Saved By An Angel

Rap star Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels  tells a fascinating and touching story  about singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan saving him from suicide.

Darryl "DMC" McDaniels Tells His Story On the Moth's Tour in Cleveland for the Show “When World's Collide” This is his story: "I've been on this earth for 35 years and 10 years ago I'm sittin' there and I'm like 'Yo, am I here just to be DMC?' First to go Gold, first to go Platinum, did all of this. Grew up in Hollis, Queens, I went to the best Catholic schools all my life, Catholic elementary, Catholic high school, I went to St. Johns University. Okay, it was Christmas for me everyday growing up as a kid. I was spoiled. Best life a kid could have. Now I become DMC with Joey, who was just Joey, but now we're Run DMC and we go on to spearhead the whole hip-hop movement and we go on to fortune and fame. So I'm sittin' over in Europe 10 years ago and sayin' 'Somethin' ain't right here. Somethin' is missin'. But I couldn't put my finger on it. So I said to myself--not that I wasn't happy with the way things were goin' and I wasn't grateful for all of my accomplishments, but I said 'Okay, I'm gonna commit suicide.' Why? Probably because I was unhappy with 'if this is all I'm gonna get out of this life, I can't stay here. I'm ready to move on to my next plane of existence. There's gotta be more to this. People were like 'D, you're crazy! You're f-----' DMC. You've got a wife, kids, life is beautiful.' I said, 'All of that is lovely, but there's something else that is missing.'"This was in '97 and I said 'When I get home from Europe…' I was in Europe and Run DMC, without havin' a hit record or video, we're over in Europe getting' a hundred grand a night. Life can't be better than that s---. I don't give a f--- if somebody knows nuthin' about my music, we're the f-----' Rolling Stones, we're the f-----' Beatles of hip-hop. A lotta rappers, after they sell their 21 million two years from now you ain't gonna care about these muthaf-----. It don't get no better than that. Me, Run, and Jay, we were able to tour until we were 85. People would still comes see us doin' "It's Like That" [as old men]. But I said 'When I get home, I'm gonna commit suicide.' So I get home and I get in the car that picks me up [at the airport], I turned the radio on. Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" was on the radio. That record saved my life. Wife. Kids. Fortune. Fame. I didn't give a f--- about none of that. I turned the radio on--and I'm tryin' to express to you how it's so funny. I turned it on and I heard Sarah McLachlan's record and something that day said 'Life is good. It's good to be alive.' "So I go and I buy that record and everything Sarah McLachlan ever made. I listen Sarah McLachlan for one whole year. At the end of the year the Grammy's come around and my manager says 'D, let's go to the Grammy party. We're gonna go to Clive Davis' party.' I didn't want to go. I didn't care about s---. All I cared about was Sarah McLachlan records. So we go to the Grammy party, I get there and who do I see sittin' across the room--'cuz she was on Arista Records under Clive Davis--it's Sarah McLachlan. She was 'that lady.' I go 'Oh my god, it's that lady!' So I'm gettin' all nervous, but then I go 'No, I gotta go over there and tell Sarah McLachlan what her record did for me.' So I pushed through the red carpet and the paparazzi, I get over to Sarah McLachlan, she looks up and she sees DMC standin' there in his full Run DMC regalia, hat, dressed in black, Adidas on. She says 'Run DMC, I love you guys. I love what you guys represent. Your music is so cool. I'm a big fan.' I'm like 'Wow!' Then I go, 'Ms. McLachlan, thank you for tellin' me that but I was suicidal, I didn't know what life was about, I had a lot to live for, but I was upset and was gonna kill myself. I don't know if I would've really done it, but just having suicidal thoughts. Then I heard your record "Angel." Now the record's name is "Angel," you sound like an angel, people say you're an angel, but you're not an angel to me, you're a god.' And I'm goin' on and on and on and she's lookin' at me like 'Oh-kaaaaay. So I finish and she looks at me and she says this to me: 'Thank you for telling me that Darryl, 'cause that's what music is supposed to do.' She shakes my hand and she walks away. Sarah McLachlan "Three years go by. In those three years I'm still tryin' to figure out 'Okay, how does a b-boy grow into a b-man? If I'mma still gonna be in hip-hop, what do I rap about? I ain't tryin' to out rhyme Jay-Z and I ain't tryin' to be meaner than all these new rappers, and I ain't tryin' to dance around in the videos with P. Diddy. Where do I fit in? Should I give it up?' I had just heard on the radio, I heard prominent rappers who were out at the time go 'I don't know if I'm gonna be doin' hip-hop when I'm 40, you know? Hip-hop is a young is a young music.' So I'm sittin' there hurt by these statements. I was like 'What do you mean you're not gonna do hip-hop? I mean does Bruce Springsteen stop playin' guitar 'cuz he's 50? Will the Rolling Stones ever stop touring? Does Eric Clapton and Dylan stop writing? That's crazy.' I was 12-years old before I even thought about makin' a record, sittin' in my room sincerely and innocently writin' rhymes. That's what we do. So I'm tryin' to figure all that out. But then three years go by and I find out that I was adopted. Then I go back and say 'That's what was missing three years ago when I was sittin' there sayin' 'This ain't satisfyin', there's gotta be more to life than this.'' 'Cuz I had thought that I done did it all. I'm DMC, it's don't get no better than that, but there was a void in me. But Sarah McLachlan's record "Angel" kept me alive so I could live another three years and find out that I was adopted. That was the missing piece to my existence. 