Christmas in Hollis

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Christmas in Hollis
Run DMC
publication 1987
length 2:59
Genre (s) Hip hop
Author (s) Joseph Simmons , Darryl McDaniels , Jason Mizell
Label AT THE
album A very special Christmas

Christmas in Hollis is a Christmas song by the US hip-hop band Run-DMC from 1987. The title of the song ( Christmas in Hollis ) refers to the Hollis neighborhood in Queens of New York City , where the band members are Jason Mizell ( Jay ), Joseph Simmons (Run) and Darryl McDaniels (DMC) grew up.

Emergence

Special Olympics , the world's largest sports movement for people with intellectual disabilities , planned to release a benefit album entitled A Very Special Christmas for Christmas 1987 . In addition, Bill Adler , the PR manager of Def Jam , received an inquiry whether Run-DMC could participate. The band members initially refused. They didn't want to be commercialized or ruined their image as rebels by singing jingle bells or reciting poetry.

Adler didn't give up and came up with the idea of ​​a Christmas carol about Hollis. He took his collection of Christmas carols from various genres into the studio and searched them with Jay. They came across Back Door Santa by Clarence Carter from 1968, whose intro struck them as usable. Jay created a background for a rap song by sampling and scratching . When Run and DMC heard the beat, they were immediately enthusiastic about it and wrote a text for it. The recording was produced by the band together with Rick Rubin .

content

The song contains quotes from Back Door Santa by Clarence Carter (1968), Frosty The Snowman by Gene Autry (1950), Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont (1857) and Joy to the World by George Frideric Handel .

After an intro with quotes from Jingle Bells and Back Door Santa, Run raps from a fictional experience: On Christmas Eve he sees a man with a dog in the park. As he gets closer, the dog turns out to be a reindeer. The man disappears, but leaves a wallet. In it Run finds a driver's license with " Santa Claus " and a million dollars. Because he doesn't want to steal from Santa, he sends the wallet back to him in the mail. When he got home he found a letter from Santa and a large bag full of money under the Christmas tree .

DMC then raps at home from Christmas . His mother cooks stuffed chicken and cabbage , Santa leaves presents under the Christmas tree, the house is decorated, there is snow outside and wood is burning in the fireplace. After an interlude with Christmas melodies, all three rap together about the Christmas season and wish "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".

Publications

Christmas in Hollis was released on two sampler albums in 1987 , A Very Special Christmas by A&M Records and Christmas Rap by London Records . Also in 1987 A&M released the song as a single from A Very Special Christmas with the following titles:

A side B side
  1. Christmas in Hollis
  2. Walk This Way
  1. Peter Piper
  2. King of Rock

The deluxe edition of Run-DMC's 1988 album Tougher Than Leather contains the song as a bonus track.

Charts

Thirteen years after its first release, Christmas in Hollis peaked at number 78 on the Billboard Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart in 2000 .

Re-uses

The song has been used in several films including Sub Zero in 1987 , Die Hard in 1988 , The High Leagues Three Kings in 2015, and How to Be Single in 2016 . It has also been used in several television series including The Office , Chuck , Brooklyn Nine-Nine , Orange Is the New Black , The Simpsons, and Lethal Weapon . Run-DMC themselves played the song in 1996 on the television series All That .

For promotional purposes, Christmas in Hollis was used by British catalog retailer Argos for its 2014 Christmas campaign and by car manufacturer Nissan for its 2015 Christmas advertising.

Cover versions

In 2013 the Leningrad Cowboys & The Russian Air Force Choir released a cover version of Christmas in Hollis , which was also released on their Christmas album Merry Christmas .

Music video

The music video for Christmas in Hollis begins at Santa's headquarters on the North Pole. Santa sits at the joystick in front of a wall with screens and divides children into the categories "good" and "naughty", whereby he usually clicks generously on "good". A Christmas elf takes over from him and Santa goes on his tour. The elf usually clicks on "naughty" and when Jay, DMC and Run appear on the screen, he joins in.

The band trudges through the snow to Runs Rap. You see Santa and his dog with their reindeer antlers on, find Santa's wallet and Run throws it in the mailbox. Once home, Run finds a big bag of money as a present from Santa. DMC sings its rap in a room decorated for Christmas with a Christmas tree, a festive table and a burning fireplace. His mother appears personally.

When the three of them unwrap their presents, they find a lot of things they already have: black hats, thick gold chains, Adidas sneakers. The elf beams into the room and deals with the food and presents. DMC's mother spots him and chases him out of the house with a broom. Run opens a package, finds an elven hat in it and is amazed. At the end everyone looks through the frozen room window Santa, who flies away in his sledge, which is being pulled by the dog with its reindeer antlers on. Santa laughs and the dog barks.

The video was directed by Michael Holman and the cameraman was Mark Richardson. Both were still students at New York University at the time. The video won Rolling Stone Magazine's Best Video of the Year award in 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Run-DMC Bio. In: rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone , accessed December 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ Christmas in Hollis. In: coverinfo.de - Cover versions and music quotes database. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Various - A Very Special Christmas. In: Discogs. Retrieved December 16, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Various - Christmas Rap. In: Discogs. Retrieved December 16, 2017 .
  5. ^ Run-DMC * - Christmas In Hollis. In: Discogs. Retrieved December 16, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Leningrad Cowboys & The Russian Air Force Choir - Merry Christmas. In: Discogs. Retrieved December 20, 2017 .