Episode 13: Jay Smooth on Run DMC’s “Raising Hell” (1986)

Episode notes

The album: Run DMC: Raising Hell (Profile, 1986)

Jay Smooth was always on our list of “people who we gotta get for Heat Rocks.” His cultural and political commentary, much of which he does through his pioneering Ill Doctrine videos, have positioned him as one of the hip-hop generation’s leading pundits and he’s also hosted one of the longest running rap shows in the world: The Underground Railroad on WBAI.

For this show, Jay wanted to revisit Raising Hell a paradigm-shifting rap album that, as we discuss, has seemingly become underrated through the passage of time though it is unquestionably one of the most important hip-hop releases, ever. We get into the moment in which Run DMC first arrived, how they changed the game for rap artists (for better and for worse) and of course, all our fire track and sleeper jam picks off this LP.

More on Run DMC’s Raising Hell

• Mark Coleman’s original review in Rolling Stone from 1986.
• John Freeman’s revisit review on the album’s 30th anniversary in Quietus.
• Chaz Kangas’ celebration of Raising Hell‘s album cuts.

More on Jay Smooth

• The Ill Doctrine video series.
• His interview on The Cipher podcast.
• Twitter | Youtube

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Raising Hell unless indicated otherwise):

• Walk This Way
• Run DMC: Sucker MCs
• Run DMC: It’s Like That
• Raising Hell
• Eric B. and Rakim: I Ain’t No Joke
• It’s Tricky
• Peter Piper
• Bob James: Mardi Gras
• Dumb Girl
• Is It Live?
• My Adidas
• Proud to Be Black
• You Be Illin’
• NWA: Straight Outta Compton
• Run DMC: Tougher Than Leather
• Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man
• Jay-Z: Jockin’ Jay-Z

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