“Rick said, ‘I think we need to put a bass on it’. One of the kids said, ‘My apartment ain’t too far, I got a bass there’”: How the Beastie Boys saved the day on Aerosmith and Run D.M.C.’s Walk This Way

Joe Perry has revealed how an iconic rap trio came to the rescue of Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C.’s landmark rap-rock crossover hit, Walk This Way, after the production hit a snafu.

There they were at Chung King Studios, where LL Cool J tracked Radio, just as the first wave of hip-hop was just about to crest – this great pop-cultural tidal wave coming out of the block party to sweep away all before it.

Run-DMC were working on Raising Hell, album number three, following King of Rock, with an album that really would break down the wall. And in one corner, you had Perry and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, two kings of rock in need of a change of fortunes. Electric guitars? This was not something that Run-D.M.C. had lying around. This was why this crossover sound would work. Overseeing it all was the gnomic Rick Rubin, arguably in the hottest streak of his career.

Perry had laid down his guitar. Tyler had done his thing. But listening back, Rubin wasn’t happy. Speaking to Guitar World, Perry said it needed something extra.

“We were listening to the mixdown, and Rick said, ‘I think we need to put a bass on it,” recalls Perry. Trouble is, hip-hop was a sampling sport, drum machines and microphones. They were not prepared for this. They didn't just have bass guitars lying around. Luckily, help was at hand.

“There were these three kids in the studio sitting on the couch,” continues Perry. “We were introduced to them, and I didn’t know who they were, but they were cool guys and a little younger. We looked around the studio, and there were no basses, but one of the kids said, ‘My apartment ain’t too far, I got a bass there.’”

RUN DMC - Walk This Way (Official HD Video) ft. Aerosmith - YouTube

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Those kids were going to make a record there at Chung King, too, also under Rubin’s watch, and they were going to be big – and notorious – within a few months. That kid was one of Run-D.M.C.'s label mates from the Beastie Boys.

“He went to his apartment and was back in 15 minutes with a P-Bass or a Jazz,” laughs Perry. “Anyway, I played the bass.”

And Walk This Way became Run-D.M.C.’s biggest hit, charting higher than the original, reviving Aerosmith’s fortunes in the process. But Perry says it was more important than that.

“It was definitely a leg-up,” he says. “We’re just proud to say it was a meeting of two styles of music. And the video speaks for itself. We got Black rappers on MTV. The only Black cat on MTV at that point was Michael Jackson; at least, that’s what we heard. I’m proud of that.”