Hip-hop was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Wild Style was popular in Japan, major MCs were sent by Kool Lady Blue to tour in England and France, and hip-hop was featured in major films like Flashdance, which spawned a series of hip-hop movies. Breakdancing was amassing popularity, even being sold in the form of toys and children’s fashion. Commercials by popular fast-food chains featured hip-hop. Although its popularity was a positive, it began to be seen as a marketing tool and moved away from its roots. B-boying was replaced by one dance fad after another, and DJing was slowly replaced by rap producing in the form of a drum machine. Rap moved out of the clubs and onto the radio, creating a new type of segregation between white pop and rock stations and Black R&B/hip-hop stations.

By 1984, Run-DMC was the most popular rap crew. They came from Queens, a place where Black families became re-segregated after they moved in and the previously occupying white families moved out. Gangs and suburban living were integrated into one another. Run-DMC spent their beginning months travelling to Manhattan or the Bronx for shows.