In 1987, hip-hop was rising fast, and Run-DMC stood at the center of it. Fresh off their hit album Raising Hell, the trio from Hollis, Queens was asked to record a holiday track for A Very Special Christmas, a charity album benefiting the Special Olympics. At first, they resisted. They worried that a Christmas rap would feel forced or corny. Yet what began as hesitation turned into one of the most beloved holiday songs of all time.
Run-DMC’s publicist Bill Adler suggested the idea, but the group initially said no. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels recalled thinking that hip-hop was often commercialized in ways that stripped it of authenticity. They did not want to contribute to that trend. Another reason for their reluctance was Kurtis Blow’s Christmas Rappin’, released in 1979. Run-DMC felt that Blow had already perfected the holiday rap format.
Adler proposed using Clarence Carter’s Back Door Santa as the foundation. Jam Master Jay chopped up the track and created a funky beat that caught the group’s attention. With Rick Rubin co-producing, the sound was irresistible. Run and DMC went home and wrote their verses. Run’s lines referenced Santa and reindeer, while DMC wrote about his mother’s cooking—chicken, collard greens, rice, stuffing, macaroni, and cheese. That personal touch gave the song its lasting charm.
DMC’s verse also mentioned the WPIX Yule Log, a televised fireplace loop familiar to New Yorkers. His words reflected real experiences, not fictional storytelling, which helped the song connect with listeners. In the music video, DMC’s adoptive mother Bannah even appeared, frying chicken just as she did at home.
On A Very Special Christmas, most artists covered traditional songs. Run-DMC stood out by delivering an original track. The video, directed by Michael Holman, added playful visuals and cemented the song’s place in pop culture. Holman had ties to Jean-Michel Basquiat and the early hip-hop scene, which gave the project extra credibility.
“Christmas in Hollis” quickly became a holiday staple. It appeared in films like Less Than Zero, Die Hard, and The Night Before. Rolling Stone named its video the best of 1987, beating Michael Jackson’s Bad. Years later, readers ranked it among the top Christmas songs of all time, the only hip-hop entry on the list.
