Darryl McDaniels

Original Air Date: April 28, 2024

RUN-DMC co-founder Darryll McDaniels is the Talent Show Creative Director for the may 2 Garden Of Dreams Talent Show at Radio City Music Hall.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio,conversations about issues that matter. Here's your
host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein. I want to introduce
you to a true legend, DarrylMcDaniels, of course, one of the
co founders of Run dmc pioneers inhip hop, pioneers in rap, the

(00:25):
first hip hop group ever to havea gold record. They formed in nineteen
eighty three. And Daryl, ofcourse. We know Darryl on Aerosmith's Walk
This Way, which we are stillplaying to this day, and we played
it when it first came out.First of all, Welcome is such an
honor to have you here. It'sglad to be here. Thank you.

(00:48):
This is the place to be.This is the place to be because we
want to tell you about an eventthat is coming up this coming Thursday night
at seven on the Great Stage ofRadio City Music Hall. It's the Garden
of Dreams Talent Show. It's providingmore than one hundred and fifty young people
from the Tri State area, allof them facing life altering obstacles from illnesses

(01:11):
to homelessness to loss of a familymember, and this gives them a once
in a lifetime opportunity to perform onone of the most iconic stages in the
world. And Daryl McDaniels is thecreative director of this show and he's also
a board member of the Garden ofDreams, which is such an amazing organization.

(01:34):
First of all time, how didyou get involved? Well, I
think I've been with you Gone onDreams for about eight and nine years.
It's been a very long time,put on a magnificent journey and opportunity.
I found out that I was adoptedwhen I was thirty five years old,

(01:55):
wow, which was yeah, andI was after being I was an alcoholic
suicide and metaphysical spiritual record. Wasthinking of killing himself when I found out
that I was adopted, and thenSammster j got killed and my father died,
so you could imagine what I wasgoing through. But thankfully rehabing therapy

(02:16):
saved my life. So doing whatI've always done with my music to inspire,
motivate, educate, and just tellpeople they have the strength and abilities
and capabilities to not let their situationsdefine who they are. I just started
going around talking at places forster homes, adoption agencies, schools, detention centers.

(02:44):
So every time I would go toa place, the Garden of Dreams
would show up after me, andthe facilities would go Yo, DMC was
just here, and vice versa.Every time I would go somewhere, they
would say, Yo, the Gardenthe Dreams was just here. So we
were working in the same scenarios andplaces. So about eight years ago they
called me up and said, dwould you like to be part of Yes,

(03:07):
Like I knew where they was goingwith it because they were they were
engaged with a lot of the forcedcare agencies and group homes that I was
going to, like the Boys andGirls Club and stuff like that. So
it was a match made in heaven. Absolutely. So these one hundred and

(03:28):
fifty kids, how do they getselected? How do they even get involved
in the process of, you know, having a chance to perform at Radio
City. It's an official professional process. We have auditions, then we have
selections, and we have rehearsals.Because regardless of what these boys and girls

(03:51):
are going through, they should havethe opportunity to experience whatevery child you should
expans. But more importantly, theyshould be able to dance and sing and
play the way every other child plays. So what we do is we have
auditions, this audition process, theycome and they do whatever it is that

(04:15):
they do. Then we select twentyout of the fifty. And even the
good thing is you might not makeit this year, but you always can
come back next year. So there'sa possibility and an opportunity for every child
to have opportunity to perform at RadioCity Music Hall. And it blows my
mind. I didn't get to performat Radio City Music Hall until I was

(04:39):
like twenty six or twenty seven yearsold. So these kids they see it,
they ride byatt they see Madison SquareGarden, they see Radio City and
they have dreams in them. Youknow, man, one day, I
want to play my instrument. Iwant to play my band. I want
to say my rap, I wantto do my dance. I want to

(05:00):
do what the Rockets do. Youknow. I want to go play my
saxophone in my trumpet like Disney Gillepsiand Miles Davis. We give them the
opportunity to do that while they're pouringthrough whatever it is that they're going through,
maybe homelessness, cancer, treatment,whatever physical, social, financial,

(05:23):
or family situation that they're going through. While they're going through that, we
give them the opportunity to spread joyand happiness and express themselves. And what's
important about that is it has aneffect that carries with them throughout the rest
of their lifetime. So even thoughit's just a one night performance, that
experience is a catalyst to positivity andencouragement that will they'll they'll live it,

(05:51):
they'll remember it for the rest oftheir lives and us too. Like I
thought I was it'd help them,but I realized I was putting this position
so those and girls can help me. So after seeing the capabilities of these
children, I don't complain about anything. How do they help you exactly?

(06:12):
Because some days, you know,I come, I'm worried about taxes,
and I'm worried about deadlines, andI'm worried about what's going on in the
world. It's a personal situation,you know, someday we all going through
something. Everybody's traumatized in this worldtoday. All this religious and political you
know, division is pneumonium when youlook at the news. Then I sit

(06:36):
there with these kids who are goingthrough operations and cancer and chemo and brain
surgery and homelessness. I mean,you name it, the experience it.
But they come with a joy anda smile that lets me know everything else
is just noise. This world isa beautiful place. So that's what they

(06:58):
do for me, and the otherway that they help me. I'm the
creative director, but the truth betold, I'm there to steal some of
their ideas because these kids are phenomenal. They have the best tricks of the
trade and the presentation. And I'vebeen in the music business forty years,
so I'm seeing the stuff that theydo. I added to my repertoire.

