machine to show us what this should truly sound like), or whoever (maybe Jay, maybe Rubin?) is playing the horrendous lead guitar on ‘Raising Hell.’ When the devil and his minions popped up in Queens and heard Run-D.M.C.’s ‘Raising Hell,’ they took their pitchforks and went right back down to their demonic hood to wait for Slayer’s release that same year, 'Reign in Blood.' Slayer literally knows how to raise hell. I’d call the guitar playing on Run-D.M.C.’s song pure garage band, but that would be an insult to a musical genre I happen to love. ‘It’s tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time, it’s tricky,’ affirms Run-D.M.C. No argument here, guys. Your record’s proof enough. 1/5 (and that ain’t no jive, I’ve heard more buzzin from an ill behive)
One of my favorite albums from when I was a kid.
ну треков пять можно выделить со всего альбома, которые звучат прям ахуенно, но в целом проходняк
love it
5/5. Doesn’t get much more classic
Ik ben geen rap liefhebber, maar RunDMC is natuurlijk wereldberoemd vanwege hun nummer "Walk This Way" en ook "It's Tricky" is aardig bekend. Beiden nummers staan op dit album staat. Voor de rest wel aardige beats, maar niks bijzonders. **
I liked it then, and it’s ok now. Kind of groundbreaking at the time, so that’s valuable. A fun listen but more for nostalgic reasons.
nonsens
Von der delivery her eigentlich voll okay aber die Bears nerven echt auf Dauer.
Habs nicht geschafft zu hören aber kenne die meisten Tracks und ist halt naja ganz cool aber größtenteils überhört
Scheisse habs vergessen
Proto-Rap ist das was es ist Proto-Rap. Ich verstehe dass in nem witzigen Party Kontext oder als musikalischen Background aber kann mir niemand erzählen dass they das ernsthaft pumpt lol.
das ist hip hop alright 😴
She brought rock to poetry
Some brilliant tracks - It's Tricky, Walk this Way, You Be Illin'. A fun listen
Decent listen. Lower than expected production value with uneven mixing.
Very solid. May return to it.
What better opening salvo could there be than the first four tracks of this album! Tens across the board! After that, the album hits a solid groove, but nothing could match the first 20 minutes or so. I can't not rate this highly ( not least because I busted out a picture disc of it to listen to today)
Not really my genre
After the nostalgia wore off, it got repetitive. The singles still hold up and maybe the rest would be good in small doses.
This has been my favorite hip-hop album so far, and it's not even close to the second. Some classic tracks, and no tracks that made me want to turn it off like most of the other hip-hop or rap albums that I've gotten so far.
Hitit edelleen helvetin kovia eikä muukaan levy mitään ihan huttua ollut. Kolmonen on liian vähän ja nelonen taas yläkanttiin.
Tämäkin hyllystä löytyy ja aikoinaan urakalla popitettu, todella kova edelleen
Bangin.
This album is nowhere near as good as their first album. Aerosmith sucks. Russ Simmons should've vetoed that shit. Hmm why am I liking this on my second listen? Aerosmith still sucks. "Hit it Run" - Beatboxing over a song that already has drums in it? Truly a wild concept, and can probably never not be poorly executed and distracting lol The rock samples in this album are trash You Be Illin' is kinda nice.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The drums on Dumb Girl are so fucking nice, but the rest of the song is bad. the lyrics are genuinely trite, and the repetitive "dumb" sample playing during the hook is so unnecessary and not creative at all. what a waste of an absolute fire drum loop Proud to be Black is nice too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Exactly as bad as I remember it being. Completely putrid.
Great album, loved every song, from the hugely famous ones (it's tricky, walk this way, my adidas) to the fun ones (you be illin') to the serious ones (proud to be black). Proper hip hop, still relevant today. Love it love it love it!
The two most popular positives people say for this album are that it was rap that folks in the suburbs liked and that Aerosmith was on the album. I think of those as the two biggest negatives. I guess there is some guitar playing and it’s interesting to have that fused with hip-hop
I have to say that rap has come a long way since RDMC. Today's rap is smoother and they don't shout out the rhymes (except live maybe). I know this is a landmark album, and they are a landmark duo - the first to dump their velour suits for adidas and track suits (a big step forward). Musically I find it a bit irritating. Tricky is catchy, but the track that gets the most air play, Walk this Way, is to me, a tribute to how great a pop-rock song the original was. The 10% that RDMC add, I could do without. It was a big crossover. Rick Rubin, bla bla bla, but I like most of the rap we've heard more than this.
