DMC of Run-DMC Visits "The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade" Podcast

DMC of Run-DMC Advocates for Foster Kids & Uses His Art to Inspire Us All

The DMC in Run-DMC stands for Darryl McDaniels…But it may as well stand for Darryl’s Motivational Conversations because every word he speaks on this episode of “The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade” is motivational and inspirational. Listen below as he shares why he uses his art to inspire, how he became a fierce advocate for foster kids, and the kindest thing anyone’s ever done for him.

[Transcript]

Hi, this is Shelley’s sister Altha and this is “The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade.”

Welcome to the Goodness Factor an Audacy podcast. I’m Shelley Wade, radio personality, entertainment journalist, voice over artist, and your host of the Goodness Factor podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I said this before that I’ve had the idea of the Goodness Factor floating around my head for so long that I’m excited to finally get it out of my head and into the universe. So, yes, The Goodness Factor is an antidote to the daily drumbeat of bad negative and sad news in our 24 hour cycle. You know, listen, I’m not saying, you know, we should bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that there’s no bad news or pretend that everything is rainbows and unicorns. That’s not what I’m saying at all because I constantly am up on my news. I’m constantly abreast of what’s going on in the world. But what the goodness factor does is remind you that, hey, there are also good people in this world doing good things because it seems like, you know, you know, us finding out about all the bad stuff that’s going on. It seems like that’s what’s a priority, I guess because the squeaky will, gets more oil, the more salacious the headline is, it gets more click. But listen, to maintain my own sanity. I have to remind myself that there are actually good people in this world doing good things because we’re not reminded enough. That’s why I created the goodness factor. I don’t want to just complain about the fact that we’re inundated with negative news. I want to be a part of the solution and to put that balance out there, to put the good news out there as well.

So each episode, I’m introducing you to those good people out there doing good things. I’ll be interviewing both celebs and regular people alike, shining the spotlight on the good deeds they’re doing. We’ll be releasing new episodes of The Goodness Factor every Tuesday. So be sure to subscribe on the Audacy app or your favorite podcast platform, wherever you get your podcasts subscribed. So you’ll immediately be notified when a new episode drops. And please, by all means, spread the word. If you’re enjoying the positivity, the upliftment, please share the news with your followers, your family members and friends, your whole network, your coworkers that the Goodness Factor is here and they can download it. They can listen to it on the Audacy app and you know, on the way to work, at work, I won’t tell anybody on the way home while you’re running errands, while you’re working out, you’re doing chores, whatever…Listen to the Goodness Factor.

Each episode begins with the Goodness Report where I’ll share inspiring stories the world over about goodness, kindness and compassion. Then I’ll interview and shine the spotlight on a person celeb or regular who is actively doing good deeds to benefit others. I call it the do-gooder interview and this episode’s do-gooder…Oh my God…I have so many words I can use to describe him. But let’s just right now say legendary, iconic Darryl McDaniels, aka, DMC of Run-D MC. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to have DMC as a guest on The Goodness Factor. DMC and Run and Jam Master Jay, the entirety of Run-DMC…The effect and impact their music has had on my entire life–because I’ve been a fan of theirs since I was a kid–It’s immeasurable. It truly is. They are truly my favorite rap group of all time. And so I’ve met DMC a few times, but in the summer of 2023, I had a chance to meet him again during Harlem Week. You know, we had a conversation about Hip-Hop 50 and such. And I said, “Hey DMC, I would love to have you, you know, on my show at 94.7 The Block in New York. And then, subsequently, when I created The Goodness Factor, I told him that I’d love to have him on The Goodness Factor. So he gave me his number and I’ve kept in touch and, you know. Funny story, funny story. When I text him, I don’t call him DMC, I call him Darryl. But when I see him in person, I call him DMC. I’m not quite sure. I don’t know why I feel like when I text him, I have to say Darryl, but then when I see him in person, I’m like DMC. I have no idea why that is, but it is what it is. And so I would text him. I was like, Darryl. Hey, still would love to have you on. And then eventually we settled on a date. Can’t wait to share with you my conversation with DMC inside this episode of The Goodness Factor. But yeah, each episode of The Goodness Factor ends as well with The Good Word…words of inspiration, positivity and encouragement from yours truly or from other guests. So let’s get into it. Time for The Goodness Report.

