Raising Hell [Deluxe Edition] [Digipak] [Remaster] (CD - 1986)

Additional personnel: Steven Tyler (vocals); Joe Perry, Rick Rubin (guitar); Daniel Shulman (bass); Sam Sever (drum programming).

Engineers include: Steve Ett, Andy Wallace, Jay Burnett.

Run-D.M.C.: Joseph Simmons (keyboards, percussion); Jason Mizell, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels.

Personnel: Steven Tyler (vocals); André Harrell (spoken vocals); Joe Perry , Rick Rubin (guitar); Jason Mizell (keyboards, percussion); Sam Sever (drum programming).

Liner Note Author: Sacha Jenkins.

Recording information: Chung King, New York, NY (01/16/1986-04/08/1986); Magic Ventures (01/16/1986-04/08/1986); Shakedown Sound (01/16/1986-04/08/1986); Sound Track Recording (01/16/1986-04/08/1986).

Authors: Eminem; Ice-T; Kid Rock; Rick Rubin.

Photographers: Chuck Pulin; Glen E. Friedman.

Rap music may have been making some headway in terms of mainstream acceptance by 1986, but it was the release and breakthrough of Run DMC's cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" that cemented the deal. Rap was out of the urban ghetto and into the white, hard rock suburbs. And Run DMC was the perfect band to initialize the natural crossover, being among the first of hip-hop's nationally respected acts, and definitely the first to hint at the marriage of hardcore rap and power chords with 1983s "Rock Box" and 1985s "King of Rock."

RAISING HELL, the band's third full-length release, includes far more classics than just that one pop hit. "Peter Piper," "It's Tricky," "My Adidas" and "You Be Illin'" define the old-school hip-hop aesthetic about as well as any four songs on any rap full-length recorded in the '80s. Listen to any song on this LP and you'll recognize two to three lines that have become standards in the language of rap. A historic album? You don't know the half of it.

By their third album, Run-D.M.C. were primed for a breakthrough into the mainstream, but nobody was prepared for a blockbuster on the level of Raising Hell. Run-D.M.C. and King of Rock had established the crew's fusion of hip-hop and hard rock, but that sound didn't blossom until Raising Hell, partially due to the presence of Rick Rubin as producer. Rubin loved metal and rap in equal measures and he knew how to play to the strengths of both, while slipping in commercial concessions that seemed sly even when they borrowed from songs as familiar as "My Sharona" (heard on "It's Tricky"). Along with longtime Run-D.M.C. producer Russell Simmons, Rubin blew down the doors of what hip-hop could do with Raising Hell because it reached beyond rap-rock and found all sorts of sounds outside of it. Sonically, there is simply more going on in this album than any previous rap record -- more hooks, more drum loops (courtesy of ace drum programmer Sam Sever), more scratching, more riffs, more of everything. Where other rap records, including Run-D.M.C.'s, were all about the rhythm, this is layered with sounds and ideas, giving the music a tangible flow. But the brilliance of this record is that even with this increased musical depth, it still rocks as hard as hell, and in a manner that brought in a new audience. Of course, the cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," complete with that band's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, helped matters considerably, since it gave an audience unfamiliar with rap an entry point, but if it were just a novelty record, a one-shot fusion of rap and rock, Raising Hell would never have sold three million copies. No, the music was fully realized and thoroughly invigorating, rocking harder and better than any of its rock or rap peers in 1986, and years later, that sense of excitement is still palpable on this towering success story for rap in general and Run-D.M.C. in specific. [Arista/Legacy reissued Raising Hell as a deluxe edition in 2005, containing five bonus tracks -- an a cappella mix of "My Adidas," demos of "Walk This Way" and "Lord of Lyrics" (which would later become "Raising Hell"), plus radio commercials for the Raising Hell tour and an appearance by the group on Live at the Apollo -- and liner notes by Sacha Jenkins.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize