In the pantheon of holiday music, there are plenty of classics… featuring Rudolph, Frosty. even Santa himself. But the funkiest one of all came from a trio from Hollis, Queens. Run DMC was invited to contribute a song to a compilation album in 1987 — they did that, and a foundational holiday tradition was born.
During his recent visit to Paper Plane Coffee in Montclair, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels pulled back the curtain on how this holiday track came to be.
Resisting the “Corny” Trap
The song was originally requested for the very first A Very Special Christmas album to benefit the Special Olympics. The lineup was the “top echelon” of music stars of the era, including Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, and Bon Jovi. Despite the high-profile company, Run-DMC’s first instinct was to say no.
“They approached us to do it,” McDaniels recalled. “We didn’t want to do it at first ’cause we didn’t want to make a remake of, of Rudolph the Red-Nose reindeer yet, but Santa Claus is coming to town… So they go, oh no, y’all don’t have to do a remake. Y’all could do an original song.”
Even with the green light for an original, their expectations were low. “We thought that was just going to be the, the lost rap song sitting on an album with some of music’s biggest superstars,” DMC admitted. “We had no idea it was gonna become the number one song. And not only that, become a part of the foundational, cultural, traditional Christmas time, like Bing Crosby, Nat King, Cole, Perry, Como, Mariah Carey. Now us too.”
The Authenticity of Hollis
What set “Christmas in Hollis” apart from other holiday tracks was its basis in reality. While his partner Rev Run rapped a whimsical story about finding Santa’s wallet, DMC’s verse was a literal documentary of his family life.
“It was just something about, you know, moms cooking chicken and collard green rice and stuff,” McDaniels said. “So even though I was rapping about my specific Christmas time, and don’t care what culture or tradition you’re from, what do we all do? Food, family, friends and we celebrate.”
He explained that by being specific to his own culture, he touched something universal. “Me rapping about chicken and collard greens actually helped make Christmas in Hollis a global phenomenon.”
A Legacy Continued in Print
This same spirit of authenticity is what drove McDaniels to write his newest children’s book, Darryl’s Christmas in Hollis. The book expands on the themes of the song, focusing on the “secret” of the holiday season: giving anonymously without expecting anything back.
In the book, young Darryl uses his saved allowance to buy a “Fantastic Galactic five speed bicycle” for a boy in need. He scribbles a message in a card: “Merry Christmas from your secret center.”
“What the human race has failed to realize what we do, Christmas and Thanksgiving on special occasions we supposed to be doing every day,” McDaniels told the crowd in Montclair. “You don’t supposed to wait a whole year to be nice. You don’t supposed to wait a whole year to give, we only do this on this day to set an example for you to wake up and do every day. That’s the way we save the world.”
The “Vinyl Record” Experience for Kids
McDaniels views these books as a necessary antidote to the digital age. He compared the experience of a physical book to the lost art of holding a vinyl record. “Digital music is cool. It’s convenient, but it’s not as good as having the album,” he said. “The album was a 3D experience. You hear the music. You look at it and then you hold it. That’s what’s missing from the kids right now.”
By putting these stories in a format children can hold, he hopes to leave a lasting mark. “So for them to be able to, oh, this is the man… He was in the third grade and he got teased, bullied, and picked on and stuff, but he was able to become who he wanted to be. Yes. So these books are like vinyl records for the children.” And just like the song that inspired them, they are a gift that keeps on giving, year after year.