Wow, this album is 35 yrs old, this is OG as OG gets. Its interesting how rap has changed over the years but its still a fun and somewhat cheezy romp. I hate Aerosmith but I must say this restyling of Walk this way is pretty good and a helluva lot better than the original version.
Dated Rap/ Rock
Rapping was a bit raw in places
Full of bangers. This album has got to be one of the most accessible hip hop albums of all time. Great stuff.
As the songs says, Perfection.
Definitely loved the first five tracks. I was hypnotized by the guitars, lyrics, and the beat. After the song wit Aerosmith, it started to sound a little bit repetitive. Overall, I would say that this is a great gateway between rock and rap. Will listen to these songs I the future, for sure
Day 2
Loved it. Very fun.
This record is great! It's a symbol of its period, with most of Run DMCs most known songs. The beatbox tracks are so cool! A must listen!
It’s not wonder these guys are considered all-time greats. The record sounds dated but that works as both a positive and deterrent. I personally love it!
Good album, the dawn of the sample hip hop NY era
Provavelmente já escutei em alguma trilha sonora de algum filme. Não é meu estilo preferido, mas não é ruim.
Ja, dat is best lekker om eens te horen. Het zijn geen Beastie Boys, maar toch
Gortdroge hop, want hip kun je dit toch niet noemen. Walk this way blijft wel top-hip-hop!
Die track met Aerosmith is echt heel vet, maar verder is dit toch wel erg gedateerd.
Walk this way is nog wel leuk. De rest begint na 2 nummers allemaal heel erg op elkaar te lijken. En erg spannend is het niet.
Hmm, viel een beetje tegen dit. Op basis van de hitjes had ik goede hoop, maar helaas. Veel van hetzelfde.
A Hip Hop classic to kick things off…
It's a very good record. The rhymes, the wordplay, the delivery are all excellent. Of course, the hits are top notch and have stood the test of time. Some of the other tracks I find a bit samey - many are just backed by simple 808 beats on loop - though that puts more focus on the rhymes, so not necessarily a bad thing. At times the drum sounds are a bit harsh for me, but I suppose that is the sound they were going for. Definitely a highly important and influential album, though I might be tempted to head straight for the hits in future.
Still awesome from start to finish.
Very very very nice,
Unarguably important and influenial, but by today's standards, quite outdated rock-inspired hip-hop. Was worth a listen, but I didn't enjoy it as much as their debut.
This is the alblum that got me to listen to something other than my hard rock. Opened me up to a whole new world. So much fun to hear again
What the fuck is this supposed to be
So it's like Beasties Boys, but not as good? What am I missing here. A high 2, but giving the benefit of the doubt here and assuming my 'I don't like rap' is getting in the way
I LOVE THAT RAP <3 5/5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND AEROSMITH <3 <3 <3 I FUCKING LOVE THEM!!!
Appreciate their rhythm & rhyme skills!
considering the year it was not that bad
This was great!
This album is pretty seminal for hip hop artists but I'm not sure it's that great. From the fart noises on 'Hit It Run' to the lyrics on 'Dumb Girl' and 'You Be Illin'' this album ages pretty badly. I won't be Running back to listen.
Kudos for basically creating rap; fun rock beats; kinda just yelling and hasn’t aged well
Absolute bangers. Not a fan of “Perfection” and “Hit and Run” but the rest are so much fun!!!
Hip-hop. Dos megahits. Venga, le pongo un 5 por la que tienen con Aerosmith.
it's tricky
I have, of course, heard this before x
Some good stuff, some not so good
Seminal hip hop anthems, and a fun crossover with Aerosmith.
I know Run DMC is one of the most influential rap groups but I just can't stand rap "groups". Having 1 guy rap and a bunch of others help finish every sentence is just annoying as hell. And then the "music" on this album sounds like it was made on a shitty Casio keyboard using the drum beats setting. It sounds like the producer said "Let's crank up the bass drum and make the rest sound far away in an echo chamber." Bonus star only for being so influential to music.
