King of Rock in Bloomington, MN

Take the title of
Run-D.M.C.
's
King of Rock
somewhat literally. True, the trailblazing
rap
crew hardly abandoned
hip-hop
on their second album, but they did follow through on the blueprint of their debut, emphasizing the
rock
leanings that formed the subtext of
Nearly every cut surges forward on thundering drum machines and simple power chords, with the tempos picked up a notch and the production hitting like a punch to the stomach. If the debut suggested
hard rock
, this feels like
-- over-amplified, brutal, and intoxicating in its sheer sonic force. What really makes
work is that it sounds tougher and is smarter than almost all of the
and
metal
records of its time. There is an urgency to the music unheard in the
of the '80s -- a sense of inevitability to the riffs and rhythms, balanced by the justified boasting of
Run
D.M.C.
Most of their rhymes are devoted to party jams or bragging, but nobody was sharper, funnier, or as clever as this duo, nor was there a DJ better than
Jam Master Jay
, who not just forms the backbone of their music, but also has two great showcases in
"Jam-Master Jammin'"
"Darryl and Joe"
(the latter one of two exceptions to the
rules of the album, the other being the genre-pushing
"Roots, Rap, Reggae,"
one of the first
tracks to make explicit the links between
reggae
). Even if there a pronounced
influence throughout
, what makes it so remarkable is that it never sounds like a concession in order to win a larger audience. No matter how many metallic guitar riffs are on the record, this music is as raw and street-level as the debut. It manages to be just as dynamic, exciting, and timeless as that album, as it expands the definition of what both
could do. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine