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"Crack Kills"
Date range confirmed by “Spin” Magazine (June 1987) (“October 1986”)
It is October 1986, and Michael Jackson is holed up in a West Hollywood recording studio trying to complete the follow-up to Thriller, the best-selling album of all time...
Michael Jackson steps into the quiet studio in West Hollywood dressed in a red corduroy shirt, black corduroy pants, a brown belt with a gold eagle buckle, white sweat socks, and black espadrilles. He has on ’50s-style dark shades, a brown fedora, and his long jeri-curled hair is pulled back and tied into a ponytail. A chimpanzee dressed in overalls sits on his shoulder one minute, in his lap the next.
At one end of the studio, a spread of fried chicken, potato salad, greens, and cole slaw has been arranged. The key men are present: Quincy Jones, who is sitting on the floor, making notes between spoonfuls of soul food; Bruce, the walrus-mustached engineer; and Frank DiLeo, who sits back in the control room sending long streams of cigar smoke curling toward the ceiling. They’re taking a break before Run-DMC come in to collaborate on an anti-crack song. Michael sits on a piano stool and says little...
Run-DMC come swaggering into the studio dressed all in black — black hats, black shirts, black pants — except for their white Adidas and inch-thick gold braids hanging around their necks. “Yo, what up, Q?” they shout to Quincy as they invade the room.
Jones embraces them and introduces Michael. They seem taken aback by his shy, quiet presence, as if they thought the real Michael Jackson would be different. Seconds tick by, punctuated by silence. The rappers turn away at last and start jiving noisily with each other. And Michael drifts through his own calm, through some serene place where he lives most of the time.
The meeting unsettles Run-DMC. They can’t seem to get on track with the anti-crack rap — something, according to Jones, is missing from their lyrics. He tells them to try to rap with more sophistication — metaphorically, symbolically. They work on it again but can’t get anything together before they have to leave. Michael puts on his headphones and slips quietly into the recording booth’s single spotlight. He will be here until it all comes together.
Quincy Jones, album producer, “Graffiti” magazine (November 1987)
It didn't work. Run-D.M.C. tried rapping over the top, but Michael couldn't relate to the sound, so he took it home and put it in the spare guest room.
Jospeh “Run” Simmons, Run-DMC member, Unknown magazine snippet
...Run DMC have been talking of collaboration with MJ on an anti-crack song (to deal with the rising consumption in New York of the cheap cocaine-based drug).
Recently Run went to meet Michael at his home in Hollywood. Says Run, who originally voiced doubts about working with the "kooky" superstar: "He's an incredible human being. The best man in the world. We ate soul food at his house and it seemed like he was in touch with God. When the fried chicken came, I knew he was cool.
"People say he's gay and stuff... I don't believe that. In the middle of the evening, I thought, 'Gee, I'm sitting next to a superstar', and then I realized he's just normal, eating his rice and playing with my gold sneaker (pendant)."