Is Run-DMC the most important group of the past 25 years? Well, if you believe that the rise of hip-hop is the most significant musical development in a quarter century, what other conclusion can you draw? Though they may not have been responsible for the birth of rap, the Hollis, Queens, trio represents the genre's coming of age. They were the ones who brought what was largely a regional street phenomenon to the masses. The rhymes, the beats, the style, the attitude--Run-DMC introduced it all to the world. Focusing mostly on the group's first three albums--each of them a cornerstone of rap music--this 18-track collection is a reminder of a time when rap enjoyed a kind of childlike innocence: their boasts are forceful but not angry; the beats are simple but exciting; the overall effect (fueled by heavy-metal riffs) is edgy and aggressive, but not violent or destructive. But most of all, it's fun. In the 1990s, rap artists would take Run-DMC's ideas to wide extremes, but the roots of this next generation--gangsta rap's street realism, political rap's social agendas, rock-rap's antagonism--are found right here. Run-DMC--like almost all pioneers from Elvis to Louis Armstrong--suffered a period of irrelevancy when they were looked upon as quaint or outdated, but, their time will come. Rest assured, this is not '80s retro kitsch. --Marc Greilsamer