paul's boutique

The Beastie Boys reinvented themselves and changed the face of hip hop with the dense and daring psychedelic post modern sample collages of this legendary laugh-out-loud landmark.  The trio had been written off as frat boy one hit wonders with their debut album 'Licensed to Ill'; and, after they separated from Def Jam Records over non-payment of royalties, it seemed that they might be done for.  They signed with Capitol / EMI and began working with the production team The Dust Brothers (Mike Simpson and John King) on a more experimental sound to break away from their image and show more depth.  

Adam Yauch would recall:  "The Dust Brothers had a bunch of music together, before we arrived to work with them. As a result, a lot of the tracks come from songs they'd planned to release to clubs as instrumentals – "Shake Your Rump," for example. They'd put together some beats, basslines and guitar lines, all these loops together, and they were quite surprised when we said we wanted to rhyme on it, because they thought it was too dense. They offered to strip it down to just beats, but we wanted all of that stuff on there. I think half of the tracks were written when we got there, and the other half we wrote together."

Simpson says:  "Sampling was just a hobby for us. It was just something we did for fun while we were in college. John was destined to become a genius computer programmer, and I was going to enrol in law school. We never had any intention of making records. I didn't even know what record producers did at the time. In the course of doing samples for Delicious Vinyl Records, every once in a while we put something together that seemed just too dense and too busy and too crazy for a rapper to rap on, and we put these tracks aside as instrumental Dust Brothers tracks. Then the Beastie Boys wandered into the studio, and heard one of these tracks, and they loved it. That's how the album got started.    Up until that point in hip-hop, people had been using samples very sparsely and minimally. If anything, they would use one sample in a song and take a drum loop and that would be the foundation. But what we were doing was making entire songs out of samples taken from various different sources. On 'Paul's Boutique' everything was a collage. There was one track on which the Beastie Boys played some instruments, but apart from that everything was made of samples. But we never had a grand vision of trying to make groundbreaking music. We just enjoyed making music in a way that was an extension of our DJing, combining two or three songs, but with greater accuracy than you could do with turntables."

'Paul's Boutique' was recorded in Los Angeles at Matt Dike's apartment and The Record Plant studio with engineer Mario Caldato Jr. and assistant engineer Allen Abrahamson.  The groundbreaking multi-layered approach utilized one hundred and five different samples from diverse musical genres to produce a surreal pop culture pastiche that alienated and confused many of their fans.  The album only went to number twenty-four on the Hip Hop/R&B album chart; but it continued to sell over the years as word spread in college circles.  By 1999, it had sold over two million copies.  






http://www.beastieboys.com/







 "Shake Your Rump" 



"Egg Man" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyar2C_wEq8



"Hey Ladies" 



"Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1Qe2m8oOA




"Shadrach"




"Year and a Day / Hello Brooklyn"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM32R91KMDc








'Paul's Boutique'
full album:

https://myspace.com/beastieboys/music/album/paul-s-boutique-18984728

http://www.last.fm/music/Beastie+Boys/Paul's+Boutique

http://www.playthishiphop.com/beastie-boys-pauls-boutique/

http://open.spotify.com/album/1kmyirVya5fRxdjsPFDM05



1. "To All the Girls"   1:29
2. "Shake Your Rump"   3:19
3. "Johnny Ryall"   3:00
4. "Egg Man"   2:57
5. "High Plains Drifter"   4:13
6. "The Sounds of Science"   3:11
7. "3-Minute Rule"   3:39
8. "Hey Ladies"   3:47
9. "5-Piece Chicken Dinner"   0:23
10. "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun"   3:28
11. "Car Thief"   3:39
12. "What Comes Around"   3:07
13. "Shadrach"   4:07
14. "Ask for Janice"   0:11
15. "B-Boy Bouillabaisse"   12:33
"59 Chrystie Street" - :57
"Get on the Mic" - 1:14
"Stop That Train" - 1:59
"Year and a Day" - 2:22
"Hello Brooklyn" - 1:32
"Dropping Names" - 1:03
"Lay It on Me" - :54
"Mike on the Mic" - :48
"A.W.O.L." - 1:46

