Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs

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is coming out soon:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4687415/

NEW YORK - The Beastie Boys blend politics with party time on “To the 5 Boroughs,” the New York-based rap trio’s first album since 1998’s “Hello Nasty.”

The 15-track set is due this summer via Capitol, to be preceded by album-opening first single “Ch-Check It Out.” The group is expected to tour in support of the release and has already confirmed Aug. 7-8 appearances at Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival.

“To the 5 Boroughs” is loaded with political commentary as expected, including calls to vote President Bush out of office and critiques of U.S. foreign policy. On “Time To Build,” Adam Yauch (MCA) raps, “We’ve got a president we didn’t elect / the Kyoto treaty he decided to neglect / and still the U.S. just wants to flex.” On “That It’s That All,” the group demands, “’cause George W’s got nothing on me / we’ve got to take the power from he.”

The set frequently pays homage to the trio’s New York surroundings, best heard on “An Open Letter to NYC.” In front of a chopped-up sample of the Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer,” the group finds solace in the city’s post-September 11th resiliency: “Since 911 we’re still livin’ / and lovin’ life we’ve been given / ain’t nothing gonna take that away from us / we’re lookin’ pretty and gritty ’cause in the city we trust.”

But the Beasties wisely don’t skimp on their trademark goofball humor, with references to such pop-culture figures as Fred Sanford, the Keebler Elves, Ron Popeil, Herman Munster, Jabba the Hut, Foghorn Leghorn and “Three’s Company” landlord Mr. Furley. Each member shines on “Rhyme the Rhyme Well,” a trade-off track in the vein of “Pass the Mic.” “Hey, could you please pass me the peas / and let me get a tissue if you think you’re gonna sneeze,” raps Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock).

“To the 5 Boroughs” features largely programmed backing tracks, with only a handful of live instrumentation. Mix Master Mike’s scratching highlights “Shazam!” and “Right Right Now Now,” while the booming bottom ends of “The Brouhaha,” “Rhyme the Rhyme Well” and “All Life Styles” evoke shades of the group’s classics like “Shake Your Rump” and “Root Down.”

“’Licensed to Ill’ was where we were at the time — drinking beer and acting silly,” says Mike D. “‘Paul’s Boutique’ was moving to L.A.; that was a whole different fantasy. ‘Check Your Head’ was getting back to three of us. This album is really New York City; all of us living here.” Adds MCA, “Having fun in troubled times.”

In other news, Yauch is producing a new studio album by pioneering hardcore act Bad Brains, according to the Beasties’ official Web site (http://www.beastieboys.com). “Now I need to get guitarist Dr. Know to play some guitar solos on some stuff and then finish mixing it. It’s kind of circling above the airport right now.”

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"'cause George W's got nothing on me / we've got to take the power from he."

shudder.

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:14 (twenty-one years ago)

God, are those rhymes for real? It was fun when they were young 'uns but nowadays that kind of language is just embarrasing.

Though that Bad Brains album might be cool? (scratches chin)

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeeeesh.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Besides, they ripped that one anti-W rhyme off of Homer Simpson's song about Mr. T ("I pity the fool who doesn't like...he").

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm down with their political message, but I wish they wouldn't make music out of it.

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Here is the track list:

"Ch-Check It Out"
"Right Right Now Now"
"3 The Hard Way"
"Time To Build"
"Rhyme The Rhyme Well"
"Triple Trouble"
"Hey Fuck You"
"Oh Word?"
"That's It That's All"
"All Lifestyles"
"Shazam!"
"An Open Letter to NYC"
"Crawlspace"
"The Brouhaha"
"We Got The"

― Matt Boch (Matt Boch), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Hope it's not like this:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2080150

― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

yauch has been getting lamer and lamer since check your head.

― jds, Thursday, 8 April 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

That article couldn't have been written better by The Onion. I mean, as a card-carrying Beasties hater, I really don't have to say a thing here. Though, after all these years trying to figure out who the worst band of all time is, Kiss or the Beastie Boys, "Cold Gin" is starting to sound pretty good to me.

Any ILMer who defends this or plans to buy this really ought to kill themselves.

