The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC were central to the mid-'80s Hip Hop explosion.
Hip hop emerged from New York in the ‘70s, where legendary DJ Kool Herc sampled funk and disco records at block parties in the Bronx while slam poets like Gil Scott-Heron were spitting stories elsewhere. When the two art styles converged, a new sound and subculture was born.
By the ‘80s, hip hop was turning heads all across America, establishing a rebellious soundtrack for a generation exhausted by the Reagan administration. The song that solidified hip hop’s mainstream breakthrough was Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s 1986 collaboration ‘Walk This Way’, the video for which was put into heavy rotation by revelatory music television channel MTV. This was the moment hip hop culture was beamed into suburbia, forcing the masses to see that rappers could be rock stars, too.
A groundbreaking collaboration with a serious street edge was born
Originally released by big-haired rockers Aerosmith in 1975, ‘Walk This Way’ was a vivacious stadium anthem that revelled in the euphoria of a nerd hooking up with a girl on prom night. By 1986, legendary producer Rick Rubin had inspired Queens’ rap trio Run-DMC to freestyle over one of the song’s guitar riffs. A groundbreaking collaboration with a serious street edge was born.
Big-haired rockers Aerosmith experienced a full career revival after the refreshed version of ‘Walk This Way’ was released in 1986.
The remixed and refreshed hit single peaked at number four on the Billboard 100, bringing two contrasting musical cultures together in the process. The widely-circulated music video, meanwhile, quite literally tore the walls down – as the flaws of genre and racial tribalism were exposed in a statement amplified by a wall of Marshall speakers. The symbolism of a rock band and a rap group playing on different sides of the same living room was important for the MTV Generation – and as rock gods of years gone by lurked among the audio samples, hip hop acts like The Beastie Boys and N.W.A. became icons themselves in the present.
By the '80s, Hip Hop was turning heads all across America, establishing a rebellious soundtrack for a generation
The 1986 version of 'Walk This Way' revitalised Aerosmith’s career. It was also instrumental in enabling Run-DMC – already the first hip hop act to receive significant exposure on MTV – to become the first rap group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. It remains the measuring stick of all rap-rock blends, despite admirable efforts from Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Dinosaur Jr., Public Enemy and Anthrax, and Jay-Z and Linkin Park thereafter.
Jay-Z and Beyonce performing at Coachella Music Festival.
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