Pose this way with D.M.C.
Hip-hop icon Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels is in Boston — for a yoga class.
The D.M.C. part of the rap group Run-D.M.C. came to the Hub to perform at “Om This Way,” an exercise experience at Equinox Sports' Avery Street location.
“I love this city. A lot,” the New York native told the Track. “I like the Red Sox, and I don't like the
Yankees. Thirteen years ago … I was introduced to
Big Papi. I fell in love with that guy, and the Red Sox became my team.”
When Equinox approached him with the idea of hosting a hip-hop yoga class, D.M.C. didn't get how the two drastically different disciplines would come together. But it wasn't his first time mixing genres.
“Hey, anything is possible,” he said. “For `Walk This Way,' RunD.M.C. collaborated with Aerosmith. Rap and rock together: We made it work.” The proceeds from the “Om This Way” benefit the Mark
Wahlberg Youth Foundation and The Felix Organization, which D.M.C. started alongside Emmy- winning casting director Sheila Jaffe.
The Felix Organization coordinates activities for children in the foster care system. D.M.C. said learning that he was adopted was a life-saving revelation.
When he was 35, he said, “I was a metaphysical, spiritual, alcoholic, suicidal mess. I felt this void, and it was so uncomfortable with it I wanted to kill myself. I thought, `If I die tomorrow, everybody knew the Run-D.M.C. story ... but nobody knew about the little boy Darryl McDaniels.”
After calling his mother to learn more about the day he was born, his parents informed him he had been adopted.
“Peace came over me … There had to be a lot of kids out there just like me,” he said. And there were. D.M.C. met Jaffe, who had also been adopted, and they started their organization, which, through Camp Felix, “helps kids become the people they were put here to be,” D.M.C. said. “We want them to see they can have normal, prosperous lives despite their situation.”
“It's made me realize maybe I was put here for a bigger reason than being one of the dopest rappers in the world,” he joked.