Tougher Than Leather

For starters, the album’s first single, Run’s House / Beats To The Rhyme is arguably the most powerful one-two punch of the trio’s career, showing contenders to the rap throne that they could still destroy a beat, tag-teaming with power at any speed. Not to be lost in the shuffle, fans were also reminded on both sides that Jam-Master Jay remained one of the world’s best DJs, flexing the pinnacle of what would be called “turntablism” a decade later. Both songs show a musical telepathy between all three that has rarely been equaled. The second single, Mary, Mary, driven by an infectious Monkees sample, took a different approach, shrewdly ensuring that pop fans who jumped on the Raising Hell bandwagon had something to chew on. But, like Walk This Way, the song wasn’t just bubblegum –there was an edge to it, and the lyrical gymnastics were very real. It wasn’t selling out, it was allowing fans to buy in. Papa Crazy, driven in concept and by a sample from the Temptations’ Papa Was A Rolling Stone, followed a similar pop-leaning path.