Lil Mosey lives the type of high life most 18-year-olds can only daydream about. At the tender age of 15, the Seattle-bred rapper garnered worldwide internet acclaim with his 2017 debut single, "Pull Up." The track, which has since accumulated more than 33 million YouTube views for its official music video, went gold this past May. Not bad for a teenager.

But in Lil Mosey's eyes, living life in the fast lane at such a young age wasn't a choice—it was his only reality. 

"I feel like growing up, struggling and surviving at a young age, I realized, 'Well, I don't have it like other people do, so I got to figure it out. I got to do something so my mom, my family don't got to worry about nothing," he tells GRAMMY.com. "So at a young age, I started realizing some stuff that other people don't realize … My mind's a lot older than 18.

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Propelled by the success of "Pull Up," Lil Mosey dropped out of high school while in the 10th grade and relocated to Los Angeles to chase his music dreams. Things started to move quickly: He was handling "real-life business things" at 15 and taking major label meetings on his 16th birthday. 

Fast-forward to 2018: Lil Mosey's debut album, Northsbest, officially introduced the then-16-year-old sensation to the world. The gold-certified album spawned the platinum single "Noticed." Lil Mosey had arrived.

The fast-rising rapper, who just hit legal age of majority in January, returns in 2020 with Certified Hitmaker (AVA Leak), an expanded version of his 2019 sophomore album, Certified Hitmaker. Released last month, AVA Leak is fueled by breakout single and song-of-the-summer contender "Blueberry Faygo," a platinum-selling Top 10 U.S. hit; "Top Gone" with Lunay; and "Back At It" featuring Lil Baby, the latter of which earned an official shout-out from former President Barack Obama on his 2020 summer playlist. 

"I'm just a little-ass kid, and a grown-ass president know about me. That's crazy," Lil Mosey exclaimed. 

GRAMMY.com checked in with Lil Mosey to talk about the staying power of "Blueberry Faygo," his experience as a teenage rap sensation and the life lessons he's learned along the way. 

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What's it like growing up so fast and blowing up so big at such a young age?

I feel like growing up, struggling and surviving at a young age, I realized, "Well, I don't have it like other people do, so I got to figure it out. I got to do something so my mom, my family don't got to worry about nothing."

So at a young age, I started realizing some stuff that other people don't realize. And then sh*t happened when I was like 15. I moved out to L.A. by myself and I started dealing with ... real-life business things that grown-ups did at 15. My mind's a lot older than 18.

Do you ever feel like you're missing out on "normal teenager stuff"? Like prom, bullsh*tting with your high school homies, getting in trouble in school?

No, I ain't even going to lie. I stopped going to school and stuff. I never even went to the school dance or nothing like that. I ain't even miss it.

You're not in school?

No. I'm tired of going to school. I plan on going back to school ... Once my music career started blowing when I was 15 years old, I said, "F**k it, I'm going to L.A." I dropped out, but I was doing online school for a little. I started touring, I started losing focus on that sh*t, but I'm definitely gonna go back and get my diploma.

When did you realize you wanted to be a rapper?

Probably when I was like 13.

How did you get to that decision?

When I got into music, I just started watching how [people] were really living. I started falling in love with that high life, what the lifestyle could be like. It's legal, so I was like, "This is a good way for me to live my dreams." So I was like, "If they could do it, I could do it, too."

So I just did it. Started getting better. Everything you do, you got to put 100 percent into it. If you don't put 100 percent into it, it's not going to work out like you want it to. I did that every day at home ... Woke up, went to school late, left school early and just went home, started working. If I wasn't working, then I wasn't making money.

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Was your family supportive of your decision to follow that path? What did your mom think when you told her you were going to quit school and follow your rap career?

She didn't want me to. It took me a minute to convince her. I was telling her, "Trust me, it's going to work out." I started to convince her. Really, I just had to just tell her, "I know you don't want me to go, but I'mma just go, because I got you. I'mma let you know, it's going to work out. I know it's going to work out."

And then she let me go, and I just left ... She started to come around with me, taking label meetings. She's like "Yeah, you did it."

What does she think of your career choice now?

She just wants me to be the best person I can be. If I'm happy, she's gonna be happy.

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Your career took off in 2018 when you were around 16.

Yeah, it really took off right when I was like 15, just 'bout to turn 16. I was in New York taking label meetings on my birthday ... It was like a good-ass birthday present for me.

