Pioneering Hip-Hop group Run-DMC was officially inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio tonight (April 4).
The duo was honored during a star-studded gala that saw Little Anthony and the Imperials, Wanda Jackson, Metallica, Jeff Beck and Bobby Womack, inducted into the prestigious music Hall of Fame.
Thousands of fans attended the event, including numerous celebrities like Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Bill Adler, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood Justine Simmons and Eminem, who introduced the group.
A rejuvenated Slim Shady sported Run-DMC’s signature black leather jacket and leather coat.
“Two turn tables and mic, that’s all it took to change the world,” Eminem said. “When I was a kid growing up in Detroit. I didn’t know what to be, then came Run-DMC. “I had never heard or seen anything like them, but I knew I wanted to be them. I had skipped school to go buy Tougher Than Leather the day it came out. [As] soon as I heard ‘Run’s House,’ it was a wrap for me. Marshall Mathers became Eminem.”
“R.I.P. to Jam Master Jay. Jam Master Jay’s mom Connie Mizell let us create routines in her living room. We’d be there with the turn tables. She never told us we couldn’t be there. I came up with the lyrics to ‘Rock Box in JMJ’s house. I want to thank you for not turning the music down.”
DMC gave an emotional speech, in which he thanked his birth mother, as well as his adopted parents.
“I’m living proof as I stand before you, not as a celebrity or a rapper, but as proof of purpose and destiny. You are looking at what can happen when you take time out of your life to love your kid. If my birth mother didn’t abandon me, my real mother wouldn’t have come to save me. The best thing you can do is give love to a kid, cause that kid may grow up to be in The Rock Hall of Fame one day!”
Jam Master Jay’s mother Connie Mizell-Perry stood on behalf of the legendary DJ, who was murdered in his Queens studio in October of 2002.
“Jason and I had a bond different than my other two children, he was like me,” Mrs. Mizell-Perry said. “He loved giving, he didn’t put a price tag on the things he did for someone. I’m not surprised to be here tonight. Anything you ask for you get and the boys deserve it.”