And you know, there are so many people, it could be our neighbors, it could be our co-workers, it could be our classmates, people in our communities, people in our country, people around the world who are quietly hungry and going without meals because they can’t afford meals for themselves, meals for their families. So it’s always wonderful when you hear news of people who are donating food so that our fellow humans don’t have to go hungry. And here’s such a story…A new Popeye’s location opened in England and the first three customers got free food for a year. So some guy–and I’m saying “some guy” because he wanted to remain anonymous–This guy camped out for 17 hours just so he could win. But get this…He didn’t want to win the food for himself, he wanted to win it for others. Yeah, he camped out 17
hours at that new Popeye’s location in England, which was giving the first three customers free food for a year. He camped out there. Why? So that he could donate the food to his local homeless shelter. He said now he plans to eat some Popeye’s here and there for himself, but the local homeless shelters will be getting most of the food. So Bravo, Mr Guy, since you wanted to remain anonymous, I can’t say your name, but way to go. Here’s another story about a fellow human, helping other humans who need food. A farmer in Manitoba, Canada had a surplus of potatoes. And when I say he had a surplus of potatoes, I mean, he had 12 million pounds of potatoes and he didn’t want the potatoes to just go bad and not use them for good. So guess what he did? He donated those potatoes to organizations across North America. So thanks to that farmer as well, and to all the farmers who always make sure that we have all the things we need to stay properly nourished. And that’s The Goodness Report.

Now, let’s shine that bright spotlight on today’s do-gooder DMC from Run-DMC.

Run-DMC smashed so many records and broke down so many doors that there are just too many firsts where Run-DMC is concerned to name them all. But I’ll start by saying Run-DMC had the first rap video ever played on MTV. That’s huge, broke down that door. They were the first rap group ever to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Another first, they were the first rap group to be awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, that was back in 2016. In 2009, Run-DMC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. DMC is also an entrepreneur. In 2014, he created the comic book publishing imprint, Darryl Makes Comics. I think it’s brilliant. He switches out the meaning of DMC for all of his entrepreneurial endeavors. In this case, DMC stands for Darryl Makes Comics. He’s also got a line of cookies called Darryl Makes Cookies and the possibilities are endless. He’s also a philanthropist. McDaniels co-founded the Felix Organization, which is a nonprofit focused on children who grew up in the foster care system and we’ll talk more about that with him a little later. Also in September of 2006, McDaniels received the Congressional Angels in Adoption Award for his work with children in foster care and promotion of adoption. He sits on the board of directors for Children’s Rights, a national watchdog organization that reforms failing child welfare systems.

Hang tight, The Goodness Factor continues in seconds.

Without any further delay, here’s my conversation with the great DMC from Run-DMC.

I am absolutely honored that you’re here. And um I know you’re a wordsmith…You know, you have been your whole life. So I love how cleverly you’re using DMC. Darryl Makes Cookies. Tell everybody what you’re up to.

Well, you can call me Darryl, you could call me D, you could call me Darryl Mack. You could call me DMC. People always ask me what does my name mean? Darryl Makes Cookies because I’m the cookie king. Well, um recently I just started, um, well, first of all, 10 years ago, I started a comic book company to publish my own comic books.

And he just autographed a comic book for me.

And the company is called Darryl Makes Comics. And that’s because, really quickly, before rock and roll in the sixties and seventies, before hip hop came over the bridge into Queens from the Bronx in 1973, all I did as a kid was collecting your comic books.

Did you have a favorite superhero or anything?

Spider-Man. Spider-Man Peter Parker is from Queens, so it blew my mind when I discovered Spider-Man is from Queens like me. So um comic books was a big inspiration to give me confidence to get on stage in front of the people because I was just pretending when Run put the group together every time I would go on stage. And even now, I would just pretend to be the most powerful entity in the hip hop universe. So I was pretending to be a superhero on the microphone. So about um 10 years ago, a good friend of mine, Riggs Morales who was Eminem’s A&R over at Shady Records for the rise of that great empire. Uh people that might know Riggs. He was um he was um executive over at Warner in Atlantic and stuff like that. Now he’s over at Def Jam. But Riggs, when I met Riggs, it was for a music meeting and like, how we talk, you know, we grew up together, we thought we only had hip hop in common. But when I told him, he asked me, what was it like when he was a kid? And I was like, well, I used to just recollect and draw comic books. Shelley, we stood in the offices of the record company for three hours and we talked about comic books and then he said, yo, D, you should do a comic book and at first I didn’t want to do it, but then he said you could do the same thing you’ve done with your music. And I was like, what inspire, motivate and educate while you entertain. So the comic book is like me going back to my first love, which gave me the confidence to do this hip hop thing. So it’s kind of like full circle. So anybody out there, don’t ever give up the thing that you, if it was finger painting or playing with clay…all of those things that you did as a young person, which was your love, can energize you in these rough and traumatic times that we’re going through. It can be a therapy. So I use my um creativity as a therapy to me while at the same time because I love to do it just because it’s not about a check, it’s not about being noticed. This is something that I love to do to express the greatness of my existence in this world. When you do stuff like that, you connect with the trillions or zillions of people who are vibrating just like you who need that thing. Like the people that need to hear you on the radio.

