Songfacts®:

• In this song, Run-DMC affirm their status as the kings of rock, but also celebrate their own king: God.
  
  A few years earlier, their rappers - Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels - battled drug and alcohol addiction. Using their faith to guide them, they sobered up and focused on making the Down With The King album. On this title track, they praise God for their success and for helping them through their struggles. Run later became an ordained minister.
• The members of Run-DMC were in their late 20s when this song was released, but they were already the elder statesmen of hip-hop, revered by the new wave of rappers that was on the scene. Run-DMC's first single, "It's Like That," was released 10 years earlier in 1983. Over the next few years, they broke down barriers with arena tours, appearances on MTV, and massive sales figures for their 1986 album Raising Hell. But their 1987 movie Tougher Than Leather flopped, and the subsequent album of the same name did too. With their popularity waning, they put out the call for help on their Down With The King album, and many of the hottest players in the game responded. The title track features Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, whose 1992 debut album Mecca And The Soul Brother included the hit "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)." Pete Rock produced "Down With The King," which was released as the first single and got Run-DMC back on the charts at #21 in the US. It could be considered the first comeback in hip-hop history.
• Lyrically and visually, "Down With The King" stood in contrast to the gangsta rap sound that was huge in 1993. Run-DMC didn't use profanity in their lyrics and by this time had a very austere look, with shaved heads, black shirts and pants, and crosses. They proved that rap music with a religious bent could find respect amid the more violent strains of hip-hop.
• The title comes from Run-DMC's 1988 song "Run's House," which they sample at the top of "Down With The King":
  
  Reporters clock, producers jock
  They wanna be down with the king
• The groove is sampled from "Where Do I Go?" from the Broadway musical Hair, written by the Canadian composer Galt MacDermot. Pete Rock used the same sample on the Mecca And The Soul Brother track "Can't Front On Me."
• C.L. Smooth pays tribute to Run–DMC by lifting some lyrics to their 1983 track "Sucker M.C.'s" in his verse:
  
  Two years ago, a friend of mine
  Asked me to say some MC rhymes
• The music video takes place in a church and features many hip-hop luminaries that came to pay tribute to Run-DMC. You'll spot Naughty by Nature, Eazy-E, Redman, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest, and Salt-n-Pepa among the revelers. It was directed by Marcus Raboy, who also did the "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" video.