Run-DMC

Run-DMC — Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and DJ Jam Master Jay — formed in Hollis, Queens, managed by Run’s brother Russell Simmons and produced by Larry Smith, and systematically stripped hip-hop down to its essential elements: hard drum machine beats, no melody, aggressive MCing, Adidas and black hats as a uniform. Their 1984 debut was the first rap album to be certified gold; their self-titled follow-up was the first to go platinum.

“Walk This Way” (1986) — a hip-hop cover of Aerosmith’s 1975 rock song, recorded with Aerosmith and directed in a video that featured the two acts breaking through a literal wall between their studios — became a mainstream pop and rock hit and opened rock radio to rap for the first time. It also rescued Aerosmith’s career from commercial irrelevance. The collision was producer Rick Rubin’s idea, and it was the founding act of what would become rap-rock crossover.

Raising Hell (1986) was the first rap album to sell three million copies. Run-DMC were the first hip-hop act to appear on American Bandstand, to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, and to receive an MTV major push. They built the commercial infrastructure that made hip-hop’s subsequent dominance possible.