So you're 15 going on 16 when things started popping off for you. When was the moment when you realized you had "made it"?

I mean, there's been times where I've said, "I made it." But at the end of the day, I know I'm not where I want to be. I know I can do better. I can be bigger than this. I can make more money than this. So once I'm to the point where I'm really, like, I'm doing this for fun, it's not even because I'm worried about, "I need to get here." It's just more fun, because I'm already where I want to be. That's when I'mma be like, "Alright, I'm where I wanna be."

What does success look like to you? Is it money? Streams? Touring?

I already realized money don't buy happiness. If people say that, then they lost; they don't know what they're talking about. Money can help you and your family, which will make you happy. But at the end of the day, there's always something that can actually make you real happy inside ... Yeah it feels good, but with money, there comes a lot of problems that make you unhappy, so you got to find other things that make you happy.

Music, that's probably the biggest thing that makes me happy. Once I found music, I got addicted to music, like it was a drug or something. Music—that's all I do. If I'm not recording, I'm making beats. If I'm not making beats, then I'm probably worried about some money situation, like, "How can I get my money?"

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In between when things started to pop off for you in 2018 to now in 2020, what have been some of the life lessons you've learned in those two years?

Stack your money and flip your money. It's always been, like, flip your money back. Once I got my first check, I was like, "Damn, I'm up right now." But then I realized, you can't really have too much stuff, but you can. It gets to a point where it's like, if you don't wear that jacket, what's the point of having that jacket? So if I know I'm not going to even wear that sh*t more than a couple of times, then I'm not even going to buy that. I just started moving smarter ... with my money. I started thinking, "This n***a got a billion dollars. He's moving like this? Alright, well I need to start moving a little different."

I'm a rapper, it's sort of different because I gotta be an influence to everybody ... At the end of the day, if you got money and you're going to keep growing and get more money, that's not a good thing to worry about. The clothes, that sh*t's cool. But a billion dollars, that sounds a lot better. What are you going to do with a billion dollars? Make more money, and you got money to just buy whatever the hell you want to get, until you get to the point where you're like, "I'll buy whatever I feel like and it won't even pain me." 'Cause money goes fast. You start spending and it goes fast.

People are calling your track, "Blueberry Faygo," one of the unofficial songs of the summer, which is hitting a little different this year since we're in a pandemic. Do you think we're going to get an official song of the summer this year?

Fo' sho', 'cause people still care about summer. Regardless, people still going to be sharing with their friends, even if they inside. Summer's almost over, though. You right, actually; you speaking some facts right now. I don't even know if there is a song of the summer ...

Do you think "Blueberry Faygo" will take the song of the summer throne?

Sh*t, hopefully. That's for the people to decide. Definitely it hit ... At the end of the summer, it might get that title.

You released "Blueberry Faygo" in February. It hit top 10 in the U.S., and it keeps sneaking back up in the charts a few months after its release. What is it about "Blueberry Faygo" that resonates so much with rap fans?

I honestly think it's just a feel-good song. It's something fresh, some sh*t nobody heard before ...

I feel like that's what people need right now.

Yeah, in these times, that's what I be trying to spread a lot. I've got some songs that I haven't put out yet that I'm speaking on how my life has been. I like having fun with my music, so if it's not talking about having fun … then it's going to be about something real.

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The 2020 XXL Freshman Class dropped last month. You were featured in the 2019 XXL Freshman Class. What do you think about this year's group of artists?

There's a lot of artists on the list. I f**k with Fivio [Foreign]. Polo G, he's hard as f**k, too. I really didn't pay attention too much. I only seen a couple of freestyles and stuff, but I seen a few of them, definitely. Polo G, he definitely going to be a big-ass artist soon; he already a big artist. There's a bunch of artists on there I actually don't know. They picked a pretty good list.

When you were growing up, did you look up to the XXL Freshman Class?

I watched YG on XXL when he was coming up, and now he's who he is now. Mac Miller, he was on XXL ... Being on XXL is ... it's crazy. Seeing me, DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion—we all went up. There was a lot of people on that list that went up. It goes to show.

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You've worked with a lot of other big artists like Lil Baby, Gunna, Trippie Redd. What's the first thing you look for when you're picking your collaborators?

