29 March 1998
Re-listening to Run-D.M.C.’s original ‘It’s Like That’ reminds me why I prefer Public Enemy. I find Run-D.M.C.’s rapping style here very stilted, like a primary schoolkid reciting a poem in class: they don’t exactly make lines like “Street soldiers killing the elderly / Whatever happened to unity?” flow like a harpoon daily and nightly, which we all know is the gold standard for rapping. Also, the early verses on how the world is a total bin fire are then turned on their head by the later verses proclaiming: “If you really think about it times aren’t that bad” – rightfully putting street soldiers killing the elderly into its proper context. Still, it’s probably that clipped, square rap style which attracted a house DJ like Jason Nevins to house-ify ‘It’s Like That’ for a 1998 audience.
That said, apart from hooshing up the rhythm a bit and adding a few record scratches I’d be hard pressed to put my finger on what exactly Jason Nevins adds to this. That’s him at the start of the video, with the yellow tinted glasses, bringing his ’80s ghetto-blaster to the scene of what, if you remember the video, is a brutal and unforgiving breakdance-off between Team Guys and Team Girls. Highlights of this hardcore urban conflict are The Guy Whose Wig Falls Off and The Beardy Guy Who Just Headbangs. Inasmuch as any war can have a winner, here the girls win, despite one of them wearing an all-brown velour tracksuit with white cotton gloves, normally a disqualification offence in the breakdance battles of my youth. This whole track—stilted rap, anodyne beats, naff video—is one big all-brown velour tracksuit.
