For Run DMC--the band largely credited with merging rock and hip-hop--Crown Royal must seem something of a vindication. When they hit the skids a decade ago, the hip-hop community rallied around with contributions to 1993"s evangelical Down with the King. Eight years on, the old-school triumvirate returns with another album built on collaborations, but this time largely from a bunch of noisy young rockers keen to pay their dues and boost their credibility. Step up Third Eye Blind, Limp Bizkit"s Fred Durst, Kid Rock, and Sugar Ray. And to think Run DMC had to be talked into teaming up with Aerosmith to record "Walk This Way" back in 1986. Of course, hip-hoppers are represented, too, with Method Man guesting on the impressive "Simmons Incorporated," and Nas and Mobb Deep"sProdigy chipping in on the jumping "Queen"s Day." Pride of place, though, goes to "It"s Over," a throbbing electro beat twinned with a stirring Russian choir sample that"s produced by Jermaine Dupri. --Mike Pattenden