See you’re gonna do the Mindful Moment with me. That was a, that was a moment of inspiration right there.

But I love the Mindful Moment because there are many mindful moments that everybody should not be ashamed of to express. So for me, it was art first, it was art and all I used to do as a kid from kindergarten, I couldn’t even read. But when I would look at the pictures, I’d take tracing paper and trace the um the artwork. Second grade Shelley, I didn’t need to trace him paper anymore. I could just look at a picture and draw. So even on the King of Rock, 1985 Run-DMC’s “King of Rock” song, Run says, “I’m DJ Run, I can scratch.” I say, “I’m DMC, I can draw.” So the Easter eggs was always there. Thor is the son of Odin from Asgard. I’m the son of Byford from Hollis. Thor, Thor has a hammer has a mic. So all of those things allow me to find the confidence to say, who am I? How do I fit in in this world? So that’s what I was being. And then hip hop and rock and roll allowed me to vocalize it. I’m the king of rock. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave and all that. He said when he was coming up, he loved rock music. It’s a black kid that love rock music. And then he said this Black hip hop group from Queens called Run-DMC came along screaming at the top of the lungs that they’re the kings of rock. He was like, yeah! I find that um a lot of our expressions will, excuse me, give confidence and um consolation. Console people wherever they’re at in life. Because everybody is thinking I need, I need, I need and I should, I should, I should. There are simple things that we do every day that will make a person realize, Yo, I’m powerful. I’m great. I’m good. So whether it’s taxes and wars and, and trauma with your family and stuff like that, people gotta realize no matter what’s going on around them, they are always OK.
Why are you always OK? Because you, no matter who you are, where you’re from or what you’ve been through, all of us have everything necessary to be and defeat what we’re struggling against. That’s why we’re here. So don’t think that you’re not worth anything because we all are worth everything.

I love that. You got to be out there motivational speaking. How was that? Like Darryl Motivational…

Conversation.

Yes. That’s one of the things when Rick said that he said you can do everything you’ve done with your music with these books now. So I did the Darryl Makes Comics superhero book and then I would go to high schools and middle schools and speak. And those teachers and educators would say you need to go to the elementary schools and I would go, I would go and I would, I, I don’t speak to the young kids like, “Hi kids. I’m the first rapper.” I’ll go in there…This is kindergarten and fifth grade, “Yo. What’s up? Yo? My name is Darryl McDaniels. I grew up in Hollis Queens and the kids pay attention because they want to be spoken to like people, they have um visions, they have um dreams and they have ideas. But then I said I need something that I could connect with them. They connect with me because they know their mothers, fathers, their grandmothers and grandfathers…That’s how long I’ve been around…They know their parents and their aunts and uncles know me because of my music. And the only song that they really know because of tiktok video games and “White Chicks” is “Tricky.” They go, you’re the guy, you’re the, it’s tricky tiktok man who did the song for the white chicks in the white chicks movie. So I said I need something else besides music to connect with them. And then I got an idea. Let me tell a story about me being in third grade just like dumb, getting teased, bullied and picked on. So that’s how I came up with the children’s book, Darryl’s Dream, because I want them to say, yo, this guy who was the king of hip hop and rock and roll started out just like me. He was a normal person and through all the adversity and obstacles, I got teased bullied and picked on. I was a straight a kid who went to Catholic school that wore glasses that read comic books. So I was not cool. I discovered three or four friends in my school, but we was like this little kids, the, the geeks and the nerds. But then the kids look like, wow, this guy got teased. Well, he was picked on or this guy comes from the same neighborhood that I come to, but he was able to. So when I go tell them about my story in third grade, it encourages them to do two things. I wrote the book for two reasons…to let all our Children know they are perfect just the way they are and who they are now is gonna be one of the reasons why they’re successful. I’m DMC, the mighty king of rock who walked his way in his Adidas with Aerosmith and Run & Jay to tell the world how tricky life could be. But I’m no different from the kid in kindergarten. I’m no different from the kid in 12th grade. I’m no different from the kids in, in California and globally. I’m no different from them. Kids in the Ukraine and Russia. I remember Run-DMC, we played Ukraine and Russia in the same tour and it’s wonderful people in both those countries. And the beautiful thing, Shelley, is when we went to Russia and Ukraine, it was Naughty by Nature, Tupac Biggie, um Run-DMC, De La Soul t-shirts everywhere. So our stories not just me because I’m a so called celebrity. I would say don’t call me a celebrity because that is something I could never be. I am you and you are me and that’s the way it should be for eternity. But we all have stories that could save and change a life. So, don’t worry about what car you drive, don’t worry about you ain’t in Hollywood. You have more power, the everyday person has more power than all of us so-called special celebrities. And I realize that.

