2023 US 30th Anniversary limited edition of 1993 individually numbered copies 15-track COLOURED vinyl 2LP set including obi-strip, gatefold cover. On GET ON DOWN label. Catalogue No: GET51509-LP. Barcode: 0664425150919.
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, Run-DMC released their 5th studio album, Back From Hell, to lackluster sales. Did Run-DMC fall off? Did the emergence of gangsta rap push them off to the side? 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. The video would be in constant rotation on Ralph McDaniels Video Music Box, YO!, BET’s Rap City and more. 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.
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. Their rhyming was as enthusiastic and powerful as they were on their debut album 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 within two months.
TRACKLIST:
A1. Down With The King (feat Pete Rock & CL Smooth)
A2. Come On Everybody (feat Q-Tip)
A3. Can I Get It, Yo (feat EPMD)
B1. Hit 'Em Hard
B2. To The Maker
B3. 3 In The Head
B4. Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do
C1. Big Willie feat Tom Morello
C2. Three Little Indians
C3. In The House
D1. Can I Get A Witness
D2. Get Open feat Onyx
D3. What's Next feat Mad Cobra
D4. Wreck Shop
D5. For 10 Years
