The Beasties with Run-D.M.C. in 1987, the year they hit the road for the Together Forever Tour. Hip-hop tastemakers initially dismissed the three white rappers as a joke. "Russell [Simmons] was like 'Yo, when you meet these guys, they're gonna bug you out. These white guys are ill,'" D.M.C. recalled. "The first time I met 'em, I thought I was on Candid Camera."

But the Beasties — who never tried to hide the fact that they were three white Jewish kids from Manhattan — eventually proved their cred. "It could be a completely black, Negro, Southern crowd there to see Run-D.M.C.... but when the Beasties came on," continued D.M.C., "it wasn't like people were walking around getting hot dogs — they really paid attention to them white boys."

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