Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Run-DMC's Christmas Jam Made Rap American

Enmeshing the genre with America's one real tradition sealed the deal

By Victoria Floethe, Newser User

Posted Dec 25, 2008 3:40 PM CST

(Newser) – If Christmas is one authentic American effort to create traditions in a nation that has mostly imported them, Christmas music is about as American as it gets, writes Morgan Meis on the Smart Set. “When you do the Christmas song you are solid, you are in the club,” Meis argues, and Run-DMC sealed rap’s status as solidly American with their 1987 hit Christmas in Hollis.

What makes you proud that America gave us hip-hop Meis continues, are lines like this: “It’s Christmas time in Hollis Queens, Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens.” Christmas music is about fantasy, and “Run-DMC showed that Hollis, Queens, has as much purchase on that fantasy as anywhere else,” Meis concludes.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (2)]

Rap group Run DMC poses at the 31st annual Grammy Awards in 1988 in New York. (AP Photo)

Rapper Reverend Run of Run-DMC appears on MTV's Total Request Live, April 30, 2007. (AP Photo)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

... (CrazyDiamond0704)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

With one line, Run-DMC made collard greens as American as apple pie. - Morgan Meis, The Smart Set

A successful Christmas song will make it into a radio-cum-internet rotation that is beyond the vicissitudes of time. - Morgan Meis, The Smart Set

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Georgetown Prof Teaches Jay-Z Course

Class takes sociological view of rapper's work

(NEWSER) - He’s already a hip-hop superstar, a big-shot exec, and married to Beyonce; now, Jay-Z is also the subject of elite academic discourse. Georgetown students are flocking to a sociology course on hip-hop and Jay-Z’s rise, taught by author and radio host Michael Eric Dyson. “Sociology of Hip-Hop—Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z,” as the class is called, seeks “the intellectual, theological, philosophical predicate for Jay-Z’s argument.” More»

Rapper Lupe Fiasco: Obama's the Real Terrorist

He says US foreign policy helps foster terror

(NEWSER) - Conservatives slammed President Obama for hosting Chicago rapper Common at the White House. Now Obama is taking criticism from a different Chicago rapper. "To me, the biggest terrorist is Obama, and the United States of America,” Lupe Fiasco told CBS in an interview noted by the Huffington Post . “I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism.” He said “the root cause of terrorism” includes “the foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists.” More»

13 Years Later, Notorious BIG Investigation Back On

Task force investigating new leads, say sources

(NEWSER) - Thirteen years later, the murders of rappers Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur remain two of the music industry’s highest-profile unsolved mysteries—but that could soon change. Police “reinvigorated” the Notorious BIG murder case months ago, sources tell CNN , and they are actively looking into leads and new information related to the 1997 crime. The task force investigating the case includes the LAPD, FBI, and the LA County DA’s office. More»

Stopping Suicide No Publicity Stunt: T.I.

Rapper slams claims he was trying to look good ahead of court date

(NEWSER) - After T.I. talked a man threatening suicide out of jumping from a downtown Atlanta building, some are calling the move a publicity stunt—but that couldn’t be further from the truth, the rapper tells CNN . The video he made, which police played to the man and is credited with helping to save the man’s life, was not an effort to improve his image ahead of a hearing today that could send the musician back to jail, he says, calling such claims “preposterous.” More»

Hip-Hop Star Guru Dead At 43

Keith Elam of Gang Starr was also celebrated solo artist

(NEWSER) - Keith Elam, who performed as Guru with the high-profile hip-hop duo Gang Starr, died yesterday. He was 43 and had been battling cancer. Although Guru was from Boston and partner DJ Premier from Houston, Gang Starr played a high-profile role on the New York underground rap scene of the '90s. Guru recorded with Gang Starr from its founding in 1987 into the 2000s even as he established a solo career with his Jazzmatazz series of albums, MTV reports. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Run-DMC's Christmas Jam Made Rap American