Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels on Upcoming Solo Album: 'I'm Fulfilling My Rock 'n' Roll Dream'

Darryl “DMC.” McDaniels -- founding member of Run DMC -- says he’s “fulfilling [his] rock ‘n’ roll dream” with a new solo album he plans to put out this year.

Shortly after filming a segment of AXS-TV’s Rock & Roll Road Trip with Sammy Hagar -- which included the duo performing a version of Montrose's “Rock Candy" -- DMC tells Billboard that the album includes collaborations with Joan Jett, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Sebastian Bach, Blink-182’s Travis Barker, Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October, Rome Ramirez from Sublime and Montreal’s Slaves On Dope. Hagar also committed to be part of the project during the interview.

The song with Jett will be released as a single for Record Store Day in April, with the album planned for the last quarter of the year.

“DMC stands for Dynamic Musical Collaborations,” the MC jokes. “I’m fulfilling my rock ‘n’ roll dream by collaborating with more of the artists who gave me a lot of music to rap over through sampling as a kid. Now I get to work with them.”

The set is about 75 percent finished and will feature all original songs, according to DMC. “Everybody’s really excited about that,” he relates. “It’s all original songs from scratch, ‘cause that really doesn’t happen anymore. It’s cool when bands get together to do remakes, but why not do something new? It’s brilliant. We’re all going in there and starting from scratch, creating these songs.”