Walk This Way: The Song That Helped Hip-Hop Conquer Rock Radio

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Walk This Way by Aerosmith, from 1975’s Toys in the Attic, was already a hit on its own terms — a strutting, funky rock song powered by Joe Perry’s riff and Steven Tyler’s rapid-fire, hard-to-parse vocal. But its place in history was secured a decade later, by a collaboration almost no one saw coming.

The collision that changed music

In 1986, the hip-hop group Run-DMC — at producer Rick Rubin’s urging — recorded a version with Tyler and Perry themselves, fusing rap verses with the original rock riff. It was a genuine collision of two worlds that rarely spoke, and it was a smash. The song’s video, with a wall literally breaking down between the rappers and the rockers, made the metaphor unmissable: this was hip-hop crossing over into rock radio and MTV, and rock embracing it back.

Two careers, one song

The collaboration revived Aerosmith, who had fallen on hard times, and launched them into a massive second act. And it helped carry hip-hop toward the mainstream dominance it would eventually achieve. Few single recordings have done so much work for two different genres at once.

What it measures like

On our measurements it’s funky, driving and high-energy — a tight, strutting rock groove built for momentum and swagger. Full profile on its song page.

Walk This Way appears on Aerosmith’s 1975 album Toys in the Attic; the landmark 1986 Run-DMC collaboration and its cultural impact are matters of public record. No lyrics are reproduced.