In the wake of the huge success of their album, the group embarked on the Raising Hell Tour and later embarked on the Together Forever Tour with the Beastie Boys. In 1988, the group formed by the legendary Run, D.M.C. & Jam Master Jay released their fourth album.
Produced mainly by Run-DMC and Davy D., with live instrumentation by Davy D., Daniel Shulman, Andreas Straub, Jon Sierra, The Uptown Horns and Vincent Hammond, the album partially distances itself from the rap rock musical themes that had strongly influenced their previous works, although without completely renouncing them ("Soul to Rock and Roll", "Miss Elaine", "Mary, Mary"), welcoming a more aggressive, funky sound based on the samples found by Jam Master Jay.
The two emcees also change their performance style following the arrival of the phenomenon Rakim, who raises the bar for everyone, including DMC and Run, leading them to approach a more complex metric structure, review their rhyme scheme and the entire skeleton of the track, also leading them to a first narrative track ("Ragtime"), which coincides with an extroverted and extravagant, not essential reggae crossover.
The group maintains its usual powerful style and continues to go straight, fast and strong, and builds a nice rap album, enjoyable: on tunes like the title track and the opening one, the trio proves that they still know how to make a classic cut — but I don't feel to label none of these songs as such — thanks to simple and minimal, skeletal beats, syncopated drum machines, electric guitar solos and an excellent enthralling, energetic delivery where the duo immediately proves to be ready to devastate everything, almost reaching yelling ("Papa Crazy", based on the hit by The Temptations).
Distributed by Profile, the album achieved worldwide success and was one of the best-selling albums of the season, reaching the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and the second place among rap albums, platinum after two months in its homeland and gold in the third month in the Canadian market. Four singles were released, including "Run's House" and "Mary, Mary", which also achieved success abroad.
The group's fourth work is received in a mixed and contrasting way by specialized critics, who elevate it to a significant and underrated release in retrospect, although it fails to reach the level of popularity of the previous project. The disk is accompanied by the release of a crime film of the same name directed by Rick Rubin (who produces only one track on the album) and starring Run-DMC: the movie is panned by critics and at the box office it turns out to be a flop, however, it reinforces the mistaken belief that the trio is under contract with Def Jam since they are still produced by Rick Rubin who founded the label with Russell Simmons, who manages them, and they are often on tour with the artists of the Def Jam roster.
Overall, is an honest effort that consolidates the legacy of the group, but doesn't do much else because it's not as strong as the previous ones and remains too similar to the previous records of the trio.
Rating: 7.5/10.
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