Getting better
Did not like it at all. Never been a fan of Run DMC. Boring. Probably very influential but DULL.
Almost every song was 5/5 and the album as a whole was both fun and great sources of nostalgia. I loved the pace of their rapping - it’s clever wordplay that I can understand.
Pretty good! Very glad I listened to it. A bit too energetic to really wanna listen to all at once, but it's got some great songs.
An absolute classic of Hip-hop, with songs that remain well-known even today.
First time listening to 90s rap. Not really my thing but I enjoyed Tricky
very refreshing, can't remember much about it anymore but a few bangers
I wish I had more time to write this review. An easy 5, fun, catchy, and also some political moments. Great album!
Hell raising and trail blazing. Sounds a little dated, but rock solid.
Interesting as an historical document of rap's origins. But far too cheesy to ever want to listen to again.
Rap for rockers. This is as good as rap gets (which isn't saying much). As usual it's all the same - it's a good rhythm but it gets tiresome. Walk this way is fantastic, but nothing else on the album comes close to it.
Not for me
This is very Fun-D.M.C. Massive beats, catchy, and the first rock/rap crossovers. Easy to see why this is considered the first classic hip-hop album and how it brought the genre to a new audience. 4/5.
nicht meins, nicht ganz durchgehört. Walk this way war nicht schlecht
A lot of raw energy here. I don't find the samples as interesting as on other rap albums, but I appreciate the influence that this album had. Closer to a 3.5
Nice but not my style.
The album cover is very 80's, the colors, typography, and layout. Of course I know (and love) the Walk This Way track, but not really anything else on the album, at least that I know of. I'm surprised there is only one song marked explicit. Let's listen... Starts out with Peter Piper which strikes me as to black men yelling cheerfulness. I've definitely heard the second song, It's tricky, which is also pretty fun. The album is certainly not without social commentary, but overall it is more upbeat than I was expecting. Each song is individually interesting, lots of the lyrics are clever, and the way the voices interweave creates a distinct rhythmic cadence that keeps the whole album driving forward. This is good. I wish I had listened more in the day. OK I just went and looked up the It's Tricky video and I'm glad I did.
Kaikki isot hitit, hyvin kulkee vaikka selkeä oman aikansa levy.
Really love the mixed between rap and rocks here,solid stuff
fühl mich konstant angeschrien, zwischendurch witzig, in Summe aber für mich eintönig
YES! Montag morgen, am Weg in die Arbeit, irgendwie war ich bissl schneller! Bei denen reichts auch einfach wenn nur die drums und das gerappe sind. Macht einfach voll Spaß!
Ebenso minimalistisch wie auf den Punkt - haut total rein. Was für beats und tighte raps - und mehr ist es (und braucht es) auch nicht. Da kann man nicht nicht furiously mit dem Kopf nicken. Sogar erste Cross Over Anleihen in einem sonst so old-school hip hop album. Wow. Key Tracks: Tricky, Walk this way, peter piper, dumb girl (LOL)
Not for me
Sixteen year old me loved this cassette to the point of wearing it out. Then I never listened to it again. Between this and "License To Ill", I might have just OD'd on the genre. So this was an interesting revisit. The "Walk This Way" mash-up/re-make/cover remains essential. In fact, the beats overall hold up incredibly well. It's the misogynist lyrics that have become cringe worthy. But it's still quite a blast to listen to again. My flawed memory suggested "Mary Mary" was on this album, so I was a little sad to discover it was on their follow up album. I have a sneaky suspicion that "Raising Hell" holds up better than "License To Ill".
Styles have changed, but they're the OG
Brilliant. So many good tracks. Great energy
A znam da su revolucionarni, ali not for me.
Zna se da su ikone u glazbi hip hopa, sve to stoji, aliiiiiiiiiiii meni nikad nisu baš bili vrh. Više je ono: "E hvala vam na svemu, super je to sve, međutim niste toliko dobri kako govore." Zapravo, to garant govore jer su bili inovativni što jeste, ali na kraju su puno puno njih napravili bolje nego oni. Rispekt na mjestu btw.