They seriously make me want to vote for Bush.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 8 April 2004 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Any ILMer who defends this or plans to buy this really ought to kill themselves

I can't really defend those lyrics...yet I will buy this album...and at this point I don't even know why....(but I still refuse to commit suicide - it's a SIN! jesus told me so)...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 8 April 2004 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll probably be voting for bush anyway but that's beside the point. i am worried about hearing this record, though there are always fine adrock loop jams somewhere beneath things, even on their recent records. i'll try to ignore the rest

― duke bummer, Thursday, 8 April 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I will steal it from the internet and if the beats are good enough, I will give it a go. So far, though, it sounds pretty fucking lame all around.

― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

god...just...stop...please...stop...

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

they really are turning out to be some sort of unholy rap rem/late-stones hellspawn

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha! oh god! and i have to write about it!

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Rhyme the Rhyme Well is just wierd and wrong for a song title.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously too I'll fucking buy this thing too - what is wrong with me! it's like I can't let it go....couldn't stand the last one either.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"'cause George W's got nothing on me / we've got to take the power from he."

I know it's already been said, but...Worst. Rap. Ever.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

it just boggles the mind that these guys made "no sleep til brooklyn" and "brass monkey" and now...like, i can't even think of an applicable comparison really

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

you made two earlier!

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

haha well i always thought rem sucked, really

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

no one is gonna mistake "radio free europe" for ac/dc anyway

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"i fell asleep sometime in the early 90s and handsome dick manitoba had become sting"

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Go Girl Crazy, fine as it is, has nothing on Licensed to Ill

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

oh agreed!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

(haha cue Alex in NYC any second now to chomp my head off)

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i am still pissed at my sister that she lost my cassette in FRANCE, of all possible places

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The Beasties have never been about rhymes. Paul's Boutique is the greatest hip-hop album of all time, and even that has lines like, "You get expensive gifts from expensive men / You're a dog on a leash like a pig in a pen."

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

what's wrong with those rhymes? they read and sound fine to me.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

compared to those anti-bush rhymes that's illmatic X nation of millions there

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"this is worse than your song about mr. t"
"i pity the fool that doesn't like...he"

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, I actually think they are pretty good rappers up through paul's boutique, then they got really bad on Check Your Head, but I like that album despite the rhymes....after that's it's big-time diminishing returns...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i still think check your head is a pretty good album. for some reason i cant listen to pauls boutique anymore. i think it has something to do with beck, but i'm not quite sure.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

though i guess check your head has a lot to answer for vis a vis sublime, 311, et al

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

These new sample rhymes even make the "commercial... commercial" rhyme on Check Your Head seem like the effervescent pedestal of supreme lyrical flow.

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

dude the beasties were pioneers of the "rhyme the same word" school!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

hell, I'll even give more props to the fucking Warlock Pinchers now for flow.

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I'm losing my mind this time, this time I'm losing my mind.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

or even Mr. C from The Shamen. Jesus, when his presence as a guest rapper seems absent in comparison, you know that's not a good sign.

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I think they're using improper grammar ("take the power from he") as a device the same way they did on "In A World Gone Mad," with its infamous "America/hysterica" line. But that doesn't mean it's a GOOD device. Sure, Humpty Hump made it work with "I use a word that don't mean nuthin, like looptid," but here it's just dumb.

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like Check Your Head much, but I do like Ill Communication just fine--same concept, better songs.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Snrub, do you REALLY think that Paul's Boutique is the greatest rap album of all time? Compared to what exactly?

Sublime? Sublime are the friggin The Beatles compared to The Beastie Boys.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

and I like Hello Nasty. so I don't think it's been all that long a falloff.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I liked Hello Nasty too, and I'm sure I'll check out 5 Boroughs despite my reservations.

― mike a, Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

hello nasty felt kind zeitgeist-y at the time, with the ass-end of big beat and all

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

(um... uh... Land Of The Loops is finally coming out with a new record soon!)

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

strongo otm, actually. it holds up OK but it's not as good as I thought at the time.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

i wonder if they feel more out of place now becase hello nasty was the last time the majority of hip-hop sounded like Hip-Hop

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

(like nyc instead of the south, i mean)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 422 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I mean vocal confidence. Beasties, particularly MCA, sound like they've got oxygen tanks waiting by the mic stand. Instead of riding the beats they're often running after 'em.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 20 June 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

But hasn't MCA always sounded like he needs oxygen tanks? I don't know if he smokes in real life, but it always sounds like he's just smoked a few packs when he steps up to the mic. That weary, nicotine-stained delivery has been around since the earliest days of Licensed to Ill.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 20 June 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Forgive me if this has already been answered, but whatever happened to Hurricane? Why'd they part with him in the first place?