ill communication

The Beastie Boys got it together and put their root down waist deep in hip hip punk rock with this groovy gumbo of freaky funky flavors.  After the massive success of their debut album 'Licensed to Ill' , the group flipped the script with their sampladelic masterpiece 'Paul's Boutique'.  The follow-up 'Check Your Head' saw them getting back to their roots and playing instruments.  'Ill Communication' was produced by the Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr. and features  Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz on vocals and guitar;  Michael "Mike D" Diamond vocals and drums;  and Adam "MCA" Yauch on vocals, electric bass, and string bass;    with John Klemmer as sample source;  Eugene Gore on violin;  Eric Bobo on percussion;  Amery Smith on drums;  "Keyboard Money Mark" Nishita on keyboards and organ; and Q-Tip and Biz Markie bringing guest vocals.  

Mike D revealed:    "We all get involved in the cuts. For example, Yauch (MCA) is actually the most Terminator-oriented. He's actually taken his DJing skills and applied those to his bass-playing technique. So he's got the Terminator-bass playing action. Horovitz (Ad-Rock) does a lot of cuts on the album, too. I'm just generally involved in the mad creative search for beats that all of us partake in and battle with all day long...I might catch some flak here from the rest of the group, but I've got the most, the most primo records going on in the group. But Adam Horovitz will out-freak me some times, when it comes to looping them and sampling them and so forth. I'm more of, like, a whole bar. I use the bigger sampling-time techniques. Adam's always had the SP-1200s and he's the mastertaking little short parts and quarter and half bars and just freakin' 'em and making them work ...What's sad is that there's also a lot of hip-hop songs that were shelved and they need to stay on the shelf-but that's the way it is for all our records. With our last few, we might have done some hip-hop and then we'll decide, 'Okay let's try this thing or that thing-a whole bunch of different things."

MCA mused:    "I guess what I do is visualize the way that the music should feel or what it should represent. In meditation or whatever, just hanging out and listening, I work on visualizations of what that music represents or feels like to me and then when it comes time, it just pretty much comes out, somehow. It just comes through.  So that's the main way that I compose. There's no set way of starting with music and then working on lyrics, or starting with lyrics and then working with music. It is kind of random when it comes together and just playin' around to see what works. But the main part of it is that visualization. Just knowing what the music feels like. Not necessarily what it sounds like ... Sampling is just one part of our music.  We’ve never stopped using live instruments, partly because of the warmth they bring to a cut, partly because it’s so much easier to just sit down and play a riff you have running through your head than spend weeks rummaging around your record collection looking for a sample that sounds vaguely similar...We never record with an agenda. We make the music we’re compelled to make at the time. If that happens to be punk, we make punk music. If we felt compelled to mess around with flutes, we’d make flute music...I think we’ve experimented a lot with tracks over the years. Some of the instrumental stuff could be by any number of bands. But when the three of us start rhyming it’s always going to sound like a Beastie Boys tune. I don’t think there’s any way of getting around that ... So what [we're saying on 'Ill Communication'] is that L.A. is like a space station, right? And like, we were traveling from, say, the moon to Pluto, and we just got caught on this station, and then like, somebody erased our memories, and we don't even know where we came from or where we are anymore; but on this new album, we're having flashes of memory, like unconscious interludes?... When we first started MC'ing, I was coming from a real ignorant perspective.  I didn't understand how jazz had come from black culture and then became absorbed into mainstream society and how the same thing happened with rock'n'roll. And how the process just repeated itself with us and hip hop. When people pointed it out, it definitely humbled me quite a bit.  See, I don't think there's just a young, black male identity crisis going on out there — practically everyone is going through an identity crisis. The whole fucking planet's trying to figure out who they are and why they're here. And so are we."