Neke pjesme su mi onak totalno, prošla me faza da mi je ovo sad jako dobro. On the other hand neke bengeri koji bude nostalgiju na onaj dobar način. Walk this way je goated 🐐
Classic old-school Hip-Hop Rock, most songs have a fairly simple hook or lyric but the verses are where they really shine. I never realized how much Beastie Boyz picked up from Run DMC, the influence is super obvious here. Raising Hell stood out, that was a great tune. Good mix of goofy tunes with some serious punchy ones.
> bookmarked 'My Adidas', 'Dumb Girl' and 'You Be Illin'' for lols > not really listenable anymore, maybe later stuff
The first thing to strike the contemporary listener is how antiquated the album sounds. I mean this neither as condemnation nor praise, but just observation. It sounds exactly how a major hip-hop act would sound in 1986. So, with that qualifier, the album is still rather fun. The shared duties and alternations between the lads still delights. Easily a 4-starrer. However, there isn't quite a sense of flow between the songs. Raising Hell feels more like a collection of songs than a cohesive album. This is not a flaw per se, but I can't declare it a masterpiece.
Pretty good! Very glad I listened to it. A bit too energetic to really wanna listen to all at once, but it's got some great songs.
Surprisingly fun. I wasn't aware I would be big as big of a fan of 80's rap. Songs all sound very similar but they were were enjoyable. 3.5/5
decent album. not my favorite not the worst. I really dislike Aerosmith though, so will never get over walk this way.
The album that brought hip-hop out of the cities and into nationwide attention. An undeniable classic.
Really like some of the samples in here
Bueno
I liked it :) I wonder how much of what I think about rap (not really digging it except isolated cases) comes from just...not liking what's been Top 40 in my teenage and young adulthood years? Stuff like Lil Wayne and 50 Cent etc. Because I found this album really enjoyable and didn't feel the need to skip anything (not that I would have, because I'm trying to listen to everything on this list straight through). Unsurprisingly I've been a fan of It's Tricky for a long time, but I found myself dancing in my chair at several points during the album, and I didn't expect that :) And songs like Peter Piper remind me of the lyrical dexterity needed to rap well, and I appreciate that as an art form :)
3.5
Bischen eintönig, nicht so mein style. Tricky ist das beste Lied und das ist nichtmal richtig geil
Fun 80s Rap - Solid album.
This feels so iconic. I love the minimalist Rick Rubin production. A lot of the time the tracks dispense with anything more than beats and just let the MCs do their thing. "Walk This Way" was the big breakthrough, crossover hit, but the album is full of other tunes that pack just as much punch. The lyrics are still echoed in hip hop.
Bangerzzzz
I like The consistency of the album’s energy, very fun
Energiskt, och låter före sin tid. Aldrig tråkigt.
I was in the car recently and triple j played NWA. It was probably the most exciting thing I've heard on triple j in at least the last decade. It was startling to hear how fresh, vibrant and exciting it still sounded. It still sounded like the future. It's pretty much the same experience listening to 'Raising Hell'.
ATTITUDE. The album that got fratboys into hip-hop.
Now that takes me back. Fun.
Hip hop clásico con mucho sintetizador y algún tema muy conseguido. Para fanáticos de este tipo de música
This album is so iconic and influential that I have to remind myself sometimes it's not a parody. "Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good!" "It's Tricky" is a song I rediscovered a few years back and has been in my playlists since. So fun. "Walk This Way" has had such an influence on music since it came out that it's hard to remember how novel it was back in the day. "Perfection" has what might be my favorite lyrics ever in a rap: "I got prescription glasses and my eyes are correct/ Two times every year I go to have them checked." "You Be Illin'" is the one I listened to multiple times. I love the sound and the humor. I loved the beatboxing, the scratching, the beats. This is where it all became a Big Thing.
I love this album. I have listened to it recently independent of this project. It full of fun raps and DJing. Nostalgic, yes, but also just fun.
Had a great time listening to this. Have always loved the Walk This Way, It's Tricky, and You Be Illin'. Great to hear the rest of this classic. Super fun.
