King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility and My Life With Run-DMC.

King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility and My Life With Run-DMC By Darryl McDaniels with Bruce Haring St. Martin's Press, April 2001, $22.95 ISBN 0-312-26258-2

Over the last ten years, hip-hop music and urban culture have become pervasive forces in the United States and around the world. Today, it is common to see hip-hop artists producing clothing lines, rappers turned TV and film stars, and hip-hop talent lured by Madison Avenue to sell everything from soft drinks to automobiles. Now we have the "hip-hop biography"--that is, an autobiography of the rap artist (or icon), written to include the street culture and urban landscape that gave birth to the artist.

Following his contemporary LL Cool J and his rap partner Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels has penned his story. Like other recording artists' biographies, King of Rock puts DMC's life in a musical context to frame the era in which he developed as a rapper. Still, this book proves that hip hop's invasion of the biography genre is still relatively new and undefined.

Skillful collaboration with Haring allows McDaniels to bring the reader with him as he recalls growing up in Queens and, almost accidentally, becoming one of rap's first superstars. Rap fans both old and new will enjoy McDaniels's recollection of Run-DMC's early days: how he, as a freshman at St. John's University, sat anonymously in the school cafeteria as his first record, "It's Like That," blared over the PA system; how his "King Of Rap" rhyme was changed to "King Of Rock" by a visionary Russell Simmons in an early recording session. There are the standard tales about the abundance of sex and drugs available on the road, and McDaniels is candid in detailing how he and other artists squandered fortunes with little thought of saving or investing.

The strength of the book is in McDaniels's unique point of view and how he experienced the world as a young man. He notes the love of rap music in Japan, the rampant poverty in Eastern Europe, his disdain for German food, and facing subtle bigotry, despite his superstar status.

The first half of King Of Rock is an enjoyable read. Unfortunately the material becomes less clear as the book goes on, shifting from biography to a confusing blend of motivational messages and vague observations about who knows what, especially in the sections on respect and responsibility. King Of Rock suffers from an identity crisis. It is neither a biography nor a motivational book, but a combination that lacks clarity. Despite the book's failings, however, it's hard not to like the story of the king from Queens.

Tracy Grant is the author of Hellified, the forthcoming Chocolate Thai, and a freelance journalist.