''King of Rock'' is the second 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 January 21, 1985, 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. ...

. The album was produced by

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

and Larry Smith. ''King of Rock'' became the first rap album released on CD. The album saw the group adopting a more

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

-influenced sound, with several tracks prominently featuring heavy

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

riffs. The song "Roots, Rap, Reggae" features Yellowman, and was one of the first hybrids of

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

. ''King of Rock'' peaked at number 52 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and number 12 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album was first certified as

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

on June 3, 1985, before it was certified as

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on February 18, 1987. The album features four ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart singles: "

King of Rock ''King of Rock'' is the second studio album by American hip hop music, hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released on January 21, 1985, by Profile Records. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith (producer), Larry Smith. ''King of Rock ...

", " You Talk Too Much", "Jam-Master Jammin'" and " Can You Rock It Like This". "King of Rock" peaked at number 80 on 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 ...

on March 16, 1985. ''King of Rock'' was ranked at number 44 on ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'''s list of the 50 Albums Released In 1985 That Still Sound Great Today. "King of Rock" featured a popular music video, which became a fan favorite on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. It featured

Calvert DeForest Calvert Grant DeForest (July 23, 1921 – March 19, 2007), also known by his character name Larry "Bud" Melman, was an American actor and comedian, best known for his appearances on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' and '' Late Show with David ...

, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman of NBC's ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'' fame. ''King of Rock'' was reissued by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

in 1999 and 2003. An expanded and remastered edition was released in 2005 and contained 4 previously unreleased songs.

Background

On their sophomore album, ''King of Rock'', Run-D.M.C. expanded their musical palette. The album's title itself was equal parts warning, statement of purpose, and legitimate boast. The album signified the group's intentions to pull hip-hop out of the periphery and onto center stage. It was a golden era in the evolution of contemporary music; a time and place in which hip-hop was called "rap", MTV defined "rock", and Run-D.M.C. were kings of both. The music on the album was created by Larry Smith's group Orange Krush using the drum machine Oberheim DMX and Jam Master Jay's scratches mixed in a guitar riff. D.M.C. once commented on this fact: "People forget about Larry Smith, but Larry Smith owned hip-hop and rap. He produced our first two albums, and he produced Whodini. The rock-rap sound was Larry Smith's vision, not Rick Rubin's. Rick changed the story, but Larry was there first. Actually, me and Run were against the guitar." The name for the album came up with Corey Robbins, co-owner of

. He said: "I don't take any credit for the song title, but I did come up with the idea of calling the album that, based on the song title, and keeping it singular. It was so outrageous then-that rappers would call themselves kings of rock, instead of kings of rap. That would've been the obvious title, because they were the kings of rap. They certainly weren't considered rock – yet. Which is why it turned out to be such a cool title: it turned out to be true. They did become rock and roll, in a way; they did get played on rock radio. King of Rap or Kings of Rap would have done nothing for them. King Of Rock was outrageous." Run-D.M.C.'s version of the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

"Slow and Low" was recorded as a demo during the sessions for this album and was not officially released until 2005, as an inclusion in the Deluxe edition of ''King of Rock''. The song " Can You Rock It Like This" was written by a 16-year-old

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

. "King of Rock" featured a popular music video, which became a fan favorite on MTV. It featured

, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman of NBC's ''

'' fame.

Appearance in movies

Three songs from this album were featured in the 1985

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

film '' Krush Groove'': "King of Rock", "Can You Rock It Like This" and "You're Blind".

Accolades

– no. 44 at "''50 Albums Released In 1985 That Still Sound Great Today''" (2015) *

Rockerilla ''Rockerilla'' is a monthly Italy-based music and cinema magazine founded in 1978. It has collaborated with, among others, Richard Bertoncelli and Guido Chiesa. According to Federico Guglielmi, ''Rockerilla'' was followed by those most passionate ...

– no. 12 at "''Best Black Music Album 1985''" (1985) * Ego Trip – no. 8 at "''Hip-Hop's Greatest Albums By Year 1979–85''" (1999) * XXL – "''40 Years of Hip-Hop: Top 5 Albums by Year''" (2014) * Complex – no. 50 at "''The Best Rap Albums of the '80s''" (2017)

Track listing

Chart positions

The album spent 56 weeks on the U.S. ''Billboard'' album charts and reached its peak position of number 52 in early March 1985.

Album

Singles

Notes: * ¹ – Charted with "Darryl and Joe (Krush-Groove 3)"

Certifications

References

External links

King of Rock at Discogs

King of Rock at Genius.com
{{Authority control 1985 albums Run-DMC albums Profile Records albums Albums produced by Larry Smith (producer) Albums recorded at Greene St. Recording