Do I genuinely like the music? If I don't really genuinely like the music, then I wouldn't even probably work with the person. It's really just about the music for me—if I like the song, I like the person's music. After that, do I like them as a person? Are they cool? They can be the biggest person in the world, [but] if I don't fuck with who they are and I don't like they music, then I won't even want to make a song with them.

While we're on that topic, who are some of the next-wave rappers on your radar right now? Who are some other artists you want to work with in the future?

BandKidjay, he's definitely one of 'em, rising artist. Jae Lynx, he's from Rhode Island; he's fire ... I wanna work with Drake; that'd be crazy. We would make a hit together, I already know we would. And Ariana Grande; that'd be lit.

Did you see that former President Barack Obama plugged your song, "Back At It," on his 2020 summer playlist?

Yeah, that was crazy, man! Shout out Barack Obama, man!

First of all, who knew Barack Obama was up on the rap game like that, right? That is probably the biggest co-sign of all time. What did that moment mean to you?

Yeah, I'm just a little-ass kid, and a grown-ass president know about me. That's crazy.

What do you have on deck for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

I'm working on my next project … a mixtape. You'll probably be seeing some singles from me coming soon.

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On their new Jersey club-inspired single "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born," Japanese hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts narrate the inner monologue of a confident man, unbothered by others’ negativity and the everyday pressures of life.

In this episode of Global Spin, watch Creepy Nuts deliver an electrifying performance of the track, made more lively with its bright flashing lights and changing LED backdrop.

"Before I show them my true ability/ My enemies run away without capability," they declare in Japanese on the second verse. "Raising the bar makes me very happy/ ‘Cause I’m outstanding, absolutely at No.1."

"Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" was released on January 7 via Sony Music and also serves as the season two opening track for the anime "Mashle: Magic and Muscles." The song previously went viral across social media for its accompanying "BBBB Dance."

"Basically, the song is about it’s best to be yourself, like flexing naturally. Of course, even though we put effort into writing its lyrics and music, it’s still a song that can be enjoyed without worrying about such things," they said in a press statement.

Press play on the video above to watch Creepy Nuts’ energetic performance of "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born," and don’t forget to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Global Spin.

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Twenty-six-year-old rapper Anycia truly lives in the present. The Atlanta-born artist describes her most viral hits as if they were everyday experiences — she's simply going out of town on "BRB" and mad at a partner in "Back Outside" featuring Latto. 

Despite her calm demeanor and cadence, Anycia is a self-proclaimed "firecracker" and credits her success to her long-held confidence. 

"I [command] any room I walk in, I like to introduce myself first — you never have to worry about me walking into the room and not speaking," Anycia tells GRAMMY.com. "I speak, I yell, I twerk, I do the whole nine," adding, "I see tweets all the time [saying] ‘I like Anycia because she doesn’t rap about her private parts’... are y’all not listening?" 

With authenticity as her cornerstone, Anycia's genuine nature and versatile sound appeal broadly. On her recently released sophomore LP, Princess Pop That, Anycia's playful personality, unique vocal style and skillful flow are on full display. Over 14 tracks, Anycia keeps her usual relaxed delivery while experimenting with different beats from New Orleans, New York, California, and of course, Georgia. 

"I'm learning to be myself in different elements. I'm starting to take my sound and make it adapt to other beats and genres," she says. "But this whole album is definitely a little showing of me dibbling and dabbling.

The rising hip-hop star gained traction in June 2023 with her sultry single, "So What," which samples the song of the same name by Georgia natives Field Mob and Ciara. When Anycia dropped the snippet on her Instagram, she only had a "GoPro and a dream." Today, she has millions of views on her music videos, collaborations with artists like Flo Milli, and a critically acclaimed EP, Extra. On April 26, she'll release her debut album, Princess Pop That, featuring Cash Cobain, Luh Tyler, Kenny Beats, Karrahbooo and others. 

Ahead of the release of Princess Pop That, Anycia spoke with GRAMMY.com about her influences, maintaining individuality, working with female rappers, and using her music as a therapeutic outlet.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Where did the title Princess Pop That come from?

Princess Pop That is my little alter ego, and my Twitter and finsta name. It's kind of like a Sasha Fierce/Beyoncé type of situation. 

The cover of your album gives early 2000 vibes. Is that where you draw most of your inspiration from?

Yeah. My everyday playlist is literally early 2000s music. I even still listen to [music] from the '70s – I just like old music! 