The Goodness Factor resumes after this.

So DMC, can you, um, fill everybody in about your uh Felix organization and the the motivation behind it and what you guys do?

Yeah. Yeah. Um When I was 35 years old, um as I talk about in my book, Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide, I found out that I was adopted, which was a huge revelation. And then I found out that I was a foster kid and when I found that out, I was like, wow, look at me. The fact that I was given the opportunity to become the person that I was put here to be. So I was living with that and then I met another adoptee. Her name is Sheila Jaffe. She’s a casting director in Hollywood. Um to, to let you know how incredible she is, she cast Sopranos, Entourage, just to name a few. And when I met her, she just said this, what about all those kids that might not get adopted? They shouldn’t be deprived of having the opportunities that all the so-called regular kids have because they are regular kids. So at first, Shelley, we wanted to start a facility in every state in America where we bring all the foster kids and give them life skills at an early age because a lot of times what happens is they age out at 18 and 21 with nothing. So we wanted to build these facilities that will bring them in when they’re kids. “What is it that you wanna do?” And nurture them. You know, I wanna be a sportscaster. I want, whatever they wanna be. I wanna be a photographer. We’ll give them curriculums based on what it is that we do. It was a huge idea then, um with a little um encouragement from our friends…great ideas, Sheila and Darryl, but you need to start a little smaller. And one of our friends suggested that we do a sleep-away camp and we thought that was a beautiful idea because then you could get all the kids together where they see, oh, there’s other kids like me and a lot of these kids never left the block, not this block. I’m talking about the streets. They never saw nature and they never got to experience the woods and stuff like that. So we said, let’s get them in a place out in nature where they could be away from the everyday, mundane repetitive life of their struggling situation, where we could get them there and show them the many possibilities. So 20 years ago, Shelley, we started the Felix Organization and we created this place called Camp Felix where a foster kid goes to camp for one week or maybe two…as long as they wanna stay. But while they’re there, we find out what it, who they are first and what it is that they wanna be. And we give them curriculums to, if you wanna dance, we bring up dance teachers. If you wanna do photography, we bring a um Jam Master Jay. Shout out to TJ. Mizell…kids wanted to be a DJ, TJ came up to the camp and gave DJ lessons. So we bring these foster kids because we want all the foster kids and all the orphans globally. Their situation doesn’t define who they are. They were put here to be the next Shelley, the next DMC. So we created a Camp Felix, a place where foster kids can go and not let the “foster kids” label be part of their identity.

If someone’s interested in the organization, how do they find out more information?

All of you out there listening, go to TheFelixOrganization.org. We want donations, we want people to come um create curriculums. We want people to participate because we realize this, every child and on the face of this earth is our children. It’s, it’s deeper than flesh and blood relationships. And fortunately for me, um I was one of the last kids, foster the kids, in my parents’ house. And this is funny, this is gonna um we’re currently developing um a play about my life about this little kid with an imagination that wanted to rap and become a superhero. But my father and mother, when my mother, oh, hold on, let me say this, I was able to find my birth mother. So shout out to my birth mother, Berncenia. And when I met her, she said, “Darryl, I know you’re dying to know why I gave you up.” And I was like, “Shoot lady, that’s an understatement.” And she said, “I gave you up to give you a chance.” And I’m looking at myself like, oh my God, but speaking about my adoptive parents, um I was sitting there, my, my brother, my brother Alfred, he said I was one of the last foster kids in my parents’ home. And my mother asked my father this question, “What are we gonna do with this one?” I mean, we, we and I like, I can talk lightheartedly like, what are we gonna do with this one? And my father goes uh you know what? And this goes to even if you don’t adopt, if you don’t adopt, if you’re not a foster kid, become a mentor because what a child needs is this, “I’m rooting for you. If you need to speak to anybody at any time, here’s my number, call me.” And they need that, some, it’s a big responsibility to be a foster parent and to adopt. But if you just there for a kid, go, go out and find a kid. But my father does this. You know what? I think we’ll adopt this one because you never know he might grow up to do something great in the world. So, all right. So all of our show, we started the Felix Organization because the situations that they see…homelessness, one parent, I got a mother but no father, that’s the situation. And those situations are detrimental to the mental health and self preservation of these young boys and girls. But that’s the situation. They are so perfect. They are so phenomenal and they are so awesome. So we started the Felix Organization. The joke is so we can create some more DMCs and DMC-ettes running around the world doing good things.