(07:24):
They're so good. I mean,it's amazing and it's beautiful. You know,
a lot of these kids, youwould think, oh, they're gonna
sing the popular rap song. Ohthey gonna sing you know, they sing
Wicked, and they sing Lave miserreale, they sing they sang Luciano Pavarati

(07:44):
like. You would be surprised tosee the choices, the musical choices of
these kids. It's not just Beyonceand Taylor Swift. It blows its Broadway.
It's classical, it's it's jazz,it's ballet. It's phenomenal. I'm

(08:05):
speaking with Daryl McDaniels. He isa co founder of Run DMC, Pioneers
in pop culture, the first hiphop group ever to have a gold record,
and he is the talent show creativedirector for this Thursday's Garden of Dreams
talent show at Radio City Music Hall, where one hundred and fifty young people

(08:30):
from our area. They're all facinglife altering obstacles from severe illnesses, to
homelessness, to a loss of afamily member and they put that aside for
one night to achieve a dream thatvery few people can ever achieve performing at
Radio City, darryl Our Tickets stillavailable, Yes, tickets are still available.

(08:54):
Please come. If you want tobe encouraged and entertained. This is
the place to be. You cango to a Guardanddreams dot org. I
believe it is. And any ofthe kids that have been involved in this
talent show have they gone on tocareers in the business? Do you know?
Yes? One. Here's an example. One of the other creative directors

(09:20):
as a young man named Miles.He performed, he auditioned, he performed,
He comes back every year to bea directors stuff like that. But
the year he performed, he gotsigned to the phenomenal Recording Artists Neils production
team. So there's eyes in theaudience looking at these kids and going wow,

(09:45):
I've ever seen this before. Andso many also have went on to
go to college and universities to pursuedrama, to pursue music. So many
of them have been signed some ofthe best stan in schools. So it's
opportunity. We give them an opportunitythat creates greater opportunities to them. They

(10:07):
all go to school, they allbecome productive individuals regardless of their situation,
because this shows that your situation doesn'tdefine you. Without mentioning names, can
you tell a story about a particularkid that was involved in this that really
touched you, a personal story?Oh, oh my goodness. Well,

(10:28):
we have one little kid who cameto the Gardener Dreams and he was a
dancer since he was like four,and he came back every every year to
dance, and he got better,and he got better and got better and
got better. He also wasn't sooutgoing, you know, very shy,

(10:50):
very shyd. Once he reached histeen years, he became very open.
He'd be being very relatable. Soall of kids that we work with at
the Garden of Dreams, they openup, they become leaders, they become
confident, they become confident, theybecome courageous, and they have this amazing

(11:16):
desire to succeed and a lot ofthem overcome whatever ailment that they're going through.
So this experience is a transformative experiencefor these children. If there is
somebody listening who knows of a childwho might want to audition, how do

(11:37):
they begin the process, how dothey reach out? Well, whatever organizations
that the various organizations that cater tochildren, you have to be affiliated with
the Garden of Dreams, and wework with so many across the Board of
Education forced to care home hospitals.So anybody that's involved with the Garner of

(12:01):
Dreams, you can sign up throughthe Gardener Dreams to have your group of
children audition for the talent show everyyear Children's Village Boys and Girls Club.
Ronx Brooklyn, I was wondering,I mean, I'm shifting gears here,
but you had mentioned, I mean, the horrific murder twenty two years ago

(12:22):
of jam Master Jay, and itwas just recently that that two men were
found guilty, but there's still anothertrial that's coming up in January for the
third. Did you attend the trial. No, I did. It was
sup emotional for me. I getthat. It's too it was too emotional
for me. So the tragedy isthis. It's a tragedy on both sides.

(12:48):
I remember a while ago when Jayfirst got murdered. I think this
was on my space, so itmight have been early Twitter or something,
and I don't go on social mediaa lot. When it first happened,
I said, I'm not mad atthe person that killed J. I should
have never did that. I gotpursed out and my flight it was crazy.

(13:09):
I said, Okay, let meexplain myself. I had to say,
my fight is not against the individualthat killed J. Now, what
he didn't understand was J could havehad his studio in Hollywood. JA could
have had his studio in Manhattan.J's studio was five minutes from where he
grew up. Jay found the door. He left that door open from where

(13:33):
he came from. So my fightisn't with the individual that pulled the trigger.
My fight in our fight is acontinual fight against the mindset that would
cause a person to do that.Then people was like, oh, that's
why I do the music that Ido. That's what I when I'm not

(13:56):
on stage. Ninety five percent ofwhat I do is I'm at schools,
high school, middle schools, elementaryschools, detention centers, jails. I'm
there with the youth because it's notthe individuals. So it's unfortunate for that
whole scenario, but it's a continualone. You know, it's a shame.

(14:16):
It was jam Master J who happensto be just a guy named Jason
Mosel. Same thing for Big Eiet, same thing for Tupac. But the
tragedy is what about the Jay's andTupacs and Biggies is dying every day the
same way. So that's what Imean. I fight. My angry is
not at the individual that did it, it's with the mindset that caused that.

(14:37):
So Jay's death, Box Depth,Biggies death represents something so much bigger.
That's why the opportunities and the thingsthat we're giving these kids that theyre
going in the dreams, it's somethingthat our governments, in our cities and
communities should be given to all ofthe kids. We had to create hiphop
ourselves as young people because nobody wasdoing anything for us. And again,

(15:01):
tickets are still available for this Thursday'sGarden of Dreams Talent Show. Go to
Gardenofdreams dot org. And thank youso much Darryl McDaniels and coming up next,
Don't go Away, Sir Paul McCartneyof life and Lyrics. That's next,
Sir Paul, tell them we gotto make a record together to the
Beatles of hip Hop. Got ahook up with the Beatles of Rock that

(15:26):
Yes, man PE's McCartney McDaniels willchange the world, Yes Indeed. Q
one A four point three you've beenlistening to Sunstein sessions on iHeartRadio, a
production of New York's classic rock Qone O four point three