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