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Bios: Run-D.M.C. & Jam Master Jay
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Members
Run (A.K.A. Rev Run) (Born Joseph Simmons, November 14, 1964 in New York, NY)
D.M.C. (Born Darryl McDaniels, May 31, 1964 in New York, NY)
Jam Master Jay (Born Jason Mizell, January 21, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York, NY - Died October 30, 2002 in Queens, New York, NY (Shot))

Albums
Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C. - King Of Rock
Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell

Also Featured On...
Breaking Out: The Alcatraz Concert
Christmas Rap
The Corruptor (Run)
Flesh-N-Bone - T.H.U.G.S. (Trues Humbly United Gatherin' Souls) (Rev Run)
FunkMaster Flex Presents The Mix Tape Volume 1: 60 Minutes Of Funk
The Hit List
Luniz - Oakland Raiders (Pre-release) (Run)
Merry Fucking Christmas 2: The Return Of The Poo (Thug Radio Mixtape) (Rev Run)
Merry Fucking Christmas 3: The True Meaning Of Christmas (Thug Radio Mixtape)
Millennium Hip-Hop Party
MTV The First 1000 Years: Hip Hop
The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death (D.M.C.)
The Rapsody Overture: Hip Hop Meets Classic (Reverend Run)
Royce Da 5'9" - Defending The Crown Part III: The Coroner
Slick Rick - The Art Of Storytellin' (Rev Run)
So So Def Presents Definition Of A Remix
The Source Presents Hits From The Vault Vol. 1: The Pioneers
Street Jams: Hip Hop From The Top Part 2
Tupac - The Rose That Grew From Concrete (Rev Run)

Bio From AllMusic.Com
More than any other hip-hop group, Run-D.M.C. is responsible for the sound and style of the music. As the first hardcore rap outfit, the trio set the sound and style for the next decade of rap. With its spare beats and excursions into heavy metal samples, the trio was tougher and more menacing than its predecessors Grandmaster Flash and Whodini. In the process, it opened the door for both the politicized rap of Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions, as well as the hedonistic gangsta fantasies of N.W.A. At the same time, Run-D.M.C. helped move rap from a singles-oriented genre to an album-oriented one — they were the first hip-hop artist to construct full-fledged albums, not just a collection with two singles and a bunch of filler. By the end of the '80s, Run-D.M.C. had been overtaken by the groups they had spawned, but they continued to perform to a dedicated following well into the '90s.

All three members of Run-D.M.C. were natives of the middle-class New York borough, Hollis, Queens. Run (born Joseph Simmons, November 14, 1964) was the brother of Russell Simmons, who formed the hip-hop management company Rush Productions in the early '80s; by the mid-'80s, Russell had formed the pioneering record label Def Jam with Rick Rubin. Russell encouraged his brother Joey and his friend, Darryl McDaniel (b. May 31, 1964) to form a rap duo. The pair of friends did just that, adopting the names Run and D.M.C. respectively. After they graduated from high school in 1982, the pair enlisted their friend, Jason Mizell (b. January 21, 1965), to scratch turntables; Mizell adopted the stage name Jam Master Jay.

In 1983, Run-D.M.C. released its first single, "It's Like That" / "Sucker M.C.'s," on Profile Records. The single sounded like no other rap at the time — it was spare, blunt and skillful, with hard beats and powerful, literate, daring vocals, where Run and D.M.C.'s vocals overlapped, as they finished each other's lines. It was the first "new school" hip-hop recording. "It's Like That" became a Top 20 R&B hit, as did the group's second single, "Hard Times" / "Jam Master Jay." Two other hit R&B singles followed in early 1984 — "Rock Box" and "30 Days" — before the group's eponymous debut appeared.

By the time of their second album, 1985's King Of Rock, Run-D.M.C. had become the most popular and influential rappers in America, already spawning a number of imitators. As the King Of Rock title suggests, the group was breaking down the barriers between rock & roll and rap, rapping over heavy metal records and thick, dense drum loops. Besides releasing the King Of Rock album and scoring the R&B hits "King of Rock, "You Talk Too Much" and "Can You Rock It Like This" in 1985, the group also appeared in the rap movie Krush Groove, which also featured Kurtis Blow, the Beastie Boys, and the Fat Boys.

Run-D.M.C.'s fusion of rock and rap broke into the mainstream with their third album, 1986's Raising Hell. The album was preceded by the Top Ten R&B single "My Adidas," which set the stage for the group's biggest hit single, a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way." Recorded with Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, "Walk This Way" was the first hip-hop record to appeal to both rockers and rappers, as evidenced by its peak position of number four on the pop charts. In the wake of the success of "Walk This Way," Raising Hell became the first rap album to reach number one on the R&B charts, to chart in the pop Top Ten, and the first to go platinum, and Run-D.M.C. was the first rap act to received airplay on MTV — they were the first rappers to cross over into the pop mainstream. Raising Hell also spawned the hit singles "You Be Illin'" and "It's Tricky."