My mom is a big influence on a lot of the music that I like. She had me when she was like 19, 20. She's a Cali girl and has great taste in music. I grew up on everything and I feel like a lot of the stuff that I'm doing, you can kind of see that influence.

I grew up on Usher, Cherish, 112, Jagged Edge, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Teena Marie, Luther Vandross and Sam Cooke. Usher was my first concert, ever and actually my last concert — I went to his residency in Vegas with my mom. That's like our thing.

I know you had your hand in many different professions — including barbering and working at a daycare — how did you get into rapping?

I always liked music, but [thought] girl, we need some money right now. Rapping and music is cool, but I always had one foot in and one foot out. When I was [working] my jobs, it was more this is what I need to be doing right now — but I wasn't happy. 

It got to a point where I noticed that I was doing all these things, and it worked but it wasn't working for me. I didn't want to get caught up; I didn't want to be stuck doing something just because it works. I wanted to do something that I actually love to do. I decided to quit both jobs because I was literally making me miserable. 

I feel like that's what happened with a lot of our parents — they lose focus of their actual goals or what they actually wanted to do, and they get so caught up in what works in the moment. One thing about me, if I don't like something I'm done. I don't care how much money I put into it, if I'm not happy and it doesn’t feed me spiritually and mentally I'm not doing it. Right after [I quit] I was in the studio back-to-back making music. It eventually paid off.

Walk us through your music making process. 

A blunt, a little Don Julio Reposado, a space heater because I’m anemic. Eating some tacos and chicken wings or whatever I’m feeling at the moment. It’s not that deep to me, I like to be surrounded by good energy in the studio. 

People like to say female rappers aren’t welcoming or don’t like to work with each other. You’re clearly debunking this myth with songs like "Back Outside" featuring Latto and "Splash Brothers'' featuring Karrahbooo. What was it like working with them and how did these collaborations come about? 

Karrahbooo and I were already friends before we started rapping. It was harder for people to get us to do music because when we were around each other we weren't like, "Oh we need to do a song together." We had a friendship. 

Working with Latto, we didn't collab on that song in the studio. I did the song myself after being really upset at a man. I made the song just venting. I didn't even think that I was ever gonna put that song out, honestly. Latto ended up hitting me up within a week's span just giving me my flowers and telling me she wanted to do a song [together]. I ended up sending her "Back Outside" because I felt like she would eat [it up] and she did just that. 

She did! Are there any other female rappers you’d like to work with?

I really want to work with Cardi B — I love her! I'm also looking forward to collaborating with GloRilla. 

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Many female rappers come into the industry and feel like they have to start changing themself to fit a certain aesthetic or archetype. However, everything about you seems super unique — from your voice to your style and appearance. How do you maintain your individuality? 

Being yourself is literally the easiest job ever. When you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing, you're being genuine while you're doing it and you’re just being 110 percent authentically yourself — I feel like everything works out for you perfectly fine. 

I haven't had the urge to change anything or do anything different. The reason people started liking me was because I was being myself. Even if it wasn't accepted, I'm not going to stop being myself. I do what works for me and I feel like everybody should just do what works for them and not what works for the people outside of them. 

That's what creates discomfort for yourself, that’s how you become a depressed artist — trying to please everybody [but] yourself. I feel like people lose sight of that fact. Aside from this being a job or a career for me now, it’s still my outlet and a way I express myself;  it's still my form of art. I will never let anybody take that from me. It's intimate for me. 

Speaking of intimacy, what was the inspiration behind "Nene’s Prayer"? I want to know who was playing with you.

I was just having a little therapy session in the booth and everyone ended up liking it. Instead of getting mad, flipping out and wanting to go to jail I just put in a song. Even though I said some messed up things in the song, it’s better than me doing those messed up things. 

Have you ever written a lyric or song that you felt went too far or was too personal?

Nope. A lot of the [topics] that I [rap about] is just stuff girls really want to say, but don't have the courage to say. But me, I don’t give a damn! If it resonates with you then it does, and if it doesn't — listen to somebody else. 

Exactly! What advice would you give to upcoming artists trying to get noticed or have that one song that pops?

If you got something that you want to put out into the world, you just have to have that confidence for yourself, and you have to do it for you and not for other people. I feel like people make music and do certain things for other people. That's why [their song] doesn't do what it needs to do because it’s a perspective of what other people want, rather than doing [a song] that you're comfortable with and what you like.

How do you want people to feel after listening to ‘Princess Pop That?’

