No one knows this better than Darryl McDaniels, who also knows that “it’s tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time/it’s tricky.”
McDaniels, better known to the world simply as DMC (Devastating Mic Controller), helped pen those words as lyrics to a hit single in the 1980s for his rap group, Run-DMC.
McDaniels has lived a life that saw him rise up from inner-city New York to become a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the pioneering Run-DMC, one of the first rap acts to incorporate hard rock into their sound. He also has dealt with addiction, to both prescription drugs and alcoholism, but has overcome the odds in his life to become a valued motivational speaker who is still heavily involved in the music business.
McDaniels will talk about the values of teamwork and community to the gathered athletes at an upcoming girls basketball clinic in Swampscott known as the Spring Stretch.
The event will be held at Swampscott High School on May 15, and will feature a girls basketball clinic for girls ages 9-13, followed by a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for girls ages 14-plus.
“This is an event to be held to foster a spark for particularly girls in basketball,” said Annie Balliro, the organizer and on the Stretch Award Board of Directors. The Stretch Award, which has a scholarship amount attached to it, is named for her father Joseph Balliro III, a pharmacist in town who earned the nickname “Stretch” and was a basketball player for Boston’s old American Basketball Association team.