ARTIST: Run-D.M.C.
TITLE: Raising Hell
LABEL: Arista / Profile
GENRE: Rap
BITRATE: 199kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 56min total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-09-06
RIP DATE: 2005-09-13

Track List

01. Peter Piper                     3:22
02. It's Tricky                     3:02
03. My Adidas                       2:47
04. Walk This Way (With Steven      5:10
Tyler & Joe Perry Of
Aerosmith)
05. Is It Live                      3:07
06. Perfection                      2:51
07. Hit It Run                      3:11
08. Raising Hell                    5:31
09. You Be Illin'                   3:26
10. Dumb Girl                       3:32
11. Son Of Byford                   0:27
12. Proud To Be Black               3:14
13. My Adidas (Acappella)           2:30
14. Walk This Way (Demo)            5:24
15. Lord Of Lyrics (Demo)           4:29
16. Raising Hell Radio Tour Spot    0:52
17. Live At The Apollo Raw Vocal    3:27
Commercial

Release Notes:

By their third album, Run-D.M.C. were primed for a breakthrough into the
mainstream, but nobody was prepared for a blockbuster on the level of Raising
Hell. Run-D.M.C. and King of Rock had established the crew's fusion of hip-hop
and hard rock, but that sound didn't blossom until Raising Hell, partially due
to the presence of Rick Rubin as producer. Rubin loved metal and rap in equal
measures and he knew how to play to the strengths of both, while slipping in
commercial concessions that seemed sly even when they borrowed from songs as
familiar as "My Sharona" (heard on "It's Tricky"). Along with longtime
Run-D.M.C. producer Russell Simmons, Rubin blew down the doors of what hip-hop
could do with Raising Hell because it reached beyond rap-rock and found all
sorts of sounds outside of it. Sonically, there is simply more going on in this
album than any previous rap record -- more hooks, more drum loops (courtesy of
ace drum programmer Sam Sever), more scratching, more riffs, more of everything.
Where other rap records, including Run-D.M.C.'s, were all about the rhythm, this
is layered with sounds and ideas, giving the music a tangible flow. But the
brilliance of this record is that even with this increased musical depth, it
still rocks as hard as hell, and in a manner that brought in a new audience. Of
course, the cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," complete with that band's
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, helped matters considerably, since it gave an
audience unfamiliar with rap an entry point, but if it were just a novelty
record, a one-shot fusion of rap and rock, Raising Hell would never have sold
three million copies. No, the music was fully realized and thoroughly
invigorating, rocking harder and better than any of its rock or rap peers in
1986, and years later, that sense of excitement is still palpable on this
towering success story for rap in general and Run-D.M.C. in specific.

This new edition of the remastered 1986 album contains previously unreleased
bonus tracks (i.e. tracks 13-17).

R.I.P Jason Mizell aka "Jam Master Jay"