Your Momma's Favorite Rapper

You will never be able to discuss rap without bringing up Run-DMC. With help from Rick Rubin, their rap-rock infusion brought hip-hop to the suburbs and could be named the first of almost any rap category. And even though many rappers are unable to find a second hit and sink into obscurity, Run-DMC was pumping out club bangers for over a decade. Sadly the group dissolved after the death of Jam Master J knowing that it wouldn’t be the same without Jay behind the turntables.

Now Run is back with his first solo album Distortion and a new moniker, Rev. And unlike every single rap album released over the past decade, there is no “featuring” after any song as it is just Rev Run, his mike, and a boat load of samples. The best sample is the Joan Jett guitars and scream from I Love Rock and Roll on Mind of the Road. The song and Run’s rapping are so perfectly interchanged that even the best mash-up artist couldn’t have done better. The other samples don’t quite knock the same punch though. Take a Tour takes from a Blondie song, but hearing Run with a girl singing the hook just sounds out of place. Even more out of place is the Lynyrd Skynyrd sample of Home Sweet Alabama. The song is a tribute to Jay but both are from Queens, no where near Alabama. Also throughout the album, there are samples hear and there from different Run-DMC classics.

The main problem with the album is that it is supposed to be a full length album, yet it clocks in at an even twenty-three minutes. So the full length album price tag is way too much and should be discounted as if it were an EP because I have a few EP that are even longer than this.

Song to Download – Mind on the Road

Distortion gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.