I think he wanted to go solo. He did make an album.

He made three!*

They parted with him for the same reason they parted with Dr Dre before him, and with DJ Double R before that: he sucked, and they found someone better.

Or more particularly, they wanted a collaborator who could bring something to the group in the studio (Hurra's only songwriting contribution was saying "[Beastie's name] come and rock the sure shot" down the phone once, when they were stuck for a hook, and he only ever played on one track) and especially on stage: ie could make the hip-hop portions of the show as 100% live and improv-capable as the thrash and funk sections, as opposed to scratching samples over a DAT tape.

*One on Fellaheen [with a revised (worse) version on Grand Royal the following year], one on Wiiija, one on TVT. He couldn't even get signed in the same country twice...

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 21 June 2004 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This album is, without a doubt, the biggest piece of shit these boys have ever come up with.

― Unknown User, Monday, 21 June 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

b-b-but guys, come on, this is a gift to us, the listener at home! They've made To the 5 Boroughs for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island in all of us!

― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 21 June 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

This album is, without a doubt, the biggest piece of shit these boys have ever come up with.

ahem. http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d733/d733694801s.jpg

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 21 June 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

ha ha that's the only Beasties album I ever listen to anymore

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 21 June 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

And, judging by my initial listen of To The Five William Burroughs, will continue to be.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 21 June 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, but you're different.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 21 June 2004 19:51 (twenty-one years ago)

three voices swinging like a jazz trio, racing like Bad Brains

What does this mean?

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Monday, 21 June 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

dude that album is a masterpiece compared to Some Old Bullshit.

xxxpost

― oops (Oops), Monday, 21 June 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe I'm the only one who likes it when the Beasties shut their yobs and play the greasy Jimmy Smith shit

― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 21 June 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah!

(Huh haha)

― Crickets Dance On Tequila Booty (Barima), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Anthony you need to bust rhymes more often

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i am amazed i don't hate this more than i do

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

the quasi-(old school, natch)-dancehall beats are a bit fishy though

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not big on the Jimmy Smith bullshit, but I like it when the Beasties shut their yobs and, y'know, 'flow with the universe' and shit.

Anthony you need to bust rhymes more often

Yes. Begs2differ too.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 21 June 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

That Douglas Wolk is a madman. Check out his (overwhelmingly positive) review of "To the 5 Boroughs" on Slate. He rhymes the whole thing! I couldn't agree more with his take on it:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2102704/

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i saw them on mtv last night and they were great

― Sir Chaki McBeer III (chaki), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

something just dawned on me. The Beastie Boys new album has inspired several folks (including me) to rap about it. Scott Seward rapped about the El-P album in the Voice.

Has a white writer ever rapped about an album made by a black artist? Or are they less prone to drop mad science in that scenario?

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it would have been all the more daring if Scott had been like "Nas? FUCK Nas. I can rap, check it..."

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

6 years for this carp!

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 07:01 (twenty-one years ago)

'A twenty-pound carp was about to be clubbed over the head by a non-Jewish worker in a New Square fish store, when it suddenly began rapping in Hebrew. It said that “the end is coming / my rap is stunning!” and it had come back to earth to achieve a “tikkun,” a rehabilitation for the soul of a certain recently departed individual before it was too late, then 'eat fried chicken and drink some Sprite'.'

http://www.ou.org/torah/frankel/5763/tzav63.htm

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 07:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Well...this thread has managed to scare me away from ever posting anything about hiphop or rap.

― TomB (TomB), Wednesday, 23 June 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"I’m a funky-ass Jew and I’m on my way. And yes I got to say fuck the KKK."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 24 June 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

haha. take that, haters.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 25 June 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

about half the first-week tally of the veteran rap trio's last offering, "Hello Nasty,"

thats sad.. you figure they emerge from their rest home every 100 years to release a record they could do better.

my favorite part about that link is that cnn offers 3 separate news alert links for adam yauch, mike diamond and adam horovitz.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Friday, 25 June 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

do better than #1 in the country???

