By Odeisel

In this segment of our interview with legendary hip-Hopper DMC, we take a look at how to group first came together and how their sound evolved into what it became. Did Russell want D down with the group in the first place? How much of the movie Krush Groove was true and how much was Hollywood? Was there any truth to the rumor that Run made LL Cool J change the original beat to “Rock The Bell?” We get answers and more on King of Rock Volume 3.

DMC: When I first got down with Larry Smith and Joe when Joe first put me in the group, “Russell I’m putting Darryl in the group.” Russell was like, “Fucking Darryl? What the fuck is a Darryl McDaniels?” He can write but Russell said D can’t fucking rap! He’s not you, he ain’t Kurtis Blow. But Joe was like he hung with me. He saw me freestyling He came in my basement and seen my turntables. He seen my fucking rhyme book.

Originally, when I walked up in Larry Smith’s attic, Joe and Russell and them, Russell was always big on Busy B, Starski, Hollywood and Kurtis Blow.

Planet Ill: Slick talkers.

DMC: Yeah. When I went to Rice High School in 9^th grade, Run and Jay went to Jackson together. I went to Rice high School, so this kid Terrence Washington, he used to bring cassette tapes of Afrika Bambaataa, Soundview, Harlem World. The Funky 4 + 1, I wasn’t hearing that Hollywood, “Clap your hands, stomp your feet Kurtis Blow rap. I was hearing Bambaataa with the disco beats and echo chambers and “7 Minutes of Funk” and James Brown tracks. Little Ronnie C and the Funky Four talking “C to the apple, apple to the core, I am the man with the rhymes galore Rock a rhyme for me and then a rhyme for you.” I was hearing Sha Rock who was better than 90% of motherfuckers that rhyme today! “To all of you my name is Sha with the echo chambers and the beats so when I walked up in Larry Smith’s house, it originally went like this.

I walked up in the house and Joe’s rap was “Unemployment at a record high, people going people coming people born to die. Don’t ask me, ‘cause I don’t know why but it’s like that” with Larry on the bass. I was supposed to go, “People in the world trying to make ends meet travel by car, train bus or feet” but when I heard that shit and I had my 40 oz.  And “Planet Rock” had just fucking dropped. Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation and the music man.

I remember Larry looking at me laughing like, “Okay, D.” “This is bullshit, Larry we gotta bring this shit! I would always pull out my cassette tapes like we gotta do this shit like that!”And that’s when we became superheroes! Before Run put me down, he was just going to be a rapper; The son of Kurtis Blow. But when I got with his ass we were going to be the Sure Shot Crew-Crew starting DJ Cool Cuts-Cuts, Cool C-C Sugar Bear-Bear and the three emcees that’ll rock ooooon down-down!

Planet Ill: That echo.

DMC: Yeah, so up until Tougher Than Leather, our whole shit was we gotta better than those dudes on those tapes because this is the thing that will never go away. That showbiz shit will be over in a minute

Planet Ill: Let’s go back a little bit, I want to touch on something.  How much of Krush Groove was reality and how much was fiction? Why weren’t you guys on Def Jam?

DMC: Well first of all, Def Jam came after we was out and our contract with Profile was as like ten albums.

Planet Ill: I remember that contract…

DMC: We ain’t know no better and fucking stupid ass Russell signs our lives away lol. But the reason we couldn’t be on Def Jam was because we was on Profile for fucking ten albums. It wasn’t a bad thing, I mean four hit albums out the fucking box? We only got six to go, I can do this in my sleep! It just started messing up when we wasn’t able to drop two and three albums in a year.

Krush Groove was truthful on the way we got signed and the way Run DMC came together.  And Russell being Run’s brother that was the truth but everything else was fiction.

Planet Ill: I got one more that I gotta take care of for the old school crew. “Rock the Bells” used to have the same beat as “Peter Piper.” There’s a rumor that LL detonated it so bad that Run got mad and made him change it.

DMC: Hell yeah. LL, and this is the beauty of creative competition, LL didn’t have to do shit. He could have said fuck ya’ll, you don’t own the Bob James sample. There was always an accountability with this Hip-Hop. Unwritten rules that people justify the bullshit with. LL could have put his version out, too. How many people rapped over “Good Times?” How many people rapped over “Genius of Love?” We were such from another creative entity that LL just said, “Okay cool. Fuck it. I’ll put that shit out without the bells and that shit will still be def.” But truth be told, the only reason that LL didn’t do it was because we legitimately had our idea…we probably had our idea at the same time, but ours hit the fan out the box; ours came out that studio first.

Run was like, “You can’t put it out.” And LL could have. He didn’t because we had the jump on the idea first. And that’s respect.

Planet Ill: How much more difficult do you think LL’s journey was as the first real superstar solo emcee?

DMC: It was harder because it was groups before then. And he was going through, like he had to deal with everything himself. But there was always superstars in the game. Like if you look before that there was Spooney G, Jimmy Splicer Kurtis Blow, but at that time it was so highly competitive,  especially, how the hell you gonna go up against Run DMC, Furious 5. It was so hard but you gotta understand that’s what I mean about the power of our generation. Old School isn’t a time period; it’s a consciousness on how do I present and demonstrate my Hip-Hopness, if Hip-Hopness is a word. But LL, he knew what to fucking do. I can’t do the rock shit cause Run and them is doing that. Bambaataa and them is doing the Techno-Soul  empowerment. Melle Mel is “The Message” and survival. This motherfucker did the most gangster shit ever. He had to be innovative and creatively unique.

While me and Run were yelling at the top of our lungs,  Melle Mel is doing “Beat Street,” Kurt’s being sexy with “If I Rule The World.” This motherfucker LL totally stomped a mud hole in all our asses by going “When I’m alone in my room sometimes I stare at the walls.” He won! That established him as a fucking god in the game. Cause he had to say damn of course I can yell, “My radio believe me I live it loud!” but I gotta create something that is unique and that was the beauty of that old school consciousness. LL by himself was able to capture that and become a class act. You know a lot of motherfuckers today they say, “Oh I was in a marketing meeting one time you know there’s great fucking lyricists out Jadakiss and Jay-Z and Fabolous and all these motherfuckers and one of the white guys says , “What separates Jay-Z from all of these other motherfuckers?” And another white guy put up his hand and said, “Marketing budget.”

But in our generation, you had to say, “Damn, I can’t use Funk cause Dr. Dre and those motherfuckers on the West Coast got that,  I can’t do Jazz cause that’s Q-Tip and guru and these motherfuckers, I damn sure can’t do Rock cause Run and them got that, I can’t do James Brown cause that’s Public Enemy shit!” So creatively, you had to say how do I still be them but be unique and LL was able to do that. Think about it. After that he was still able to scream on a motherfucker. But then he said ok let me speed it up a little bit but it still got the girls with “Around the Way Girl.”

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Become a citizen of Planet Ill. Join our Forums

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs