Run-D.M.C. created some of hip-hop's most important songs throughout their career, while helping to build the genre into the global phenomenon it is today . To put it plainly, Run-D.M.C. is to hip-hop what The Beatles are to rock 'n' roll , what Hank Williams is to country music, and what Bob Marley is to reggae .

Just like those artists, Run-D.M.C. aren't the founders of their genre; they were its first superstars at a time when label executives looked at hip-hop as a here-today-gone-tomorrow fad. They were the first rap group to be heavily played on MTV, the first to land a Rolling Stone cover, and the first to be featured on SNL .

It's safe to say that Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell were the hip-hop prototypes, the group th

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