I just want the girls, and even the boys, to get in their bag. Regardless of how you went into listening to the album, I want you to leave with just a little bit more self confidence. If you’re feeling low, I want you to feel like "I am that bitch." 

It's a no judgment zone. I want everybody to find their purpose, walk in their truth and feel like "that girl" with everything they do. You could even be in a grocery store, I want you to feel like the baddest bitch. 

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In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion solidified herself as one of rap's most promising new stars, thanks to her hit single "Savage." Not only was it her first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, but the "sassy, moody, nasty" single also helped Megan win three GRAMMYs in 2021.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the sentimental moment the Houston "Hottie" accepted one of those golden gramophones, for Best New Artist.

"I don't want to cry," Megan Thee Stallion said after a speechless moment at the microphone. Before starting her praises, she gave a round of applause to her fellow nominees in the category, who she called "amazing."

Along with thanking God, she also acknowledged her manager, T. Farris, for "always being with me, being by my side"; her record label, 300 Entertainment, for "always believing in me, sticking by through my craziness"; and her mother, who "always believed I could do it."

Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" remix with Beyoncé also helped her win Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance that night — marking the first wins in the category by a female lead rapper.

Press play on the video above to watch Megan Thee Stallion's complete acceptance speech for Best New Artist at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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"You don't know that people are going to 40 years later call you up and say, ‘Can you talk about this record from 40 years ago?’"

That was Cory Robbins, former president of Profile Records, reaction to speaking to Grammy.com about one of the first albums his then-fledgling label released. Run-DMC’s self-titled debut made its way into the world four decades ago this week on March 27, 1984 and established the group, in Robbins’ words, "the Beatles of hip-hop." 

Rarely in music, or anything else, is there a clear demarcation between old and new. Styles change gradually, and artistic movements usually get contextualized, and often even named, after they’ve already passed from the scene. But Run-DMC the album, and the singles that led up to it, were a definitive breaking point. Rap before it instantly, and eternally, became “old school.” And three guys from Hollis, Queens — Joseph "Run" Simmons, Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels — helped turn a burgeoning genre on its head.

What exactly was different about Run-DMC? Some of the answers can be glimpsed by a look at the record’s opening song. "Hard Times" is a cover of a Kurtis Blow track from his 1980 debut album. The connection makes sense. Kurtis and Run’s older brother Russell Simmons met in college, and Russell quickly became the rapper’s manager. That led to Run working as Kurtis’ DJ. Larry Smith, who produced Run-DMC, even played on Kurtis’ original version of the song.

But despite those tie-ins, the two takes on "Hard Times" are night and day. Kurtis Blow’s is exactly what rap music was in its earliest recorded form: a full band playing something familiar (in this case, a James Brown-esque groove, bridge and percussion breakdown inclusive.)

What Run-DMC does with it is entirely different. The song is stripped down to its bare essence. There’s a drum machine, a sole repeated keyboard stab, vocals, and… well, that’s about it. No solos, no guitar, no band at all. Run and DMC are trading off lines in an aggressive near-shout. It’s simple and ruthlessly effective, a throwback to the then-fading culture of live park jams. But it was so starkly different from other rap recordings of the time, which were pretty much all in the style of Blow’s record, that it felt new and vital.

"Production-wise, Sugar Hill [the record label that released many key early rap singles] built themselves on the model of Motown, which is to say, they had their own production studios and they had a house band and they recorded on the premises," explains Bill Adler, who handled PR for Run-DMC and other key rap acts at the time.

"They made magnificent records, but that’s not how rap was performed in parks," he continues. "It’s not how it was performed live by the kids who were actually making the music."

Run-DMC’s musical aesthetic was, in some ways, a lucky accident. Larry Smith, the musician who produced the album, had worked with a band previously. In fact, the reason two of the songs on the album bear the subtitle "Krush Groove" is because the drum patterns are taken from his band Orange Krush’s song “Action.”

Read more: Essential Hip-Hop Releases From The 1970s: Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang & More

But by the time sessions for Run-DMC came around, the money had run out and, despite his desire to have the music done by a full band, Smith was forced to go without them and rely on a drum machine. 

His artistic partner on the production side was Russell Simmons. Simmons, who has been accused over the past seven years of numerous instances of sexual assault dating back decades, was back in 1983-4 the person providing the creative vision to match Smith’s musical knowledge.

