Rev Run, Steven Tyler and DMC.Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty
When Rick Rubin came toRun-DMCwith an idea to recreateAerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” the hip-hop trio thought it would be disaster.
Speaking to PEOPLE about the newly released three-part docuseries,Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels opened up about the risky opportunity that took the trio to new heights.
“It was at a time when nobody was branching out of their lane,” DMC, 59, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “So when we first did ‘Walk This Way,’ the perception was everybody in hip-hop is going to hate this because people are scared to do something new.”
He adds, “People are scared to get uncomfortable. People are scared to work and think outside of the box because they’re comfortable in that position.”
Steven Tyler, Rev Run, Jam Master Jay and Joe Perry at the House of Blues.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
When DMC, Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and the late Jam Master Jay were first presented the idea, they “didn’t want to do it.”
“Yo, that ain’t hip-hop,” he recalls telling Rubin. “We thought it was going to ruin our careers.”
“Our thing was, ‘Ain’t nobody going to like this. All the people that like hip-hop is going to be mad at us.’ We had no idea that everybody from Red Alert to Grandmaster Flash would say, ‘Yo, that’s the coolest thing,'” he says. “We didn’t know that the Black people was going to love it.”
Run-DMC in Los Angeles in May 1999.Bob Berg/Getty Images
Bob Berg/Getty Images
The track ended up bringing hip-hop and rock and roll fans together, tapping into new audiences for both groups.
“When I speak to young kids, I tell them this, ‘Always be open to try something different because not only will it change your life, it could change the world,'” he says. “And that’s exactly what the ‘Walk This Way’ record did.”
Adding, “So the very thing that we thought was going to ruin us turned out to be something that improved us.”
Run-DMC released “Walk This Way” in 1986 and the record went on to sell millions of copies.
At the time, Aerosmith had just gotten back together from a split in the early ’80s and Run-DMC was one of the top-selling rap acts. When Rubin gave Aerosmith the call, they eventually came to a “yes,” withSteven Tylersaying, “Just don’t make fools of us.”
source: people.com