I love it, DMC.

Yeah.

More of The Goodness Factor is just ahead.

What’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

The nicest thing. Maybe the kindest thing, because there’s a slight difference.

The kindest thing somebody has ever done for me was probably um Mrs. Peterson in second grade.
And this is very kind because like I said, I was a comic book kid, Mrs. Peterson took my comic book because I was reading it during school time. And in school there was like–I went to a Catholic school, so there was the mean nuns like the mean nun in “The Blues Brothers,” they really exist. So there was one teacher, Sister Nazia. We’ll never forget her. If she takes your book, you ain’t getting it back. But Miss Peterson took my book there, “Mr.,” and she called me Mr., which like, I’m like a kid, but it made me feel important. “Mr. McDaniels, bring it up here right now.” Because she knew that I had my workbook on the desk and the book was in it and I gave it to her at the end of the day. When I was walking to her all dejectedly, “Mr. McDaniels, here’s your book back.” Because she saw something. She said, wow, this kid’s a good student because he’s reading. I’m not gonna deprive him of the thing he wants to read. She knew that he’s reading comic books, that’s making him wanna read the workbook. So a lot of teachers need to learn from that. See what it is that the kid loves and then base the education around him. So, the nicest thing that ever happened, the kindest thing was she gave me my comic book back.

Very cool.

Thanks to the great DMC of Run-DMC for taking the time out to stop by The Goodness Factor podcast to share all of the goodness that he’s involved with. Now, it’s time for The Good Word.

Today’s good word is also courtesy of DMC of Run-DMC. Here are his words of inspiration and motivation.

Ok, it’s cool. I’m a little kid from Hollis Queens, New York, who the culture of hip hop allowed my rock and roll dreams to come true. It gave me a purpose and it gave me a destiny. All of us have a purpose and a destiny. But let me tell you something, it’s not something that’s given to you. It’s something that you could create, meaning…If you never even thought you had one today, you could find a purpose, something for you to do for a great reason that’s bigger than you. And within finding a purpose–I don’t care what you are going through–you will find your destiny. And purpose and destiny is not a destination. It’s a journey for the many souls, spirits and people that you will come in contact with who, just like you, are looking for something. There’s people looking for you. So create your purpose and there, you will find your destiny. I just wanted to be a superhero on the mic just like Spider-Man and my purpose gave me my destiny.

Very powerful. Yes. And that wraps up this episode of The Goodness Factor podcast, created, produced and hosted by me, Shelley Wade. And Zach Clark is our development producer. Thanks again to Darryl McDaniels, aka, DMC of Run-DMC, for joining us for this episode. And thanks to you for joining me as well, for taking a listen. Be sure to subscribe to The Goodness Factor on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts. And spread the word. We’ll be releasing new episodes every Tuesday, so be sure to subscribe and follow so you’ll be immediately notified when a new episode drops. Also, follow us on Instagram at the Goodness Factor and on our Facebook page, The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade. Be sure to like and follow on social media so you don’t miss any of our posts. Also interact with The Goodness Factor on social media by liking, commenting and sharing our posts. And if you know of any people and organizations doing good things for their communities and you want us to shine the spotlight on them, DM us on social media. Also, if you have good news to share, like an engagement, a birthday, any kind of celebration, anything you’re proud of–maybe you just graduated or something–anything. Or maybe someone did something wonderful for you and you just want to thank them publicly and to recognize them publicly for their kindness, record a voice message…You know, some people have voice notes…record a voice message into your phone and then DM me the file and I’ll be sure to include your voice message in our next episode. This has been The Goodness Factor with yours truly, Shelley Wade, an Audacy podcast.