Run-DMC and Aerosmith release 'Walk This Way' — rap's first crossover #1
Producer Rick Rubin pairs Run-DMC with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on a cover-collaboration of Aerosmith's 1975 song. The video — Tyler smashing through a wall to perform with the group — is in heavy MTV rotation by August. The Raising Hell LP becomes the first multi-platinum rap album, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200.
Why it matters
'Walk This Way' is the moment hip-hop becomes inescapable on mainstream pop and rock radio simultaneously. Three months later Run-DMC's 'My Adidas' performance at Madison Square Garden — and Russell Simmons's subsequent pitch to Adidas — produces the first hip-hop / brand endorsement deal, reshaping how the culture's economic relationship with consumer brands gets organized for the next 40 years.
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