This was a fun surprise. Run DMC are definitely entertaining, and I was already very familiar with “It’s Tricky” and “Walk This Way.” Hearing those songs again was a lot of fun. Those two songs alone earn the album a place in my library, and the Aerosmith collaboration is an amazing highlight in the history of rap and rock. Some of the highlights from the rest of the album: “Peter Piper” was a fun opening! I liked all the nursery rhymes references and the clanging bell. It also had an advantage to be the first song, meaning all the bragging wasn’t played out yet… “My Adidas” was fun and I enjoyed it… at times I they used the singular ‘Adida’ but that wasn’t reflected in the printed lyrics I found. I loved the sound of a singular Adida and want to refer to an individual Adidas sneaker as such henceforth. The guitar work in “Hit It Run” made it stand out and was a refreshing addition. When I heard “You Be Illin’” I realized I had heard that one before. It’s pretty good. While the ground this album is built upon is well-trod today, in 1986 this was really exciting and new. There’s a lot of boasting and some misogyny that could be throttled back a bit for my taste. Some of the songs wear a bit thin and likely will not attract me to future listens, but overall this was appealing. The highlights more than make up for the deficiencies of this album.
So excellent.
Classic. Didnt age well but it was the start of something.
Besides "Walk this way" which is an absolute classic Tricky is one of my favorite all time songs. Perfect mix of rock and hiphop. This album is a bobber... 4/5
You Be Illin' is A+ lol
A classic
12/14/21 - Good lord. The Autechre guys say they love this era of hip hop because it uses basically the same sonic palette as musique concrete. Left me feeling parched.
Such a fun and cheesy romp. I see why this is such a historical album, kicking of hip hops golden age. Great rhymes and lyrics, and even better beats. The only issue I have with it is the fact that it’s a little too samey throughout, in regards to flow in particular. Hats off to Aerosmith for showing up and playing their own sample and joining in on the fun, too. Baller move.
Cheesy and bombastic, with some really corny stuff at parts. Nevertheless, this album is a DEFINING moment for music, and so that pulls it from the monotonous muck into a strong 4.
Rating: 5.7/10 IT'S TRICKAAAY - only now I realise it samples My Sharona from The Knack. Rest of the album was pretty funky, definitely prefer this old-school kind of rap from the modern one.
8/10 pretty fun album
Old school is cool? I don’t know
Interesting. Not sure I understand exactly why it is on the list. Perhaps it is because was ground braking, and everyone else sounds the same little
Slick.
Classic hip hop songs. Great for a productive throwback playlist. Probably won’t listen to this album proper again.
Not a big hip hop fan, but I did enjoy this. 3 stars.
Seminal. Incredibly strong A side!
Nice beats
First things first, “Peter Piper” slaps. It’s an immediate hit of adrenaline that sends the record bouncing off the wall and straight into “It’s Tricky” – itself the soundtrack to some electric memories of SSX Tricky in the living room of 11 Underwood Gardens. A turn of the millennium PS2 game isn’t the last real world piece of commercial paraphernalia invoked by Raising Hell, though … and there’s times where I think I’d like this record more if it didn’t so often feel like an infomercial for things Run–D.M.C (or Jay Mizell, more accurately) had already, by then, made street-infamous. Still, can’t hate the boys for making the most of their singular place in cultural history, even if the culture they’re historicising is that of late capitalism. Frederic Jameson famously compares the well-worn shoes of a Van Gogh to the anonymous shine of Warhol’s “Diamond Dust Shoes” to make a point about the lifelessness of postmodernism and its limp array of interchangeable commodities. It’s sort of fitting, then, that Run–D.M.C’s Adidas shell-toes manage to both validate and contradict the features of postmodernity described by Jameson. Sure, the shoes are about as obvious an example of commodity and culture combining as is conceivable (identity as corporate asset; sign as more significant than the substance) … but you’d find it hard to accuse them of contributing to any waning of affect. (The sight of Steven Tyler ramming his head through a wall and enjoining you to “walk this way” is, at a minimum, affecting.) Walk this way culture did, talk this way too. A shame, I guess, on some level, but then … “Peter Piper” slaps.
Classic hip hop. Instantly recognizable. Catchy vocals.
