| | Issue #21.23 :: 06/04/2008 - 06/10/2008 | Running with DMC
A hip-hip legend talks about his history, his adoption and the state of the game.
| BY PREACH JACOBS
|  Run-DMC changed my life. The group that nurtured a new culture while breaking barriers were the biggest rap group in the world during the '80s. The first rap group to go gold, then multi-platinum, Run-DMC invented everything that rappers are trying to do now. Before Jay Z had his own Reeboks, Run-DMC had an endorsement deal with Adidas. Run-DMC became a group that changed the world by putting hip-hop music in homes, validating a culture that people was sure would be a fad. But what if none of this would have happened? This is a question that founding member DMC — nee Darryl McDaniels — wondered after getting some life altering news at the age of 35.
"Around the year 2000, I got really depressed," McDaniels says. "After [Run-DMC DJ Jam Master] Jay got murdered, I thought about everything in my life. I thought about growing up, going to school and starting Run-DMC. I began to realize that if I died tomorrow, the only thing people would know about me was Run-DMC. So, I wanted to write a book about the life of Daryl McDaniels."
McDaniels had always believed that he was born on May 31 in 1964 in Hollis, Queens, until he called his mother for information for his autobiography.
"I called my mom and asked her how much I weighed, what hospital I was born in so I could put it in the book," McDaniels says. "I get off the phone and an hour later my father calls back and tells me that I was adopted."
McDaniels had always believed that there was a void in his life leading to his depression, and believing this new information would fill that void he had been feeling. Empowered by the newfound information, McDaniels decided to act and get heavily involved with outreach efforts concerning foster care along with trying to locate his biological mother. "At first I was in denial when my father told me this," McDaniels says. "I thought there was no way. I started thinking about my friends joking with me saying I was adopted because I didn't look like my family. So, I went to meet my birth mother and the first thing that went through my head was: Finally, there's some people that look like me."
Due to the fame of Run-DMC, McDaniels says that VH1 had contacted him constantly about joining **The Surreal Life** and other reality shows that were in the works at the time. Always refusing because the shows didn't seem to hold a significance for him, McDaniels called the station back to ask if they would want to do a show documenting the search for his biological mother. The station agreed after some resistance — McDaniels says that execs were against it because the show would be "too real" — and filmed an Emmy-winning documentary in 2006 titled **DMC: My Adoption Journey**, further convincing McDaniels of his calling.
"I look at the way my family raised me," McDaniels says. "I look at all of the blessings I had. I wanted to do something for those kids that are in foster care and help them get some of the attention that I received. I want all of those foster kids to look at DMC. I'm from the same hood, look at what happened to me."
Since getting involved with adoption care promotion, he's been presented with the Congressional Angels in Adoption Award for his efforts as well as creating a summer camp reaching out to over 170 foster kids. Now, his newest honor is being presented by Hard Rock Café, giving him a platform to speak about his passion.
"Hard Rock does a lot of stuff to touch people," McDaniels says. "No matter how much senators and legislators try to do things, it can't compare to how music is able to touch the community. We as musicians are in a better position because we are not speaking at the people, or to the people, but rather for them."
Run-DMC is the only hip-hop act that's been featured in Hard Rock, an honor that McDaniels doesn't take lightly. But he's still dedicated to the music, believing that it'll be a tool to help with his foster care efforts.
"When it comes to hip-hop, we [Run-DMC] took the standpoint from rock 'n' roll," McDaniels says. "We didn't say the music was just for a hip-hop audience; we did the music for everybody. So I feel privileged to be with these rock gods. I feel even more that I have a responsibility, a sacredness with the music."
Still active in the studio, DMC released his first solo offering, **Checks, Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll**, in 2006, and is working on a new project now. Looking back at the culture he helped build, DMC sees the hip-hop culture going down a path unseen in the group's hey-day.
"Today, channels like MTV and BET are disgraces to the culture," McDaniels says. "And it's not just with the television and radio, it's the same people that are supposed to be hip-hop heads. Look at the difference between a **XXL** and **Rolling Stone**. If Tom Petty put out a new record tomorrow, he will get the cover, there will be a 32-page spread about his career, et cetera. If Afrika Bambaata did a new album, it would be on page 99 of the hip-hop publication. There is no respect for the culture."
Regardless of how the culture is presented in the media, McDaniels still is optimistic about what lies ahead. Aside from being in the studio, he's working on a follow-up to his **King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility and My Life with Run-DMC** debut autobiography. As his first book was before he knew about his adoption, he's anxious to write about his new experiences.
"After the reunion of my birth mother, it was like living life all over again," McDaniels says. "I had new experiences and saw these new people, makes me want to make music for these people that were in the same position. You can't start a book at chapter two, so now I'm going back to the beginning." | |
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