dee_bee_76
06-14-2004, 08:10 AM
Beasties are a blast from the past
Glenn Gamboa
June 15, 2004
Yes, yes, y'all, the first new Beastie Boys album in six years is serious - with loving shout-outs to post- 9/11 New York City and outright disses of President George W. Bush and his foreign policy. But it's not that serious. Really.
The bulk of "To the 5 Boroughs" (Capitol) is an old- school hip-hop hoot, packed with quick wordplay and the distinctive styles of Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Adam Yauch (MCA). For every line like "We need a bit more gun controlling," there are five lighthearted attempts to rhyme "iced latte" with "Wile E. Coyo-tay," "hot-to-trot-tay" and "maybe not-tay" and new catchphrases like "What the Helen of Troy is that?" It's a mixture of ideas that works well.
Though the Beasties insist they had no master plan when they were recording the album, they clearly wanted to show their appreciation of New York City, name-checking everything from Modell's stores to the 1 and 9 subway lines over the same kind of East Coast beats that Run-DMC and The Sugarhill Gang would have busted out back in the day.
"The Hard Way," for example, could just have easily come out in 1984, with its stripped- down beats and its references to "E.T." Same goes for "Oh Word?" with its Vocoder shout-outs and turntable- scratched chorus breaks. "Shazam!" sounds more like "Paul's Boutique"-era Beasties, a new-millennium revamp of "Shake Your Rump."
Though "To the 5 Boroughs" definitely looks back, the Beasties have come a long way since "Fight for Your Right (to Party)," both musically and lyrically. The best moments aren't the strident political statements like "Time to Build," which is essentially a "yo mama" dis that features calls for impeachment and lines like "We've got a president we didn't elect." Negativity is not really the trio's style.
Instead, the album works best when the Beasties are breaking down what makes New York City so special. In "An Open Letter to NYC," the trio raps lines like "Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan/Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin, black, white, New York you make it happen." over an insistent punk guitar line. The trio's rhymes talk about how diversity makes the city stronger and how the terrorist attacks have only strengthened that spirit - a bit naive, sure, but the positive message is still powerful. "All Lifestyles" delivers a similar ideal - "We got to keep the party going on, all lifestyles, sizes, shapes and forms" - over the album's funkiest beats.
"To the 5 Boroughs" isn't genre-breaking like several of the Beasties' previous albums as much as it's genre-affirming. It's the kind of positivity that hip- hop has been looking for, while staying streetwise and tough enough to keep the kids happy.
Will the Beasties succeed in convincing their fans to be as passionate about politics as they are? Perhaps. If nothing else, the Beastie Boys have provided protesters the perfect album to blast at Republican convention delegates in August.
"To the 5 Boroughs," in stores today; Grade: A-
Glenn Gamboa
June 15, 2004
Yes, yes, y'all, the first new Beastie Boys album in six years is serious - with loving shout-outs to post- 9/11 New York City and outright disses of President George W. Bush and his foreign policy. But it's not that serious. Really.
The bulk of "To the 5 Boroughs" (Capitol) is an old- school hip-hop hoot, packed with quick wordplay and the distinctive styles of Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Adam Yauch (MCA). For every line like "We need a bit more gun controlling," there are five lighthearted attempts to rhyme "iced latte" with "Wile E. Coyo-tay," "hot-to-trot-tay" and "maybe not-tay" and new catchphrases like "What the Helen of Troy is that?" It's a mixture of ideas that works well.
Though the Beasties insist they had no master plan when they were recording the album, they clearly wanted to show their appreciation of New York City, name-checking everything from Modell's stores to the 1 and 9 subway lines over the same kind of East Coast beats that Run-DMC and The Sugarhill Gang would have busted out back in the day.
"The Hard Way," for example, could just have easily come out in 1984, with its stripped- down beats and its references to "E.T." Same goes for "Oh Word?" with its Vocoder shout-outs and turntable- scratched chorus breaks. "Shazam!" sounds more like "Paul's Boutique"-era Beasties, a new-millennium revamp of "Shake Your Rump."
Though "To the 5 Boroughs" definitely looks back, the Beasties have come a long way since "Fight for Your Right (to Party)," both musically and lyrically. The best moments aren't the strident political statements like "Time to Build," which is essentially a "yo mama" dis that features calls for impeachment and lines like "We've got a president we didn't elect." Negativity is not really the trio's style.
Instead, the album works best when the Beasties are breaking down what makes New York City so special. In "An Open Letter to NYC," the trio raps lines like "Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten, from the Battery to the top of Manhattan/Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin, black, white, New York you make it happen." over an insistent punk guitar line. The trio's rhymes talk about how diversity makes the city stronger and how the terrorist attacks have only strengthened that spirit - a bit naive, sure, but the positive message is still powerful. "All Lifestyles" delivers a similar ideal - "We got to keep the party going on, all lifestyles, sizes, shapes and forms" - over the album's funkiest beats.
"To the 5 Boroughs" isn't genre-breaking like several of the Beasties' previous albums as much as it's genre-affirming. It's the kind of positivity that hip- hop has been looking for, while staying streetwise and tough enough to keep the kids happy.
Will the Beasties succeed in convincing their fans to be as passionate about politics as they are? Perhaps. If nothing else, the Beastie Boys have provided protesters the perfect album to blast at Republican convention delegates in August.
"To the 5 Boroughs," in stores today; Grade: A-