Run-DMC Feared ‘Walk This Way’ Aerosmith Cover Would ‘Ruin’ Career and Hip-Hop Fans Would ‘Hate’ It (Exclusive) 

When Rick Rubin came to Run-DMC with the idea of ​​recreating Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” the hip-hop trio thought it would be a disaster.

In a conversation with LJUDI about the newly released three-part documentary series, Kings of Queens: The Run DMC StoryDarryl “DMC” McDaniels opened up about the risky opportunity that took the trio to new heights.

“It was at a time when no one veered off their lane,” DMC, 59, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “So when we first did ‘Walk This Way,’ the perception was that everybody in hip-hop was going to hate this because people were afraid to do something new.”

He adds: “People are afraid of being uncomfortable. People are afraid to work and think outside the box because they are comfortable in that position.”

Steven Tyler, Rev Run, Jam Master Jay and Joe Perry at the House of Blues.

Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Aerosmith reveal how they made ’80s megahit ‘Walk This Way’ with Run-DMC

When DMC, Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and the late Jam Master Jay were first presented with the idea, they “didn’t want to do it.”

“Yo, that’s not hip-hop,” he recalls telling Rubin. – We thought it would destroy our careers.

“Our thing was, ‘Nobody’s going to like this. All the people who like hip-hop are going to be mad at us.’ We had no idea that everyone from Red Alert to Grandmaster Flash was going to be like, ‘Whoa, that’s the best thing,'” he says. “We didn’t know black people would like it.”

Run-DMC in Los Angeles in May 1999.

Bob Berg/Getty Images

The song ended up bringing hip-hop and rock and roll fans together, attracting new audiences for both groups.

“When I talk to young kids, I tell them this: ‘Always be open to trying something different because not only will it change your life, it could change the world,'” he says. – And that’s exactly what succeeded with the album “Walk This Way”.

Adding, “So the very thing that we thought would destroy us turned out to be something that made us better.”

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Run-DMC released “Walk This Way” in 1986 and the record sold millions of copies.

At the time, Aerosmith had just reunited after their split in the early ’80s and Run-DMC was one of rap’s best-selling acts. When Rubin called Aerosmith, they eventually agreed, and Steven Tyler said, “Just don’t make fools of us.”

“It ended up being so magical,” Tyler told PEOPLE in 2020. “Then [the director] Jon Small, who gets little to no credit, came up to me and said, ‘I’ve got a really good idea for this. Why don’t we put Run-DMC on one side, Aerosmith on the other side, and there’s going to be a wall, and we’re going to cut a piece in the wall.’ The whole idea was to show that rock and roll and rap can live together. It was a huge step beyond any thought at MTV. That video was the whole thing. For us, participating in it was a real miracle. That was without a doubt the second step of our career.”

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Source: HIS Education