For years, rap music was threatening to infiltrate the mainstream Top 40 world.
Sure, there were some songs that had their moments in the song. The two most memorable rap singles up through the mid-1980s were "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang in January 1980, the first-ever all-rap song to make the Top 40. The other came a year later when Debbie Harry rapped in the second half of "Rapture," Blondie's fourth and final No. 1 hit in less than two years.
But starting in 1984, three friends from Hollis, Queens, N.Y., Joseph Simmons, Jason Mizell and Daryl McDaniels, started to make noise in the R&B world with their raps. And unlike other artists out there like Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaata, these guys were a little harder edged. It was in 1984 when they made waves with a song called "King Of Rock," using a guitar-edged backdrop to their loud and proud raps.
Jason, Joseph and Daryl grew up on smooth R&B, but they also grew up on hard rock. They saw an avenue with their rap that might get them noticed a little more quickly than some of the other acts out there. And so Jason, the DJ and scratcher, Joseph, who went by the nickname of "Run" and Daryl, who took the "DMC" from his name, went to work on an album that would get them noticed in the summer of 1986 with the help of a little-known producer named Rick Rubin.
It was called "Raising Hell." The centerpiece of the album was an innovative rap using a song all three guys never heard growing up -- "Walk This Way" by Boston's bad boys of rock, Aerosmith. It was Rubin who brought his copy of the album the song was from, "Toys In The Attic," to the studio and played the original for the young rappers. He suggested they try to rap Tyler's original lyrics and neither Simmons or McDaniels were up for it. But Rubin was persuasive. And Mizell was willing to give it a shot by putting his own unique scratching skills to the song.
They got the permission from Tyler and Joe Perry, the writers of "Walk This Way" and who were unusually inspired to write the song after they caught the Mel Brooks-directed "Young Frankenstein" at the movies one day, to do the song. Next thing they asked permission for: If Perry and Tyler would like to play on the remake. They were both willing to come to New York and cut the new version.
What happened next is what some of us calling "the moment when chocolate met peanut butter" in rap music. Tyler was used mainly as the backing vocal while Perry starred on lead guitar just like he had a year before. And Run and DMC traded raps off the original lyrics as if they wrote the song.
It was a landmark. And on the weekend of August 16, 1986, "Walk This Way" was the highest Top 40 debut of the week at No. 30, already supplanting the Sugarhill Gang's No. 36 smash "Rapper's Delight" as the highest-charting single by a rap act. The song zoomed into the Top 10 within weeks and would peak at No. 4 by late September.
The door was opened for other rappers such as L.L. Cool J., D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Salt-N-Pepa, J.J. Fad and 2 Live Crew to walk through before the 1980s came to an end and another group of rappers invaded the charts from the 1990s on. And trust me, rap has had some great songs hit the charts, but not everyone that hits the Top 40 is a classic.
That could be said about songs that are sung. And that's partly why "Walk This Way" is such a landmark single. The song also did something else -- it revived the career of Aerosmith, who would release "Permanent Vacation," their first successful album in years and featured the Top 40 hits "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," "Rag Doll" and "Angel," the Top 3 ballad that served as the band's first Top 10 hit since "Walk This Way." Aerosmith's dominance continued well into the 1990s where they scored their first No. 1 hit with "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from the "Armageddon" movie soundtrack. And when "Jaded" hit the Top 10 in 2001, it proved the band had strength going into the 21st century. And they still continue to rock out when they can.
But Aerosmith's "second" life and rap music could not have happened without Rick Rubin's insistence that three early 20-somethings record a 10-year-old song and put their own spin on it.
The true meaning of chocolate meeting peanut butter.
No comments:
Post a Comment