''King of Rock'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., 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. H ...

. The album was produced by Russell Simmons and Larry Smith. ''King of Rock'' became the first rap album released on CD. The album saw the group adopting a more rock-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 strin ...

riffs. The song "Roots, Rap, Reggae" features

Yellowman Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...

, 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. ''King of Rock'' peaked at number 52 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and number 12 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 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 me ...

on June 3, 1985, before it was certified as Platinum by the RIAA on February 18, 1987. The album features four '' Billboard'' chart singles: " 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. It featured Calvert DeForest, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Late Night with David Letterman'' fame. ''King of Rock'' was reissued by Arista Records 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 "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. "King of Rock" featured a popular music video, which became a fan favorite on MTV. It featured Calvert DeForest, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman of

's '' Late Night with David Letterman'' 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. D ...

film ''

Krush Groove ''Krush Groove'' is a 1985 American musical comedy-drama film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures that was written by Ralph Farquhar and directed by Michael Schultz (who also produced the movie, along with George Jackson and Doug McHenry). This ...

'': "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 – 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 Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

– 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