Songfacts®:

• Whose house? Anyone familiar with this song will know the answer: It's Run's House.
  
  "Run" is Joseph Simmons, who along with Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels is a rapper in Run–DMC (the third member was their DJ, Jam Master Jay, who died in 2002). He makes it clear that Run–DMC built the metaphorical house that other rappers are living in, a valid claim considering the doors they kicked open to get there. Before they came along, rappers weren't on MTV and didn't have endorsement deals.
• "Run's House" was the first single from the album Tougher Than Leather, the follow-up to Run–DMC's landmark Raising Hell. The album sold a more-than-respectable one million copies but didn't make the kind of impact Raising Hell did, although that's an impossible standard. The group went into decline over the next few years, partly because of personal problems but also because of changing tastes. Some look back on Tougher Than Leather as the start of their downward slope, but they were still near the top of their game and "Run's House" endures as one of their classics, included in their setlists throughout their career.
• Raising Hell was produced by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, heads of Run–DMC's label, Def Jam. On "Run's House," they used a different producer: Davy DMX, who is also credited as a writer on the track along with the group.
• The samples on this one are very familiar. The horn riffs and one of the drum grooves comes from "Ashley's Roachclip" by The Soul Searchers, which you can also hear on "Paid In Full" by Eric B. & Rakim. There are also bits of the oft-sampled James Brown tune "Funky Drummer," and the "MC" vocal is Slick Rick from his appearance on "La Di Da Di" by Doug E. Fresh.
• Run–DMC perform "Run's House" in their movie Tougher Than Leather, released in 1988 a few months after the album. The film was produced by Rick Rubin and was a major flop, with a specious plot that couldn't make up for performances by Run–DMC and their Def Jam labelmates The Beastie Boys.
• DMC's line, "They want to be down with the king!" was spun-off into a full song, "Down With The King," used as the title track to their 1993 album.
• In the video, the group perform in their stomping grounds of New York City, including outside the Apollo Theater. It opens with a shot of their feet, instantly recognizable as their Adidas.
  
  It was directed by Peter Lauer, who went on to direct episodes of Arrested Development, Emily in Paris, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and many other popular TV shows. He also made the "It Takes Two" video for Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock.
• Matt Damon and Ben Affleck do the "Whose house? Run's house!" bit in the 1999 movie Dogma, directed by Kevin Smith. Alanis Morissette also appears in the film, playing God.
• Joseph "Run" Simmons had his own reality show called Run's House that ran on MTV from 2005-2009. This was the theme song.
  
  On the show, Simmons, now an ordained minister going by Reverend Run, focuses on his family life and various business ventures.