Run-DMC’s 1984 debut is raw, skeletal, and full of puffed-chest stunting from Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who trade lines like schoolchildren shoving each other on the playground. On "Rock Box," wailing electric guitars add to the energy of their back-and-forth shouts; on "Hard Times," a slow-motion drum machine sets off hypnotic, unison chants. Elsewhere, all Run needs is a mic, a kick drum, and a pocket full of disses for “Sucker M.C.’s”—sparse, snarling, as straight to the point as a slap in the face.