Crown Royal by Run DMC

Crown Royal, Run-DMC's seventh and final studio album, came out on Arista Records on April 3, 2001, and it plays like a guest book from the rap-rock crowd, fitting for the Hollis, Queens trio that once took "Walk This Way" up the charts with Aerosmith. Every track except the title song brings in company: Fred Durst, Stephan Jenkins, Sugar Ray, Everlast, Kid Rock, Nas, Prodigy, Fat Joe and Method Man all stop by, with Jenkins and Jam Master Jay among the producers.

It was also the only Run-DMC album to carry a Parental Advisory sticker, a strange footnote for a group whose records had long included explicit lyrics. "Them Girls" gave rock radio something to play, and the album peaked at 37 on the Billboard 200 and 22 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It turned out to be the last word: Jam Master Jay was murdered on October 30, 2002, and a week later Run and DMC announced that the group was finished.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.