'Way Down East' & 'Intolerance' & 'Orphans Of The Storm'

While riding with a friend recently, he plugged in his iPhone and put his downloaded songs on shuffle.

One of the songs that comes up is Run DMC's "It's Tricky." I don't necessarily react, but my friend states that the group and, thusly, the song were relevent because they were pioneers of the rap or hip-hop genre.

I got to thinking about this. It's a common substantiation of particularly artists, that they were some of the first to do it therefore they are due some sort of respect or props for doing so. For essentially being at the right place at the right time.

Are Run DMC a better group because they were one of the first to perform rap at a high level?

Is D.W. Griffith a good director or just one of the first of the prolific ones?

I tend to believe he's the latter: Someone that was at the right place and the right time. The guy who invented baseball, but he was no Babe Ruth, Willie Mays or Frank Robinson.

Again, I'll be tickled pink when I'm done with these silent films. I've had enough. I've never seen someone say less in three hours than Griffith.