Orange Krush’s drummer Trevor Gale remembered the dynamic like this (as quoted in Geoff Edgers’ Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song that Changed American Music Forever): “Larry was the guy who said, 'Play four bars, stop on the fifth bar, come back in on the fourth beat of the fifth bar.' Russell was the guy that was there that said, ‘I don’t like how that feels. Make it sound like mashed potato with gravy on it.’”

It wasn’t just the music that set Run-DMC apart from its predecessors. Their look was also starkly different, and that influenced everything about the group, including the way their audience viewed them.

Most of the first generation of recorded rappers were, Bill Adler remembers, influenced visually by either Michael Jackson or George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. Run-DMC was different.

"Their fashion sense was very street oriented," Adler explains. "And that was something that emanated from Jam Master Jay. Jason just always had a ton of style. He got a lot of his sartorial style from his older brother, Marvin Thompson. Jay looked up to his older brother and kind of dressed the way that Marvin did, including the Stetson hat. 

"When Run and D told Russ, Jason is going to be our deejay, Russell got one look at Jay and said, ‘Okay, from now on, you guys are going to dress like him.’"

Run, DMC, and Jay looked like their audience. That not only set them apart from the costumed likes of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, it also cemented the group’s relationship with their listeners. 

"When you saw Run-DMC, you didn’t see celebrity. You saw yourself," DMC said in the group’s recent docuseries. 

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Another thing that set Run-DMC (the album) and Run-DMC (the group) apart from what came before was the fact that they released a cohesive rap album. Nine songs that all belonged together, not just a collection of already-released singles and some novelties. Rappers had released albums prior to Run-DMC, but that’s exactly what they were: hits and some other stuff — sung love ballads or rock and roll covers, or other experiments rightfully near-forgotten.

"There were a few [rap] albums [at the time], but they were pretty crappy. They were usually just a bunch of singles thrown together," Cory Robbins recalls.

Not this album. It set a template that lasted for years: Some social commentary, some bragging, a song or two to show off the DJ. A balance of records aimed at the radio and at the hard-core fans. You can still see traces of Run-DMC in pretty much every rap album released today.

Listeners and critics reacted. The album got a four-star review in Rolling Stone with “the music…that backs these tracks is surprisingly varied, for all its bare bones” and an A minus from Robert Christgau who claimed “It's easily the canniest and most formally sustained rap album ever.” Just nine months after its release, Run-DMC was certified gold, the first rap LP ever to earn that honor. "Rock Box" also single-handedly invented rap-rock, thanks to Eddie Martinez’s loud guitars. 

There is another major way in which the record was revolutionary. The video for "Rock Box" was the first rap video to ever get into regular rotation on MTV and, the first true rap video ever played on the channel at all, period. Run-DMC’s rise to MTV fame represented a significant moment in breaking racial barriers in mainstream music broadcasting. 

"There’s no overstating the importance of that video," Adler tells me. vIt broke through the color line at MTV and opened the door to a cataclysmic change." 

"Everybody watched MTV forty years ago," Robbins agrees. "It was a phenomenal thing nationwide. Even if we got three or four plays a week of ‘Rock Box’ on MTV, that did move the needle."

All of this: the new musical style, the relatable image, the MTV pathbreaking, and the attendant critical love and huge sales (well over 10 times what their label head was expecting when he commissioned the album from a reluctant Russell Simmons — "I hoping it would sell thirty or forty thousand," Robbins says now): all of it contributed to making Run-DMC what it is: a game-changer.

"It was the first serious rap album," Robbins tells me. And while you could well accuse him of bias — the group making an album at all was his idea in the first place — he’s absolutely right. 

Run-DMC changed everything. It split the rap world into old school and new school, and things would never be the same.

Perhaps the record’s only flaw is one that wouldn’t be discovered for years. As we’re about to get off the phone, Robbins tells me about a mistake on the cover, one he didn’t notice until the record was printed and it was too late. 

There was something (Robbins doesn’t quite recall what) between Run and DMC in the cover photo. The art director didn’t like it and proceeded to airbrush it out. But he missed something. On the vinyl, if you look between the letters "M" and "C,", you can see DMC’s disembodied left hand, floating ghost-like in mid-air. While it was an oversight, it’s hard not to see this as a sign, a sort of premonition that the album itself would hang over all of hip-hop, with an influence that might be hard to see at first, but that never goes away. 

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