Ad-Rock looks back:  "If we were still acting like fools at a party, I don't think we would have lasted, do you?...We are the same band, but we've had enough maturity - we've gone through changes. That's one of the things about the band I'm in. We don't always do the same thing. Each time, it makes me happy to do what we do...That thing is very interesting to me, because it's such an issue with some people - "Is hip-hop going to last?" For 20 years, there's been billions and billions of rap records sold. Everyone at this point is inspired by hip-hop, anyone making popular music, anyway. That gets me going. I think rap is like jazz, an elastic form of music."


'Ill Communication' brought the Beastie Boys back to the top of the US album charts for the first time since their debut.  It also went to number thirty-one in the Netherlands, twelve in Switzerland, eleven in Germany, ten in the UK, eight in Australia, seven in Sweden, six in New Zealand, and number two on the US R&B album chart.  






http://www.beastieboys.com/








The video for 'Sabotage' was directed by Spike Jonze. 




I can't stand it, I know you planned it
I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate
I can't stand rocking when I'm in here
'Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear
So while you sit back and wonder why
I got this fucking thorn in my side
Oh my God, it's a mirage
I'm tellin' y'all, it's a sabotage
So, so, so, so listen up 'cause you can't say nothin'
You'll shut me down with a push of your button?
But you, I'm out and I'm gone
I'll tell you now, I keep it on and on
'Cause what you see you might not get
And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet
You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage
I'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage
Why
Our backs are now against the wall?
Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage
Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage
Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage
Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage
I can't stand it, I know you planned it
I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate
Lord, I can't stand rockin' when I'm in this place
Because I feel disgrace because you're all in my face
But make no mistakes and switch up my channel
I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle
What could it be, it's a mirage
You're scheming on a thing, that's sabotage







"Sure Shot"







'Ill Communication' 
full album:







All songs written and composed by Beastie Boys except where indicated.

1. "Sure Shot" (Beastie Boys, Caldato, DJ Hurricane) 3:19
2. "Tough Guy" (AWOL, Beastie Boys) 0:57
3. "B-Boys Makin' with the Freak Freak"   3:36
4. "Bobo on the Corner" (Beastie Boys, Bobo, Money Mark) 1:13
5. "Root Down"   3:32
6. "Sabotage"   2:58
7. "Get It Together" (featuring Q-Tip) 4:05
8. "Sabrosa" (Beastie Boys, Bobo, Money Mark) 3:29
9. "The Update" (Beastie Boys, Caldato, Money Mark) 3:15
10. "Futterman's Rule" (Beastie Boys, Money Mark) 3:42
11. "Alright Hear This"   3:06
12. "Eugene's Lament" (Beastie Boys, Bobo, Gore, Money Mark) 2:12
13. "Flute Loop" (Beastie Boys, Caldato, Klemmer) 1:54
14. "Do It" (featuring Biz Markie) 3:16
15. "Ricky's Theme" (Beastie Boys, Bobo, Money Mark) 3:43
16. "Heart Attack Man" (AWOL, Beastie Boys) 2:14
17. "The Scoop" (Beastie Boys, Caldato) 3:36
18. "Shambala" (Beastie Boys, Bobo, Money Mark) 3:40
19. "Bodhisattva Vow" (Beastie Boys, Caldato) 3:08
20. "Transitions" (Beastie Boys, Money Mark)  2:31

check your head

The Beastie Boys went back to their hardcore roots, picked up their instruments again, moved away from their heavy use sampling, and managed to simultaneously simplify and diversify their hip-hop sound with this trippy collection of funk, punk, soul, jazz, pop, and electronica.  'Check Your Head' was recorded at the band's own G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, California with Mike D on drums, Ad-Rock on guitar, and MCA on bass.  The emphasis is more on the groove than with rapping with Mario Caldato, Jr. co-producing and giving the boys room to jam.    Money Mark Ramos Nishita adds organ, synthesizer, keyboards, clavinet, and wurlitzer to the mix with percussion contributions from James Bradley, Jr., Drew Lawrence, Art Oliva, and Juanito Vazquez.  The eclectic, experimental sound was embraced by the college crowd, went on to influence a new generation of alternative rockers, and reaffirmed the band's credibility both commercially and critically.  'Check Your Head'  was released on their Grand Royal  subsidiary of Capitol Records and went double-platinum, peaking at number ten on the Billboard album chart.

