Interview by Ian and Andy
Introducing: Mr Joseph Simmons, Mr Darryl Mc Daniels and Mr Jason Mizell. Aka RUN DMC. We met up with the guys at the ultra swish, Marriot Hotel in Marbel Arch, London to talk about music, London and a guy called Jason Nevins. So why not slip on your Adidas (sans laces)and walk this way… Jam Master Jay tells everyone to shut up and leads the gang in to the interview of the decade…
K: How was your flight?
JMJ: HEY! Let’s cut the crap man let’s get on with the real questions man!
K: How did the Jason Nevins collaboration come around? At this point everyone in the room started talking amongst themselves whilst Run and Dmc carried on signing photos.
RUN: Why d’you put Dmc over my head and not put Run next to you? Every time you put Dmc over my head!
DMC: Coz there’s nowhere to print nothing on those pictures. JMJ: HEY! HEY! CAN Y’ALL SHUT UP OVER THERE MAN! WERE CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEW HERE! HEY! HEY! HEY! CAN Y’ALL SHUT UP OVER THERE! IT’S IMPOLITE, DISRESPECTFUL; we didn’t hook up with Jason Nevins man! He jus’ did that song on his own and the record label hooked it up, y’know what I’m sayin’. We had nothin’ to do with it. We don’t do house beats, It was kinda dope, Jo heard it said it was dope, not dope but it was alright, It was like a remix of an old record ‘Back In The Day’s’, we made it sixteen years ago
DMC: Definitely not dope!
JMJ: We’re not really hopping around, we don’t go to techno party’s you know, I’m not into it.
K: It kinda brings you into a different market though doesn’t it?
JMJ: It’s cool yeah definitely, I definitely think so. I definitely know I’m seeing a lot of other kids who really dress up like hip-hop heads with their Adidas on and the baggy pants and all that and they go there looking like us but listening to a whole other kind of music you know what I’m saying, smoking on some pot, doing whatever they do with their ecstasy or whatever but having some cool good vibes in there, and then just relaxing cause there just jumping around so, what’s cool about the Jason Nevins thing is that there kinda like hip-hop fans already but they listen to techno and all that right, cause that’s what’s going on in the clubs so Jason Nevins just put the hip-hop to the techno, you know what I’m sayin. When we perform for them they get to see the real live hip-hop. One thing Jason Nevins covers that I think is making it so big is the essence of the RUN DMC vibe on it, you know (singing)”ah yeah check this out in the place to be” that’s the real live hip-hop vibe on top of the house, so whenever you do something that’s real of course, it comes through.
K: How long are you guy’s in town?
RUN: Just two day’s
K: Have you got any live dates coming up, I know you got ‘its Tricky’ coming out soon?
DMC: Yeah that’s all we do, we haven’t been in the U.K the last five years strong but RUN DMC have done about twenty shows elsewhere.
K: How did Creamfields go?
JMJ: Creamfields was very very cool, we ripped the house. It was kinda’ short – they didn’t give us enough time.
K: You had a lot to cover?
JMJ: Yeah, we had a lot to cover. We ripped for the little 15-20 half-hour, whatever we did, I don’t remember how long it was but half an hour we did, we ripped that shit.
K: What did you guys think of the British reaction – you know it’s been a long time since you last played here?
JMJ: I kinda feel like, you know, my last album “down with the king” was, you know, dope and all the hip-hop heads out there was feelin’ it – they had to ‘cos it was so dope. They begin to drift … talking about food!
K: Do you like London?
DMC: Yeah, I like London… fish ‘n chips, Piccadilly. Yeah, you know I’m sat here doing an interview, it’s not the highlight of my life – you know what I’m saying. I had fish ‘n chips to let me no I was here. I get driven round, but I would drive myself. I like London better than I like Germany.
Interview interupted by a posh waiter bearing 2 mediocre portions of icecream and flan.
DMC: What is that? WHAT IS THAT? I’ve never seen it in my life. Why only TWO pieces? Do I get two pieces?
K: So have you written any new material?
JMJ: Yeah, we already had plans to do something. We got loads of material and stuff written.
K: One final question… What are your top 5 songs ever?
JMJ: Peter Piper, Together Forever.
DMC: You like your own records! Do you like any Marvin Gaye?
JMC: Yeah, I like my own records. Peter Piper – there ain’t no other record like it. And yeah, I like Marvin Gay… that’s for my mother though! It’s cool but I’m not gonna play that in a club.
DMC: What about other people.
JMC: ABC, Jackson 5, ‘Rebel Without a Pause’ by Public Enemy. That was a real good record – that’s one of my favorites. Those bass drums were a killer on that record. How can you put so many bass drums under funky drummer – too many man… they was tryin’ to outdo us, that’s what it was. They came to the airport lookin’ for us, I don’t know why they were there, I was so bugged. They were only there as I put my record there – then that’s the first piece of confidence I ever seen Chuck with, always had his head down, ’till this one day he ran over and said “Hey you, over… dead! Y’all!” Remember he was real confident – I was scared of him that day. I was happy for him though. He’d always been a sucker to me till that day. That’s when he finally got paid, when he got confidence. I was screamin’ so loud, “DEAD, DEAD!”
DMC: My top record, number 1, ‘Together Forever’. Number 2, ‘Anita Baker’ with ‘Rapture’. Number 3, I don’t want a Public Enemy album – I tell you that right now, I ain’t goin for that. I need to think real hard. Yo! Y’no what, I don’t want Snoop Doggy’s album too. And I tell you what , I don’t want the Bengimin’s neither. I want something that rocks. ‘Rock-Box’. I know I need Rock-Box. NO! I DEFINITELY DON’T WANT ROCK BOX! That’s goin down my list! Marvin Gaye- “It’s Over”.
RUN: The first one is “Imagine” by John Lennon. The second one is “What if God was One of Us” by Joan Osbourne. Third one is “The Piano Man” by Billy Joel. Fourth one is “Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd and the fifth one is the Rolling Stones “You can’t always get what you want”
DMC: “Why d’you like those? You ain’t got no rap in there.
RUN: Coz I’m a songwriter and a lover. And I can play those songs all day.
DMC: You know what, that’s cool, I like what you did but I need to hear all those records you love. Can you put them on cassette for me? I’m a lover too! I’m not a fighter!(a la Michael Jackson)
RUN: Suddenly bursts into song with Lennon’s “Imagine”.
K: OK, we’ll leave it at that. Cheers for everything.
DMC: What did yah just say, “cheers”? I like that word.
K: Cheers? Yeah well that means thank-you. We’ll see you then.
DMC: Na stay a bit longer, you guy’s are the coolest so far.
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