Photo credits: Frank Micelotta Archive/Getty Images
The song “My Adidas” is the first single from Run D.M.C.’s third studio album titled, Raising Hell. This hip-hop hit is all about the rap group’s love for Adidas sneakers.
“My Adidas” was released on May 29, 1986, according to Album of the Year. Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, two of the band’s members, wrote the song. Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons produced the song. The first endorsement arrangement between a musical performer and an athletic firm resulted from this record. Lyor Cohen, the band’s co-manager, brought Adidas president Angelo Anastasio to the band’s Madison Square Garden performance on July 19, 1986.
The crowd was asked to hold up their Adidas gear throughout the song by the pioneering hip-hop band. The group then made a video in which they sang a verse without accompaniment to Adidas before exclaiming, “Give us a million bucks!” This agreement is recognized for inspiring the subsequent trend of brand-musician endorsement partnerships – most notably in hip-hop culture.
In 1986, “My Adidas” charted at No. 5 on the Hot Black Singles list, No. 10 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart, and No. 33 on the Hot Rap Singles chart; fourteen years later. The song can be found on the video game soundtracks for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 and Saints Row: The Third. The song was also referenced in pop singer Mariah Carey’s song “Dedicated” from her album titled, Me. I’m Mariah, the Enigmatic Chanteuse.
Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, a former member of Run DMC who served as the group’s in-house DJ, was tragically assassinated in his NYC recording studio on October 30, 2002. He was just 37 years old when he died.
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