Run-DMC – Down With The King

2024 EU-Reissue on White Colored Double Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve.

Thirty years ago on May 4, 1993, Run-DMC made one of the greatest comebacks in Hip-Hop history with the release of their 6th studio album Down With The King. 
To understand the significance of this feat we have to go back a few years. 

Coming off an amazing four-album run ending with the platinum album Tougher Than Leather (which turns 35 on May 17th),  Run-DMC released their 5th studio album Back From Hell in 1990 to lackluster sales. Did Run-DMC fall off?  Did the emergence of gangsta rap push them off to the side?  For those old enough to remember, it was sad to see your Hip-Hop heroes take a fall. Then in 1991, a 12-inch remix came out for the single "Back From Hell" featuring Chuck D and Ice Cube and fans took notice. 

It would be two more years before anyone would hear from Run-DMC again. In March of 1993, a new single and video “Down With The King” debuted on Yo! MTV Raps featuring the new Hip-Hop Gods Pete Rock and CL Smooth paying homage to The Kings calling back verses from Sucker MCs over a dope signature Pete Rock beat.  Were they back?  It seemed so, the video would be in constant rotation on Ralph McDaniels Video Music Box, YO!, BET’s Rap City and before the internet, you could find a TV station called The Juke Box Network by fine-tuning your antenna and dialing up a 976 or 1-900 number to play the video on demand.  Fans watched it over and over to catch all the cameos, everyone from Eazy-E to the Native Tongues Family of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest made an appearance in the video.

The anticipation was building, but would the album live up to the lead single that knocked it out of the park?  On May 4, 1993, the album dropped on CD, Cassette, and Vinyl. Run-DMC enlisted The Bomb Squad from Public Enemy, Q-Tip, EPMD, Jermaine Dupri, Kay Gee of Naughty By Nature, and Pete Rock to produce the album with a special appearance by Tom Morello rocking out his guitar emulating DJ scratches he made famous with Rage Against The Machine.  Run-DMC ditched their Adidas for Timberlands, DMC got rid of his signature glasses, Jam Master Jay rocked a ski hat, Run sported sunglasses, and all three were decked out head to toe in black.  Their rhyming was as enthusiastic and powerful as they were on their debut album from 10 years prior.  Run-DMC, the self-proclaimed Kings of Rock and original Kings of Hip Hop were indeed back.  The album debuted at #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts and #7 on the Billboard 200 and would go Gold selling over 500,000 copies within two months of its release. RIP Jam Master Jay!