Run-D.M.C. spent most of 1987 recording Tougher than Leather, their follow-up to Raising Hell. Tougher than Leather was accompanied by a movie of the same name. Starring Run-D.M.C., the film was an affectionate parody of '70s Blaxploitation films. Although Run-D.M.C. had been at the height of their popularity when they were recording and filming Tougher than Leather, by the time the project was released, the rap world had changed. Most of the hip-hop audience wanted to hear hardcore political rappers like Public Enemy, not crossover artists like Run-D.M.C. Consequently, the film bombed and the album only went platinum, failing to spawn any significant hit singles.

Two years after Tougher than Leather, Run-D.M.C. returned with Back from Hell, which became their first album not to go platinum. Following its release, both Run and D.M.C. suffered personal problems as Daniels suffered a bout of alcoholism and Simmons was accused of rape. After Daniels sobered up and the charges against Simmons were dismissed, both of the rappers became born-again Christians, touting their religious conversion on the 1993 album, Down with the King. Featuring guest appearances and production assistance from artists as diverse as Public Enemy, EPMD, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Neneh Cherry, Pete Rock, and KRS-1, Down with the King became the comeback Run-D.M.C. needed. The title track became a Top Ten R&B hit and the album went gold, peaking at number 21. Although they were no longer hip-hop innovators, the success of Down with the King proved that Run-D.M.C. were still respected pioneers.

After a long studio hiatus, the trio returned in early 2000 with Crown Royal. The album did little to add to their ailing record sales, but the following promotional efforts saw them join Aerosmith and Kid Rock for a blockbuster performance on MTV. By 2002, the release of two greatest-hits albums prompted a tour with Aerosmith that saw them travel the U.S., always performing "Walk This Way" to transition between their sets. Sadly, only weeks after the end of the tour, Jam Master Jay was senselessly murdered in a studio session in Queens. Only 37 years old, the news of his passing spread quick and hip-hop luminaries like Big Daddy Kane and Pete Rock, and Funkmaster Flex took the time to pay tribute to him on New York radio stations. Possibly the most visible DJ in the history of hip-hop, his death was truly the end of an era and unfortunately perpetuated the cycle of violence that has haunted the genre since the late '80s. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Jam Master Jay's Bio From AllMusic.Com
Born in Brooklyn on January 21, 1965, Jason Mizell grew up playing bass, guitar, and drums in various bands before discovering the turntables when he was 13, after his family had moved to Hollis, Queens. He took quickly to turntablism, thanks to his musical experience, and soon was throwing small parties around the area. In 1982 he hooked up with high-school friends Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels as part of their hip-hop group, Run-D.M.C., agreeing to DJ for them because he wanted to be part of the band. Calling himself Jam Master Jay, he helped to not only define the sound of what would turn out to be one of the most influential rap groups ever, he also created their style, the black hats and Adidas shoes that became synonymous with their name.

Although not the flashiest of DJs, Jam Master Jay soon became one of the most recognizable and visible, thanks not only to the 1983 song "Jam Master Jay," (the B-side to "Hard Times") but to Jay's own hard, sparse beats, which served as the perfect complement to Run and D.M.C.'s already hard-edged delivery. Although the 1984 self-titled record and 1985's King Of Rock helped to solidify Run-D.M.C. as the purveyors of a new kind of hip-hop, it was 1986's platinum-selling Raising Hell (an album on which Jay also played keyboards, bass, and live drums) -- containing the influential single "Walk This Way," a rap version of the 1975 Aerosmith hit that combined Run-D.M.C.'s tag-team style and Jay's turntable work with Steven Tyler's screeching vocals and Joe Perry's guitar riffs -- that gave them true superstar status.

After a couple more Run-D.M.C. records (1987's Tougher Than Leather and 1990's Back from Hell), the group went on hiatus as the two MCs worked on sorting out personal problems. In the meantime, Jay started his own label, Jam Master Jay Recordings, producing albums by Onyx (1993's Bacdafucup, 1995's All We Got Iz Us, and 1998's Shut 'Em Down), among others, and hooking back up with Run and D.M.C. for their 1993 record Down with the King, which, though it might not have brought them the same acclaim as some of their earlier work, nevertheless helped to reestablish them in the scene. After a long break, the trio returned in 2000 with Crown Royal, an album that was promoted by a joint tour with none other than Aerosmith. On the evening of October 30, 2002, Jay was in his Queens studio when two men entered the building, shooting him once in a murder case that remained unsolved even five years after the DJ's death had passed. - Marisa Brown

Official Site: Run-D.M.C., MySpace, D.M.C., D.M.C.'s MySpace, Jam Master Jay's MySpace Dedication & Another Jam Master Jay MySpace