Run-DMC Effort Only Half-Hearted

A Run-DMC album without DMC? Well, that’s just about what you get with this much-delayed album, which comes out Tuesday. Although Run (Joseph Simmons) was viewed as the front man of the groundbreaking Queens, N.Y., trio, DMC (Darryl McDaniels) was a rock-solid second fiddle, with his muscular vocals bringing authority and confidence to the group’s music. But DMC, who has expressed his displeasure in a number of interviews with the musical direction the group takes on this album, is featured on only three songs, leaving Run to collaborate with a throng of guests, including Everlast and Jagged Edge, among others.

Run spends much of his time defending his place in hip-hop’s pantheon, but he often sounds more like a veteran afraid he’s losing his grip on the art form he helped popularize than the confident, boisterous rapper millions of fans have embraced since the group emerged in the early 1980s.

One exception is the playful “Them Girls,” which features back-and-forth rapping from Run and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. This potential smash echoes Run-DMC’s late 1980s hit “Mary, Mary,” but it sounds somewhat empty without a verse from DMC, an unfortunately frequent omission throughout this letdown of an comeback.

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