After sporting Adidas for years and the release of their third album Raising Hell in 1986 which included My Adidas, Run-D.M.C. became the first rappers to sign an endorsement deal with a major company, Adidas. Russell Simmons and Run-D.M.C.’s road manager at the time, Lyor Cohen invited adidas executive Angelo Anastasio to come watch Run-DMC perform their hit song My Adidas at Madison Square Garden.
Angelo Anastasio saw thousands of fans in the crowd holding up their Adidas shoes in the air, and quickly signed Run-D.M.C. to a million-dollar endorsement deal, which also included their own signature line.
MTV (Music Television Network) launched on August 1, 1981. Blondie‘s music video for Rapture—which released that same year—was the 48th video aired on MTV’s launch day and Rapture became the first music video with a rap aired on MTV. In the music video for Rapture, you see Blondie’s frontwoman Debbie Harry walking through the city of New York with walls covered of the hip-hop element, Graffiti. The music video featured cameos from Fab 5 Freddy (who Debbie Harry shouted out on the song), Jean Michel ‘Basquiat,’ and Lee Quinones.
Rapture by Blondie was the first music video with a rap aired on MTV
Rock Box by Run-D.M.C. was the first hip-hop music video by a rap group aired on MTV
In the summer of 1984, Run-D.M.C.’s Rock Box, the first rap-rock song, became the first official hip-hop music video by a rap group played on MTV. Rock Box was Run-D.M.C.‘s debut music video. Four years after that, MTV devoted an entire show to hip-hop, when they launched Yo! MTV Raps in August 1988.
“‘Rock Box’ was the first rap-rock record. It took Eddie Martinez’s rock guitar to get us on MTV. Our producer, Larry Smith, came up with the idea. People forget about Larry Smith, but Larry Smith owned hip-hop and rap. He produced our first two albums, and he produced Whodini. The rock-rap sound was Larry Smith’s vision, not Rick Rubin’s. Rick changed history, but Larry was there first. Actually, me and Run was against the guitar. We did two versions of ‘Rock Box’ because we didn’t want the guitar version playing in the hood. But when DJ Red Alert played it on his radio show, black people loved the guitar version more than the hip-hop version.” D.M.C.’s told MTV about the music video on I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution.
Run-D.M.C.’s second studio album “King of Rock” was released in January 21, 1985 by Profile Records. King of Rock was produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith, peaking at No. 52 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and No. 12 on Top Hip-Hop/R&B chart.
Two and a half years after CD’s (compact discs) first became commercially available in stores and record shops, Profile Records was able to press Run-D.M.C.’s King of Rock album on CD, making it the first rap album to be released on CD.
Run-D.M.C. (Released March 27, 1984), the debut album from Run-D.M.C. was the first Hip-Hop album to go Gold. The album produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith, was released by Profile Records.
Run-D.M.C. peaked at No. 53 on the US Billboard 200 Chart, and No. 14 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Run-D.M.C. was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 and contained 4 previously unreleased songs.
Raising Hell—the third album by hip hop group Run-D.M.C. was the first hip-hop album to go platinum and multi-platinum. The album was executively produced by Rick Rubin & Russell Simmons and was released by Profile Records on May 15, 1986.
Raising Hell reach at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album was certified platinum on July 15, 1986 and became the first hip-hop album to sell one million copies. Raising Hell was certified as 3x Platinum by the RIAA on April 24, 1987.
Run-DMC’s most famous single, the rap rock version of Aerosmith’s 1975 song “Walk This Way”, is considered to be the first rap rock collaboration and became the first rap song to hit the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing hip-hop into the mainstream.
In 1986, Raising Hell was nominated for a Grammy and won Best Rap Album at the 1987 Soul Train Music Awards. Raising Hell was reissued by Arista Records in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 containing five previously unreleased songs.
In 2018, Raising Hell was added to The Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant”.