'Cuz you knew everything about me: first to go Gold. First to go Platinum. First on MTV. First on Rolling Stone. This, this, and this from Hollis. Everything I did. But something was missing in my existence, so I found that out.'I was gonna get all depressed like 'Damn, why did my mother give me away? Abandonment. Why didn't she want me? Am I not good enough? No, that can't be true, 'cuz look at me.' So I said 'Okay, now I have a bigger responsibility than being DMC. My story isn't just about bein' this hip-hop guy DMC. My story is the story of purpose and destiny 'cuz if my mother never thought well enough to give me a better chance and gave me up, I would have never been adopted, I would've have moved to Hollis, I would've never met Run and Jay, none of this rap s--- would've happened the way it did, when it did. That was destiny. So I said 'That's what I'm still here for!' In the midst of all of this Jay gets murdered! Bow! I'm really sayin' 'What does Darryl do? Forget what Run and DMC and Jay did. Jay's gone. Run's a minister and he's sellin' f-----' Phat Farm clothes with his brother Russell. What is Darryl's purpose now?'"So I said, 'Okay, here's what I'mma do. I'm gonna write a record that's gonna help that little kid in the foster home or that little adopted kid or the grown up adopted man. Adoption is just my situation. Whatever situation you're in on this earth, you have a reason. Me, I'm this little adopted kid that grew up in a middle class neighborhood, went to the best schools all my life, Catholic schools all my life, St. Johns University, became king of this whole rap shit. That f-----' was destiny for me, but that's just a small picture of what I represent. So I'mma do this record Then I thought 'That Harry Chapin record was such a heartfelt record. That record is generational. When all of us are dead and gone, that Harry Chapin record'll be here because it was a song, it was some real s---. It wasn't no fake s---. So I'mma do a remake of the Harry Chapin record and his record was so heartbreakin' about the father and son, I'mma give mine a happy ending and I'mma talk about me bein' adopted and how all this came to be, how DMC became…' Then a light goes on in my head. 'I'mma get that lady. That lady whose record three years earlier helped me, I'mma get her to help me make a record that's gonna help somebody else.' Right? "I tell my manager to get Sarah McLachlan's manager on the phone, tell her DMC wants to make a record with her. Everybody in the industry was like 'That s--- will never happen. DMC and Sarah McLachlan? What the f--- are you gonna do?' And it's gonna be a Harry Chapin remix! So I get her on the phone. 'Hey Ms. McLachlan, remember me?' 'Hey Darryl, how could I forget you. What do you want?' I'm like 'Okay, here we go. She's definitely gonna get an order of protection against my a-- 'cuz she's gonna think I'm crazy.' But I say, 'Ms McLachlan, remember when I met you three years earlier and I told you what your record did for me?' She says, 'Yes I do.' I said 'Well, I just found out I was adopted, blahzay-blah this, boom-bang, I was gonna go through these motions, but then I said 'Naw, I'mma make a record 'cuz y'all record helped me.' So I'mma make a record to help somebody else. So I was wonderin' if you'd do this record with me. It's gonna be Harry Chapin's "Cat In The Cradle." Will you do it with me?' She says, 'Yes, I'll do it with you.' I go 'Wow, that was easy.' Then I said 'Alright, I'll bring you to New York, you come in the studio, I'll put you in a hotel…' She says 'No Darryl. You can come to my house to make the record.' So I'm a fan now, I'm losin' it. I'm like goin' crazy to my manager 'Oh s---! She said 'Yes'!'"So I flew out to Sarah McLachlan's house. We get to her house and it wasn't like I took a CD and said 'Come spit your verses.' She brings her band in and we create the record from scratch. This is some real musical s---. I mean I idolize musicians and artists like Dylan and all the great ones. So we finish the record, she looks over at me and says 'Darryl, I gotta tell you something.' I go 'What?' She says 'I was adopted, too.' Her record saved my life. I meet her. She looks at me and says 'Darryl, that's what music is supposed to do. Thank you.' She walks away and I ain't never think I'm gonna see her again. I find out I was adopted and said 'Oh lemme go back to that lady who saved me to help me save some other people.' We through all of that, but then at the end the reason why I resonated with her record and all of this came to pass is because we had something in common. But it took her music to keep me alive and bring us together to prove that. "So when she said 'That's what music is supposed to do,' I said 'I'm not gonna make records that are gonna rhyme about my Adidas again. I ain't gotta talk about my Adidas, 'cuz everybody knows that. I ain't gotta go tell people I'm the King of Rock. Everybody knows that. I ain't gotta tell people I'm from Hollis, I ain't gotta tell people where I'm comin' from. Everybody knows my history. The reason why I'm here now--I'm older now, I'm fortunate enough to still be here. I idolize Dylan! I idolize Lennon! I idolize Springsteen! I idolize Springsteen! I idolize Hendrix! I idolize Sly Stone! All the great ones, Fogerty. There's a war goin' on? Lemme make a record about that. There's an issue with the educational system? Lemme make a record about that. I'mma make a record about me bein' an alcoholic and how I went to rehab. Oh, I just found out I was adopted, I'll make a record about that. Oh I'll just make a record about wakin' up and walkin' to 7-11. Because, for me now, my purpose in this music as a musician, as an artist, and a writer, is much bigger than still bein' that DMC guy. I can be DMC for the rest of my life, but I'll do a disservice to me and to my fans if I don't grow. So that's what my whole new album is about. I'm f-----' DMC, I'm 41-years old and the s--- that I'm rhymin' about is the s--- that I do. And on the other hand, I'm not rhymin' to impress people. I think about even though Run, DMC, and Jay were the baddest muthaf----- to ever pick up a mic and a turntable, we always talked about good, normal stuff that people could relate to. I'm part of the number one rap group in the world and one of my lyrics was 'I'm DMC/in the place to be/I go to St. Johns University.' Our whole point is that we made it gangsta to be positive." *The proceeding an abridged transcript of  Darryl “DMC” McDaniels story as told on The Moth Radio Hour (produced by The Moth, Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media. Presented and distributed by the Public Radio Exchange).

