In my opinion the Beastie Boys changed the landscape of Hip Hop. I remember my brother playing “Sure Shot” from Ill Communication when I was a younger, and thinking “three white guys that can rap!”, “you must be crazy son!”. OK, so I didn’t think that, I was a slightly posh middle class kid growing up (I know, my street cred is basically Chap Hop). My brother played a lot of Black and Latin American rap artists, and for the first time there was a group of young white New York guys (Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz) that could mix it with the best of them. I think I was drawn at first to the punk and rock they were able to so easily slip in with their music, but as I got older I began to appreciate the mixing, crazy beats, Jazz, and mind blowing Hip Hop that reached out to so many different walks of life.
I chose “Pass The Mic” as it is still my favourite raw Hip Hop track from the Beastie Boys, and shows off their lyrical talents better than most. A real edgy beat accompanies this track, which I’ve always thought ahead of it’s time, MCA’s husky booming voice rips open the track and sets the tone with “This is me Y’All, I M.C. Y’All, my name is MCA, and I still do what I please” underlying this is what he does, what he will always do, and what he is best at. One exchange between Ad-Rock and Mike D always sticks in my mind in this track “So what you gonna say that I don’t know already? I’m like Clyde and I’m Rockin’ Steady, but time flies when you’re having fun, so Mike D, that’s me, c’mon and get some” The lines have a touch of arrogance because they know how good it sounds, it has everything in it I love about them, you can hear how much they are enjoying writing the lyrics. No interludes, it is just pure old school Hip Hop, three white guys rapping about how dam! good they are at what they do, and how much they love doing it, what more can I say.
The Beastie Boys have always been at the forefront of my music collection over the years, and will always continue to be. In my opinion, no other Hip Hop artists produce as much variety, emotion, and pure rapping talent in their records, there is and never will be anything like them! I don’t want to make this review about Adam Yauch, but It saddens me that I will not hear any new material from him, he will be missed greatly. But at the same time, he and the Beastie Boys have left an absolute chasm of great Hip Hop to wet any young or old fans appetite, which makes me smile and appreciative of what they have done for the music industry.
God bless Adam Yauch, thank you.
This post is written by Joel Fabian. Joel hails from Lymington on the South coast and has an ear for all things eclectic. Notoriously quirky, Joel often can be found drinking red wine whilst reading the latest edition of The Guardian - he's that kind of guy.
