Songfacts®:

• The beat came from the guitar riff on The Knack's 1979 hit "My Sharona." Run-D.M.C. had a knack for finding samples that made their tracks instantly recognizable and palatable for a wide audience at a time when rap was generally considered a passing fad.
• Raising Hell was one of the first rap albums to enter the mainstream and sell to listeners who weren't familiar with the genre. This song explains the rapping isn't as easy as it sounds, and the chorus is almost a tongue twister as Run-D.M.C.'s MCs show off their vocal dexterity: "It's tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that's right on time."
• As hip-hop turned gangsta in the early '90s, you didn't hear many rappers boasting about clean living, but Run-D.M.C. made a lot of positive statements in their raps, including in this song where they explain their aversion to drugs: "They offer dope and lots of coke, but we just leave it alone."
• The album was produced by Rick Rubin. This was unusual because he is a rock producer, and has worked with artists like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, System of a Down and Tom Petty. His approach helped make the album a huge hit among a wide audience, including lots of white people who had never bought a rap album before.
• This was featured in the movie Road Trip, where a Black fraternity performs a step show to it. After a few beverages, a skinny white guy who is visiting the house gets up and breaks into a mean Irish jig. The song was also played in the party scene of the movie Friday Night Lights. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Heidi - Orillia, ON
• In 2006, The Knack's Doug Fieger and Berton Averre sued Run-D.M.C. and their associates, as well as various online stores and content providers, for using an unlicensed sample. In reference to why it had taken twenty years to bring their case to court, the group said they had only recently become aware of the track.