― Sir Chaki McBeer III (chaki), Saturday, 26 June 2004 06:25 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

The new vid for 'Triple Trouble' rocks, yo.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm sorry, but as much as i love just blaze, his remix of "ch-check it out" is NOT better than the original.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

it's actually about equally as good. mca sounds better on the original, and i like the 2nd verse where they all start laughing. and that "peter piper" orchestra hit is pretty crucial. about a minute into the remix it gets real good, though, starting with "like a scientist / mmm when i'm applyin this", through the scratch bit. the last couple minutes of the remix are curiously boring, though. maybe there needs to be a crooklyn clan version or something where it segues into the remix after a minute of the original and then the last two minutes are just cut-up bits of every beastie boys song.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

eleven months pass...

This album get's such a bad rap.. it really isn't that bad guys.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

fourteen years pass...

"'cause George W's got nothing on me / we've got to take the power from he."

― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 January 2020 01:44 (five years ago)

hot sauce committee pt 2 really was better

the dj green lantern mix that was released (officially? unofficially? whatever) around the time of this one was really good!

― babu frik fan account (mh), Thursday, 30 January 2020 03:43 (five years ago)

looks like the green lantern mix was 2006 so.. almost two years later :/

still, pretty cool

― babu frik fan account (mh), Thursday, 30 January 2020 03:45 (five years ago)

Oh hot sauce def was a better alb, agree

― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 January 2020 03:51 (five years ago)

I somehow don't have that mix in my library but found it

makes Triple Trouble sound good!

and So Whatcha Want played over from the beat and vocal injections from Nas's Hate Me Now is ridiculous

― babu frik fan account (mh), Thursday, 30 January 2020 03:57 (five years ago)

Ooh...i gotta check that

― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 January 2020 04:04 (five years ago)

Have we polled dated anti-Bush albums?

― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Thursday, 30 January 2020 04:08 (five years ago)

tbf the albums might be dated -- and really only the one from this titled thread falls in that bucket unless you count the instrumental/jam one -- but the only sentiment that dated is that they should have been much harder on Bush

― babu frik fan account (mh), Thursday, 30 January 2020 04:17 (five years ago)

I don't know, the Eminem anti-Bush track was almost as bad as Iraq.

― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Thursday, 30 January 2020 05:14 (five years ago)

Which one, "Mosh"?

― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 January 2020 05:14 (five years ago)

In A World Gone Mad was their worst record ever but it was only a single, not a whole anti-Bush album

― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Thursday, 30 January 2020 06:18 (five years ago)

for some reason all the anti-Bush songs were fucking terrible that I can think of (barring the DJ Shadow/Zach de la Rocha single which I still play from time to time)

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, 30 January 2020 13:40 (five years ago)

that was the most painful part of the era for me, the fucking terrible protest music, it soured me on protest music entirely for a while

the anti-trump protest music is far more relatable for me, less righteous white-boy indignation and more "fucking hell, look, i don't know how but we'll get through this, ok?"

― you know my name, look up the number of the beast (rushomancy), Thursday, 30 January 2020 14:41 (five years ago)

At the time, it was just nice to see people opposing Bush, because in Florida circa 2003-2004, you were usually subject to verbal abuse for criticizing Bush or the Iraq war.

Also Bad Religion's "The Empire Strikes First" is great

― ... that's Traore! (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 January 2020 14:53 (five years ago)

Horovitz pretty bluntly admits in the BB Book that this album sucks.

― Chris L, Thursday, 30 January 2020 15:06 (five years ago)

xxxp - yeah, "Mosh"

Hail to the Thief is probably the most embarrassing artistic response on title alone even if the music isn't as bad as some.

― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Thursday, 30 January 2020 21:25 (five years ago)

one year passes...

On most rap boards, you'd be considered the troll right now.

― uh, Monday, April 26, 2004 4:23 PM bookmarkflaglink
on most rap boards people wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, April 26, 2004 4:25 PM bookmarkflaglink

― Gardyloominati (Neanderthal), Monday, 4 October 2021 16:28 (four years ago)

lol

― peace, man, Monday, 4 October 2021 17:52 (four years ago)

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