''Back from Hell'' is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

, released on October 16, 1990, by

Profile Records Profile Records was one of the earliest hip hop labels. As well as hip-hop they released disco, dance, and electro records. History In 1980, Cory Robbins, who was 23 at the time and had worked briefly for MCA, wanted to start a record label. H ...

. The album was produced by the group members themselves. The album is notable for adopting more of a street attitude than their previous albums as well as using more curse words. The songs "Faces" and "Pause" introduce a new musical style: new jack swing. This album features vocals from Aaron Hall ("Don't Stop") and also

Jam Master Jay Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002), better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician and DJ. He was the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-DMC. During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the big ...

rapping for the first time ("Faces", "Not Just Another Groove"). The album has sold over 300,000 copies in the United States. ''Back from Hell'' peaked at number 81 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, and number 16 on the

Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated Jan ...

chart. The album features three the '' Billboard'' singles: " Pause", " What's It All About" and "

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

". "What's It All About" also hit the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

The album was reissued by Arista Records in 1999, 2003 and 2018.

Background

Before Run, DMC and Jay went in the studio to begin recording ''Back from Hell'', they were in trouble: Jay owed the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

nearly $300,000 in state taxes dating back to 1989, Run was struggling to cope with severe depression and DMC became reliant on alcohol to help him overcome his debilitating stage fright, downing as many as 12 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor a day.

Critical reception

The album received poor reviews from music critics. Alex Henderson from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

gave ''Back from Hell'' three stars out of five, saying "By 1990, Run-D.M.C.'s popularity had decreased dramatically, and the Queens residents had lost a lot of ground to both West Coast gangster rappers like Ice Cube, Ice-T and

Compton's Most Wanted Compton's Most Wanted (C.M.W.) is an American gangsta rap group and part of the early West Coast hip hop scene. The leaders of the group are MC Eiht and Tha Chill. History Formation and early years C.M.W. included rappers MC Eiht, Tha Chill, ...

. With its fifth album, Back From Hell, Run-D.M.C. set out to regain the support of the

hardcore rap Hardcore hip hop (also hardcore rap) is a genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is generally char ...

audience and pretty much abandoned rock-influenced material in favor of stripped-down, minimalist and consistently street-oriented sounds. Not outstanding but certainly enjoyable, such gritty reflections on urban life as "Livin' in the City," "The Ave." and "Faces" made it clear that Run-D.M.C. was still well worth hearing. Mark Coleman of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' gave the album two stars out of five, saying "Gratuitous obscenities abound on the record, and they sure don't make Run-D.M.C.'s new tales of street violence and urban injustice any more convincing. Brandishing guns and bantering with racist cops, Run and D.M.C. may well be telling it like it is in 1990. But on most of Back From Hell they sound like actors playing out roles rather than artists dramatizing their own lives. DJ

is at the top of his form, however. The music on Back From Hell is astounding: Jay constructs vivid minisoundtracks from the detritus of pop culture, laying samples on top of samples without overdoing it. Unfortunately, that deep musical backing just throws more emphasis on the words, which can't carry the weight."

Videos

Four video clips were released on songs from the album: " Pause", " What's It All About", "

" and "The Ave.". And the video for the song "Pause" was released in two versions, the second version contained an introduction from The Afros, a new group of

, signed to his new label,

JMJ Records JMJ Records is an American record label which was founded in 1989 by Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay from Run-D.M.C. The label was relaunched in 2017 by Jam Master J'Son, the oldest son of the legendary Jam Master Jay. The label rele ...

Track listing

The information about samples was taken from WhoSampled.

Chart positions

Album

Singles

Notes * ¹ - "Pause" charted as a Double A-side with "

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

References

External links

''Back from Hell'' at Discogs

''Back from Hell'' at RapGenius

25 Years On: Run DMC's Back From Hell Revisited

RUN-D.M.C. Return To Conscious Lyrics On Back From Hell , Album Review
{{Authority control 1990 albums Run-DMC albums Profile Records albums Albums recorded at Chung King Studios