"What I really represent is purpose and destiny....." - Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels.

Wow! These kinds of things that I hear just blow me away. I couldn't be more different than this man but we feel so much the same. We are both sensitive and hurt for unknown reasons. We find beauty and redemption in the oddest places and are willing to do whatever it takes to mend that hurt so others don't also have to feel it . 

I find this similarity in so many people I meet. From my Blackfoot Indian friend Jeff to my beautiful, petite, non-English speaking Russian friend at work, Ala and people everywhere in between, all over the planet.

I believe so many (most) of us, unique in our ways, have so much more in common than we have differences. It's love, I think.

 

I LOVE LOVING AND I LOVE STORIES ABOUT THE POWER OF LOVE,  LIKE THIS ONE: 

 

  Angel 

Sarah McLachlan -Angel  

Sarah McLachlan - In the arms of an angel

DMC Darryl McDaniels and Sarah McLachlan - "Just Like Me"  

 

 DMC Darryl McDaniels ft Sarah McLachlan - "Just Like Me"

Όπως γράφεται συχνά, σύμφωνα με την χριστιανική διδασκαλία τo καλλίτερο συμπερασματικό επιχείρημα, είναι καλύτερα να μας το πει η ίδια η Αγία Γραφή. 

"Γιατί έχω πεισθεί πια απόλυτα, πως ούτε θάνατος, ούτε ζωή, ούτε άγγελοι, ούτε αρχές, ούτε εξουσίες, ούτε παρόντα, ούτε μέλλοντα, ούτε όσα βρίσκονται ψηλά, ούτε όσα βρίσκονται στα βάθη, κι ούτε κάποιο άλλο διαφορετικό δημιούργημα, θα μπορέσει να μας χωρίσει από την αγάπη του Θεού, που εκδηλώθηκε μέσω του Xριστού Iησού, του Kυρίου μας. (Επιστολή Απ. Παύλου προς Ρωμαίους 8:38-39). 
Ο ίδιος Θεός που σε έσωσε, είναι ο ίδιος Θεός που θα σε φυλάξει. 
Άπαξ σωσμένος, είσαι σωσμένος για πάντα."