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"Run-DMC, hip-hop&amp;apos;s most famous rap trio, was almost a solo act.\r\nDarryl &amp;quot;DMC&amp;quot; McDaniels had to win the approval of the group&amp;apos;s manager to secure his spot, the Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductee told Yahoo Music Wednesday on the eve of the 30th anniversary of Run-DMC&amp;apos;s self-titled debut album.\r\nDMC&amp;apos;s revelation is surprising, considering the group&amp;apos;s massive success. Along with Joseph &amp;quot;Run&amp;quot; Simmons and their late DJ, Jason &amp;quot;Jam Master Jay&amp;quot; Mizell, Run-DMC&amp;apos;s self-titled debut album broke a number of records. It is the first rap album to be certified gold, receive a Grammy nomination, and land a video (&amp;quot;Rock Box&amp;quot;) on MTV.\r\nAccording to DMC, Russell Simmons, the group&amp;apos;s manager and Run&amp;apos;s elder brother, didn&amp;apos;t think he had the chops to cut it as a rap star.Run fought for him to be a part of the group, and before recording their first single, &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s Like That,&amp;quot; Run informed DMC of the dilemma.\r\n[Related: Russell Simmons&amp;apos; Key to Happiness Takes 40 Minutes a Day]\r\n&amp;quot;Run said, &amp;apos;D, I&amp;apos;m going to put you in the group. Russell don&amp;apos;t want you in the group. He doesn&amp;apos;t like your voice. He don&amp;apos;t think you&amp;apos;re an MC, but I told him if he don&amp;apos;t put you in the group, I was going to hold my breath until I turned blue, and I damn near died last night, so Russell said, &amp;apos;OK, he could be in the group.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nDespite Run&amp;apos;s support, DMC didn&amp;apos;t feel secure, saying that even though his vocals were on &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s Like That,&amp;quot; Russell planned to have Run perform the song as a solo artist.\r\n\r\nDMC definitely felt pressure in the studio the night they recorded the song. &amp;quot;The whole session, Russell was doing this, &amp;apos;Get out of the way. D, go sit in the lounge. You only here because Joey want you here.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nRun was determined to prove his brother wrong. The night they recorded &amp;quot;Sucker MCs,&amp;quot; Run ignored Russell&amp;apos;s demands that DMC get out of the control room and pushed DMC to record a verse for the song. DMC, who was still in high school, was nervous about catching Russell&amp;apos;s wrath and upsetting his parents for staying out too late. He wanted to go home before recording, but Run told him to stick around.\r\n&amp;quot;Joe laid his three verses. I&amp;apos;m sitting there, saying, &amp;apos;Yo, Joe. It&amp;apos;s late. I need to go home.&amp;apos; Joe is telling me, &amp;apos;Wait. Wait.&amp;apos; He said, &amp;apos;Now, you go in there a put a verse at the end of the record.&amp;apos; I&amp;apos;m like, &amp;apos;Joe, Russell doesn&amp;apos;t want me in here.&amp;apos; Joe said, &amp;apos;We got to prove to Russell that you&amp;apos;re a MC. He thinks you can write &amp;apos;cause you&amp;apos;re a smart and he loves checking you while you&amp;apos;re sitting there with your 40 [ounce bottle of beer]. D, just go in there and say a rhyme.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nDMC&amp;apos;s rap verse for &amp;quot;Sucker MCs&amp;quot; turned out to be like winning the golden ticket that would forever change his life.\r\n[Related: Rev Run: The Out-of-Control Night That Changed My Life]\r\n&amp;quot;When I went in the booth, I&amp;apos;m not even thinking about a career,&amp;quot; DMC said. &amp;quot;I got accepted to St. John&amp;apos;s University. My whole life, every time I would learn something, see something on TV or experience something, I would just write about it. So I had wrote this rhyme when I was graduating because I had gotten accepted to St. John&amp;apos;s. I went in there and said, &amp;apos;I&amp;apos;m DMC in the place to be. I go to St. John&amp;apos;s University.&amp;apos; I wasn&amp;apos;t even at St. John&amp;apos;s, but I knew I was going.&amp;quot;\r\nAfter recording his now famous verse, DMC said he solidified his position in the group. &amp;quot;When I walked out the booth, who&amp;apos;s the first person standing there, arms extended, kissing me and hugging me, and saying, &amp;apos;Oh my God, I had no idea?&amp;apos; So, that&amp;apos;s how managers work. The whole session he&amp;apos;s avoiding me. &amp;apos;D, get out of here, you need to be home.&amp;apos; When I kicked that rhyme, I&amp;apos;m telling you, for the rest of the night, Russell sat next to me with his arm around me, and everybody that entered the studio, Russell would go, &amp;apos;Go play the rhyme. Play D&amp;apos;s part.&amp;apos;\r\n&amp;quot;And since that day up until the making of the first Run-DMC album when we had pitch meetings, everybody that would walk in the room at Rush Management, Russell would say, &amp;apos;D, come say the rhyme.&amp;apos; From the end of &amp;apos;82 to the making of the first album, I was Russell&amp;apos;s demo. But before I made that rhyme, Russell didn&amp;apos;t want to hear from me. He thought DMC, the Catholic school kid with the straight A&amp;apos;s didn&amp;apos;t have the personality to be an MC, but I changed all that with &amp;apos;Sucker MCs.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nToday, DMC is working on a rap rock album that is a continuation of the style of Run-DMC&amp;apos;s rock-fused songs &amp;quot;Rock Box,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;King of Rock,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Walk This Way,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Mary Mary,&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s Tricky.&amp;quot; He&amp;apos;s released two tracks, &amp;quot;Attention Please&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Noise Revolution,&amp;quot; and is working with the likes of Sebastian Bach from Skid Row and Mick Mars of M&amp;#xF6;tley Cr&amp;#xFC;e. Additionally, he is prepping the release of his graphic novel venture, Darryl Makes Comics. \r\n\r\nFollow Billy Johnson Jr. on Facebook, Twitter."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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