http://blog.beastieboys.com/

"Jimmy James"

"People how you doing there's a new day dawning

For the earth mother it's a brand new morning

For such a long while there's been such longing

But now the sun is shining let's roll back the awning

This is a type of kinda like a formal dedication

Giving out a shout for much inspiration

All I ever wanna do is get nice

Get loose and goof my little slice of life

Sendin' out love to all corners of the land

Jump up on the stage and take the mic in my hand

Not playin' the role just being who I am

And if you try to dis me I couldn't give a damn

'Cause I'm rockin'

Bass from the back of my car feels soothing

Eight bazookas is what I'm using

I'm Mike D. and it's been proven

I love it when I see the party people movin'

Strapped on the ear goggles and what did I see

But the music brought the people into harmony"

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5d46g_beastie-boys-jimmy-james-lp-version_music#.UXNEVRw4GjQ

Beastie Boys - Jimmy James (LP Version) by cyd125





"Gratitude" 

"Good times gone and you missed them

What's gone wrong in your system

Things they bounce just like a spalding

What'd you think did you miss your calling

It's so free this kind of feeling

It's like life it's so appealing

When you've got so much to say

It's called gratitude, and that's right

Good times gone but you feed it

Hate's grown strong you feel you need it

Just one thing do you know

What you think that the world owes you

What's gonna set you free

Look inside and you'll see

When you've got so much to say

It's called gratitude, and that's right"

"So What'cha Want" 

"Just plug me in just like I was Eddie Harris

You're eating crazy cheese 

Like you would think I'm from Paris

You know I get fly, you think I get high

You know that I'm gone and I'mma tell you all why

So tell me who are you dissing? Maybe I'm missing

The reason that you're smiling or wilding

So listen in my head I just want to take 'em down

Imagination set loose and I'm gonna shake 'em down

Let it flow like a mud slide

When I get on I like to ride and glide

I've got depth of perception in my text y'all

I get props at my mention 'cause I vex y'all

So what'cha want

I get so funny with the money that you flaunt

I said where'd you get your information from huh?

You think that you can front when revelation comes

Yeah, you can't front on that"

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9gity_beastie-boys-so-what-cha-want-album_music#.UXNJhRw4GjQ

Beastie Boys So What'cha Want Album Check Your... by Yst01





"Namasté" 

"A butterfly floats on the breeze of a sun lit day

As I feel this reality gently fade away

Riding on a thought to see where it's from

Gliding through a memory of a time yet to come

Smoke paints the air

Swirling images through my mind

Like a whirlpool spin beginning to unwind

And I stand at the edge cautiously awaiting

As time slips by

Carefully navigating by the stars in the sky

And I sit

And I think to myself

And on the horizon the sun light begins to climb

And it seems like it's been so long since he shined

But I'm sure it was only yesterday

A cold chill of fear cut through meI felt my heart contract
To my mind I brought the image of light
And I expanded out of it
My fear was just a shadow
And then I voice spoke in my head
And she said dark is not the opposite of light
It's the absence of light
And I thought to myself
She knows what she's talking about
And for a moment I know
What it was all about."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CjKAWyOb74





'Check Your Head'
full album:

http://www.myspace.com/beastieboys/music/albums/check-your-head-explicit-18984145




