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Beastie Boys |
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It might be a bit passé to say that a lot’s changed for the Beastie Boys since their ruthless, punk-ass days of License To Ill. The boys—Adam “MCA” Yauch, Adam “King Ad-Rock” Horovitz, and Michael “Mike D.” Diamond—went from profligate, imbecilic teenagers to Bodhisattva poster children in the fight to free Tibet, to pushing 40 and still using the line “I’ve got more rhymes than I’ve got gray hairs,” despite its inaccuracy. And in the same respect, the Beastie Boys sound has been in perpetual evolution. They went from brash, harum-scarum beats and rhymes in 1986’s License To Ill to 1989’s Paul’s Boutique, which features more samples than a deli plate. Their next two releases—‘92’s Check Your Head and ‘94’s Ill Communication—fuse their old-school hip-hop sound with funk, jazz and unadulterated rock ’n’ roll. Hello Nasty (1998) blended old drum machines and loops with analog synth and freestyle rhyming. To top off the album, DJ Mix Master Mike was hired to consummate what is often referred to as the group’s flashpoint of pure genius. It was also their first album to take the electro-retro style of Check Your Head and Ill Communication and combine it with the emanate flow of Paul’s Boutique. However, their sound and their style aren’t the only things that’ve changed for the Beastie Boys. Quite possibly the biggest change for them since Hello Nasty would be their landscape. The World Trade Center attacks of 2001 changed the face of their hometown New York City and that, combined with the war in Iraq as well as other American-induced foreign affairs, has built a large part of the platform for their sixth studio release, To The 5 Boroughs. After a six-year hiatus, the Boys have released what might be their strongest record ever. Stylistically, To The 5 Boroughs seems to be even more of an amalgamation of their past than Hello Nasty. The natural flow of Paul’s Boutique is there, the archaic funk/jazz/R&B vibe is there—even the raucousness of License To Ill rears its weary head from time to time. After several listens, you’ll notice the straightforward, compressed beats with as few frills as a Charles Mingus bass line, but with just as much thump, something that the group hasn’t exercised in years. Is it possible that our boys have grown tired of all that layering and sampling? Hell no. It’s there—there’s plenty of it. Take for instance the Boy’s love sonnet to their home, “An Open Letter To NYC,” where they ingeniously sample The Dead Boys’ punk anthem “Sonic Reducer”—an incredible riff that’s quickly backboning a Beastie drum loop. The political undertones on the album aren’t exactly “under” anything. In fact, they stick out like a domino line of soar thumbs. On “Right Right Now Now” Yauch flows: “I’m getting kind of tired of the situation./The U.S. attacking other nations….” as well as the line “Columbine bowling, childhood stolen, we need a bit more gun controlling….” The political jibes get even more blatant on track four, “Time To Build,” with lines such as “We’ve got a president we didn’t elect / the Kyoto Treaty he did neglect” followed by the line “Is the U.S. gonna keep breaking necks? / Maybe it’s time we impeach Tex / and the military muscle he wants to flex.” In a recent interview, Yauch admits to writing a lot of the more politically-driven material right after 9/11 and during the beginning of the war in Iraq, which explains the brazen lyrics that often times come offas soapbox rants. For instance, on “Right Right Now Now” Horvitz rhymes: “I’m a funky-ass Jew and I’m on my way. And yes I got to say fuck the KKK.” Ok, so Ad-Rock needs to make his statements too, but if ever there was a display of preaching to the choir, my guess is this would be it. Sure, there are probably more political viewpoints on this record than on all others combined and yes, some of it does fall a bit flat, but in their defense, these are troubled times. As for the rest of the album—that is, the songs that adhere to the playful Beastie nature and give us something to roll the windows down to—it’s business as usual, and if you’re not familiar with what that business is, it’s methodical beats, smart lyrics, and a whole lot of sampling. To the 5 Boroughs proves once and for all that no matter how old the “boys” get, their ability hasn’t aged a bit.—Ray Wagel
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