![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenIt seems strange for a white girl currently living in the suburbs to write this. But then again, maybe that's the point.
I'm a sucker for home grown music. I grew up in Queens and Run DMC was about as home grown as you could get. I might've been young, but I was old enough to recognize that rap was a new form of music, and to later realize that it was the form of music that would stand out as the innovation of the 80s. Hey - gotta admit it's way better than disco ;)
It's interesting to look at Run DMC now in light of what rap has become. They started out trailblazers, then almost became parody (thanks to all who imitated them and esp their fashion style), then "Oh yeah, props to Run DMC for starting this. Let's haul them out for five seconds at the MTV Video awards and then move on." But when you consider that even Christina "Skinny white girl former Mouseketeer" Aguiliera doesn't feel safe releasing a song unless it's got rap in it - that says something.
I told a friend once that "Christmas in Hollis" was one of my favorite Chrismas songs ever and she looked at me like I'd suggested Helter Skelter for much the same purpose. I mean it was rap, it was all beat-y and jar-y and - rap. How could anybody like it for a Christmas song?
But the thing was it was fun, and a story, and about Queens! Woo! What wasn't to love?
I'm finding it a kind of irony that Jam Master Jay was killed in the hometown he and his boys loved so much. And I'm mad that whoever killed him did it just as they were gearing up for a 20th anniversary album. More than many, many acts out there, these boys actually do deserve to go out and say "Hey - we did good. Go us." and now some asshole has taken that from them.
Run DMC. Local boys. I'm sorry to see you hurting, and I'm sorry that one of you was stolen. RIP.
I'm a sucker for home grown music. I grew up in Queens and Run DMC was about as home grown as you could get. I might've been young, but I was old enough to recognize that rap was a new form of music, and to later realize that it was the form of music that would stand out as the innovation of the 80s. Hey - gotta admit it's way better than disco ;)
It's interesting to look at Run DMC now in light of what rap has become. They started out trailblazers, then almost became parody (thanks to all who imitated them and esp their fashion style), then "Oh yeah, props to Run DMC for starting this. Let's haul them out for five seconds at the MTV Video awards and then move on." But when you consider that even Christina "Skinny white girl former Mouseketeer" Aguiliera doesn't feel safe releasing a song unless it's got rap in it - that says something.
I told a friend once that "Christmas in Hollis" was one of my favorite Chrismas songs ever and she looked at me like I'd suggested Helter Skelter for much the same purpose. I mean it was rap, it was all beat-y and jar-y and - rap. How could anybody like it for a Christmas song?
But the thing was it was fun, and a story, and about Queens! Woo! What wasn't to love?
I'm finding it a kind of irony that Jam Master Jay was killed in the hometown he and his boys loved so much. And I'm mad that whoever killed him did it just as they were gearing up for a 20th anniversary album. More than many, many acts out there, these boys actually do deserve to go out and say "Hey - we did good. Go us." and now some asshole has taken that from them.
Run DMC. Local boys. I'm sorry to see you hurting, and I'm sorry that one of you was stolen. RIP.