Here's another one that I could write paragraphs about. This album, along with Licensed to Ill and LL's BAD, were the foundation for my love for hip hop. I'm certain that I'm far from alone there as Raising Hell was the first platinum hip hop album and with the smash success of the Walk This Way crossover. For me, this album is as much about Jay's DJing and Rick Rubin's production as it is the rhymes. Granted, they lean heavily on the hard guitar riffs but once again it's a case of "is too much of a great thing a bad thing?" Along with the commercial breakthrough legacy of this album it's also a landmark transition from earlier 80s hip-hop in how clean and precise the production and scratching is. Compare and contrast to Paid in Full, for example. It's an 80s style but still easily holds up today. Four undeniable classics right at the top, along with the title track later, lead the way in making this an easy top 5-10 hip-hop album of the 80s. In fairness, some of the later tracks don't stand out as much on their own but that's a hard ask when up against so many hits. Still solid enough to hold it all together. It has to be a 4-4.5 for the music, but for influence and legacy, sentimentality, and personal enjoyment this is a slam dunk 5 for me.
4.5. fantastic fantastic hip hop. The length is perfect too. I thought I'd be annoyed at Walk This Way since it's so so popular and played so much, but nope. It stays just as good as it's always been.
Liked most of the songs
😘👌
Cool classic hiphop
If there’s anything to bring me back to a 9 y/o version of myself skateboarding, shoplifting, and trespassing it’s this album.
Very fun, not exactly what I expected. More wholesome.
Sorry dont hate me i just cant make it thru this album
-Some nice flows in "Peter Piper." I like the line "Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good" -Hey "It's Tricky" is that Tik Tok song. It's nice to actually hear the rest of it. The song actually holds up across the rest of the track too. I like the simple but interesting beat. I swear one of the dudes sounds a bit like Ace Frehley at a few points -Cool reference to Live Aid in "My Adidas." I recently listened to Live Aid and remember the Run-D.M.C.'s section -"Walk This Way (feat. Aerosmith)" is great. An awesome rendition. I like that they mixed the original guitar and drums into a back eat for their rap style -Nice guitar in "Raising Hell"
Groundbreaking hip-hop with hits, grit, and heart.
Good solid hip hop
A couple good tracks, but all songs have the same type of flow - doesn't keep me interested for long
What a day
some great use of an 808. bit meh though. some belting big tracks but the filler has huge vibes of teenage kids in school with the casio keyboard. R-R-R-R-R-R-R-REMIX
I have been known to be wildly inconsistent with my reactions to expensive items. I will happily overpay for a pair of jeans, and later that same day bemoan the state of the world when an ice-cream costs a fiver, despite both items having a similar manufacturing cost. My biggest blind spot in terms of this is with prostitutes. In Amsterdam I will greedily piss away thousands on the women in the windows, but when I'm in Barnsley, I wouldn't pay a tenner for a handjob. Even though it all leads to the same result. What I'm trying to say is, Run DMC are really good value for money. I think.
Ahh it's pretty good for what it is, isn't it? I'd never stick it on at home, but yeah, sound. If it was an item of furniture, it'd be a diamond encrusted lamp shade that screams "Tricky" every time you turn it on.
What a four track run Peter Piper, It's Tricky, My Adidas and Walk This Way is. I needed a little sit down after that. The rest of the album, as good as it is, is a bit underwhelming in comparison.
An ode to the cow bell, which never fails to improve a song and here creates the impression that the boys are tap dancing around the beat. The only other punctuation is Jam Master Jay's guitarless rock beats and the boys' punched-out vocals.
A good relic of its time, but hard to enjoy with my whole heart.
I liked it! "It's Tricky" is a classic, "Walk This Way" is a bit unnecessary, overall a fun album.
This was so much better than I was expecting! I already knew ‘It’s Tricky’ and ‘Walk This Way’ of course, but I really enjoyed a lot of the other tracks, especially the title track. I kept thinking, “Oh this one is my top pick! No wait, this one!”. I think the album was a bit let down by the opening track but it really picked up after that. Do they use a fairly basic kick beat? Yes. Are they absolute classics? Yes.
Tricky and Walk this Way are awesome, but a lot of this sounds a bit dated now
A classic rap band, with a motley of instruments making a great sound
Great album, loved every song, from hugely famous (walk this way) to the fun ones (you be illin) to the serious ones (proud to be black). Proper hip hop, still relevant today. Love it love it love it!
Niceee vibe. Solide album avec leur stye bien à eux 4.65
fun, some good jams for party playlists, but feels dated in a good way just wouldn't listen through again
7.5/10
Dated sound but relevant af and very skilled.