RUN DMC - Christmas In Hollis

What this video is

Released in 1987 at the apex of Run-DMC's commercial and critical dominance following Raising Hell, 'Christmas in Hollis' represented hip-hop's first successful integration into the mainstream holiday charity economy via A Very Special Christmas (A&M), benefiting the Special Olympics. The video translated Hollis, Queens street identity into a nationally broadcast holiday spectacle, normalizing hip-hop aesthetics…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of Golden Age hip-hop's expansion beyond urban subculture into pop mainstream. The first major hip-hop holiday crossover video, it established a template for genre-specific seasonal content and demonstrated that hip-hop artists could command mainstream cultural real estate…

The director

New York-based filmmaker, artist, writer, and musician; founding member with Jean-Michel Basquiat of experimental noise band Gray; creator, host, and producer of Graffiti Rock (1984), the first nationally syndicated hip-hop television program; helped produce…