On their sophomore album,
King of Rock, Run-D.M.C. expanded their musical palette. The album's title itself was equal parts warning, statement of purpose, and legitimate boast. The album signified the group's intentions to pull hip-hop out of the periphery and onto center stage. It was a golden era in the evolution of contemporary music; a time and place in which hip-hop was called "rap", MTV defined "rock", and Run-D.M.C. were kings of both. The music on the album was created by
Larry Smith's group Orange Krush using the
drum machine Oberheim DMX and Jam Master Jay's scratches mixed in a guitar riff. D.M.C. once commented on this fact: "People forget about Larry Smith, but Larry Smith owned hip-hop and rap. He produced our first two albums, and he produced
Whodini. The rock-rap sound was Larry Smith's vision, not
Rick Rubin's. Rick changed the story, but Larry was there first. Actually, me and Run were against the guitar." The name for the album came up with Corey Robbins, co-owner of
Profile Records. He said: "I don't take any credit for the song title, but I did come up with the idea of calling the album that, based on the song title, and keeping it singular. It was so outrageous then-that rappers would call themselves kings of rock, instead of kings of rap. That would've been the obvious title, because they were the kings of rap. They certainly weren't considered rock – yet. Which is why it turned out to be such a cool title: it turned out to be true. They did become rock and roll, in a way; they did get played on rock radio. King of Rap or Kings of Rap would have done nothing for them. King Of Rock was outrageous." "Slow and Low" was recorded as a demo during the sessions for this album,
Beastie Boys had the demo on a tape and decided to record a version after learning it wasn't going to be on
King of Rock. Included on the
Beastie Boys album
Licensed to Ill (1986). Run-D.M.C.'s version was not officially released until 2005, as an inclusion in the Deluxe edition of
King of Rock. The song "
Can You Rock It Like This" was written by a 16-year-old
LL Cool J. "King of Rock" featured a popular music video, which became a fan favorite on MTV. It featured
Calvert DeForest, also known as Larry "Bud" Melman of
NBC's
Late Night with David Letterman fame. ==Appearance in movies==