Rating: N
I doubt Russell Simmons’s brother Joseph intended to embarrass himself this hard in public. Let’s blame this astronomical mistake on temporary insanity after the passing of Jam Master Jay. It’s not complicated – Reverend Run is just doing what he’s always done with Run-DMC: loud, basic rhymes with the same flow about how he’s stayin’ hardcore and takin’ MCs down, over rapified rock riffs (here, Kiss, Joan Jett, the Monkees and even Lynyrd Skynyrd’s pro-confederate Sweet Home Alabama). But this is 2005, not 1985, and DMC won’t touch this with a 10-foot rod. Neither Island, Def Jam nor Universal will put their logo on it, as they do proudly as a matter of course with their other releases a pretty obvious admission of guilt.