1. "Jimmy James" Beastie Boys, Caldato 3:14
2. "Funky Boss" Beastie Boys, Nishita 1:35
3. "Pass the Mic" Beastie Boys, Caldato 4:17
4. "Gratitude" Beastie Boys, Cushman 2:45
5. "Lighten Up" Beastie Boys Nishita  2:41
6. "Finger Lickin' Good"  Beastie Boys Caldato Fite Hill 3:39
7. "So What'cha Want" Beastie Boys 3:37
8. "The Biz vs. The Nuge"  Hall Nugent 0:33
9. "Time for Livin'" Sly & the Family Stone 1:48
10. "Something's Got to Give"  Beastie Boys Caldato Nishita 3:28
11. "The Blue Nun" Beastie Boys 0:32
12. "Stand Together" Beastie Boys Caldato  2:47
13. "POW" Beastie Boys Nishita 2:13
14. "The Maestro" Beastie Boys 2:52
15. "Groove Holmes" Beastie Boys Nishita 2:33
16. "Live at P.J.'s" Beastie Boys Nishita 3:18
17. "Mark on the Bus" Nishita 1:05
18. "Professor Booty" Beastie Boys Caldato 4:13
19. "In 3's" Beastie Boys Nishita 2:23
20. "Namasté" Beastie Boys Nishita 4:01

licensed to ill

The Beastie Boys combined heavy metal and hip-hop, took rap to the top of the charts, and made us all ill with their audaciously adolescent debut. They produced 'Licensed to Ill' with Rick Rubin for his label Def Jam. Sampling classic rock riffs, funk, soul, and TV themes to produce a pop-culture pastiche to support the trashy, rapid-fire vituperations of Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock. The band courted controversy with the overt sexism and violence of the lyrics and the ensuing tour; but they took the world by storm. 'Licensed to Ill' became the first rap album to reach the top of the US Billboard album chart and sold over five million copies.





http://blog.beastieboys.com/



http://kingsroadmerch.com/beastie-boys/region/

"(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)" made it to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

"No Sleep Till Brooklyn"

"Rhymin & Stealin" samples "Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath, "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, "I Fought the Law" by The Clash.

"The New Style" samples "Two, Three, Break" by The B-Boys, "Drop the Bomb" by Trouble Funk, and "Peter Piper" by Run-D.M.C.

"She's Crafty" samples "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin.

"Girls"

"Paul Revere" samples "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay.

"Hold It, Now Hit It" samples "The Return of Leroy" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch, "Drop the Bomb" and "Let's Get Small" by Trouble Funk, "Funky Stuff" by Kool & the Gang, "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" by Bob James, "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow, and "La Di Da Di" by Slick Rick.

"Brass Monkey" samples "Bring It Here" by Wild Sugar

"Time to Get Ill" samples "Boogie on Reggae Woman" by Stevie Wonder, "Take the Money and Run" by the Steve Miller Band, "Down on the Corner" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Custard Pie" by Led Zeppelin, "Gucci Time" by Schoolly D, "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby" by Barry White, "Funky Stuff" by Kool & the Gang, "Nothing from Nothing" by Billy Preston, "Flick of the Switch" by AC/DC, "Rocket in the Pocket" by Cerrone, andthe theme music from Green Acres and Mister Ed.

'Licensed to Ill'  full album:



All tracks written by Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin, except where noted.

1. "Rhymin & Stealin" 4:08
2. "The New Style" 4:35
3. "She's Crafty" 3:35
4. "Posse in Effect" 2:26
5. "Slow Ride"2:57
6. "Girls" 2:14
7. "Fight for Your Right" 3:27
8. "No Sleep till Brooklyn" 4:07
9. "Paul Revere" (Adam Horovitz, Darryl McDaniels, Rubin, Joseph Simmons)  3:41
10. "Hold It Now, Hit It" 3:26
11. "Brass Monkey" 2:37
12. "Slow and Low" (McDaniels, Rubin, Simmons) 3:38
13. "Time to Get Ill" 3:37