The Onion's review of TT5B

[Rhyme Reviser]

Beastie Boys has long claimed dual musical citizenship. The trio ranks as one of rap's most beloved (though least prolific) groups, but the rock world has not only accepted it, but embraced it in a way it never has any other hip-hop group. Beastie Boys' members have at least partially reciprocated rock's affection by straying from rap regularly on their last few albums, but they wholly return to the genre with To The 5 Boroughs.

The Beastie Boys singles "Intergalactic" and "Root Down" were permeated with old-school love, but Adam Yauch, Mike Diamond, and Adam Horovitz have never plunged as enthusiastically into hip-hop's past (and their own) as they do on their latest disc, a loving tribute to their home and to hip-hop's birthplace. The video for the infectious, horn-blasted first single "Ch-Check It Out" is illustrative: It's yet another gleefully kitschy game of postmodern dress-up, but it also has a greatest-hits quality, as if the group is rifling through its own back pages for inspiration. Boroughs unabashedly travels backward, but like Missy Elliott's similarly retro-minded Under Construction, it's so joyful that it makes regression feel progressive and growth overrated.

On the first Beastie Boys album in six years, the band manages the difficult feat of being responsible role models and irreverent goof-offs at the same time, casting one disapproving eye at the president—most notably on "Time To Build"—and the other on the scourge known as the sucka MC. When not raising pop- and junk-culture referencing to an art form, indulging their love for silly voices, sampling old-school sound bites, or spitting braggadocio, the Beasties soft-sell inclusiveness and basic human decency with the same infectious high spirit they once brought to celebrating boorishness and bad behavior.

Gone are Hello Nasty's singing and stylistic experimentation, Check Your Head's funky instrumentals, Ill Communication's breakneck hardcore, and Paul's Boutique's kaleidoscopic production. To The 5 Boroughs isn't anywhere near as ambitious as those records, but it's also the group's tightest and most cohesive album since Licensed To Ill.

It would be tempting, in fact, to call it a return to that breakthrough album, but many of its touchstones actually predate Ill, especially "Triple Trouble," which jacks the beat from The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," which in turn jacked its beat from Chic. With To The 5 Boroughs, Beastie Boys' members discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent musical era, affording listeners the exuberance of youth along with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience. —Nathan Rabin

[King Schmaltz]

Awesome review!



... if only it were in the right forum. :D
I'm just bein' a prick. Thanks for posting it. Haven't checked out the new Onion yet and was starting to think they'd never get around to reviewing it.

[Michelle*s_Farm]

Short but sweet. Nice read.

[Laver1969]

That's an awesome review. Very will written.

[MMBKG]

That is a very nice review. Sort of gives you a new perspective of the album, in a way. It's straight-up Hip Hop.

[Auton]

The Onion never fails

[sethgale]

Great review, but I take some issues with his comparison of "License to Ill" and "TT5B" as both tight and cohesive. Yes, these two albums are the endcaps of the B-boys 6 studio album discography, but they are very different in my view. License to Ill is not cohesive, although it rocks and has poppy single potential of virtually every track, from Paul Revere, to Brass Monkey, to Fight for Your Right. But, that album is from a different era (and it really defined that era for a lot of music fans) and I think its tightness is thrown off track by its cheekiness and acceptable immaturity. TT5B is MUCH more cohesive and is more or less the Beasties' "Abbey Road" as opposed to their "Please, Please Me" or "Hard Day's Night" (excuse the analogy). That is, License to Ill is more pre-pubescent where TT5B is post-pubescent with a twist of Hypnotic and not a trace of flannel shirts, acne, or porno magazines. I rest my case?

[balohna]

I thought the Onion did fake news.

[fred-man]

Great review, but I take some issues with his comparison of "License to Ill" and "TT5B" as both tight and cohesive. Yes, these two albums are the endcaps of the B-boys 6 studio album discography, but they are very different in my view. License to Ill is not cohesive, although it rocks and has poppy single potential of virtually every track, from Paul Revere, to Brass Monkey, to Fight for Your Right. But, that album is from a different era (and it really defined that era for a lot of music fans) and I think its tightness is thrown off track by its cheekiness and acceptable immaturity. TT5B is MUCH more cohesive and is more or less the Beasties' "Abbey Road" as opposed to their "Please, Please Me" or "Hard Day's Night" (excuse the analogy). That is, License to Ill is more pre-pubescent where TT5B is post-pubescent with a twist of Hypnotic and not a trace of flannel shirts, acne, or porno magazines. I rest my case?

Not that I totally disagree..... however, I once thought Licensed was the best album of theirs... then I heard Paul's.... then Check..... and so on...and thought, hell LTI kinda sucks.... but now I go back and think that Licensed, although immature, is very mature and revolutionary it was for a reason. Listen to the beats, the mixing, the lyric (wether you agree with them being all womanizing or not).... this is all why they were not a one album wonder...........
They have always had skills to pay the bills.... and on TT5B it was a great mix back to old school LTI while keeping funky and fresh. So it kinda was a recapping.

[fred-man]

I thought the Onion did fake news.
Fake news....
but not fake reviews.

It confused me at first too. I didn't know if the advertisements were real either.... but they are as well.

[baltogrl71]

Beastie Boys has long claimed dual musical citizenship. The trio ranks as one of rap's most beloved (though least prolific) groups, but the rock world has not only accepted it, but embraced it in a way it never has any other hip-hop group. Beastie Boys' members have at least partially reciprocated rock's affection by straying from rap regularly on their last few albums, but they wholly return to the genre with To The 5 Boroughs.

The Beastie Boys singles "Intergalactic" and "Root Down" were permeated with old-school love, but Adam Yauch, Mike Diamond, and Adam Horovitz have never plunged as enthusiastically into hip-hop's past (and their own) as they do on their latest disc, a loving tribute to their home and to hip-hop's birthplace. The video for the infectious, horn-blasted first single "Ch-Check It Out" is illustrative: It's yet another gleefully kitschy game of postmodern dress-up, but it also has a greatest-hits quality, as if the group is rifling through its own back pages for inspiration. Boroughs unabashedly travels backward, but like Missy Elliott's similarly retro-minded Under Construction, it's so joyful that it makes regression feel progressive and growth overrated.

On the first Beastie Boys album in six years, the band manages the difficult feat of being responsible role models and irreverent goof-offs at the same time, casting one disapproving eye at the president—most notably on "Time To Build"—and the other on the scourge known as the sucka MC. When not raising pop- and junk-culture referencing to an art form, indulging their love for silly voices, sampling old-school sound bites, or spitting braggadocio, the Beasties soft-sell inclusiveness and basic human decency with the same infectious high spirit they once brought to celebrating boorishness and bad behavior.

Gone are Hello Nasty's singing and stylistic experimentation, Check Your Head's funky instrumentals, Ill Communication's breakneck hardcore, and Paul's Boutique's kaleidoscopic production. To The 5 Boroughs isn't anywhere near as ambitious as those records, but it's also the group's tightest and most cohesive album since Licensed To Ill.

It would be tempting, in fact, to call it a return to that breakthrough album, but many of its touchstones actually predate Ill, especially "Triple Trouble," which jacks the beat from The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," which in turn jacked its beat from Chic. With To The 5 Boroughs, Beastie Boys' members discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent musical era, affording listeners the exuberance of youth along with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience. —Nathan Rabin
exactly!

[lionelcrush]

TT5B IS SO INCREDIBLE . AD ROCK AND MIKE D BOTH STEPPED UP THEIR RYMES ,, THEY JUST GET NICER AND NICER .. THE BEATS R DEFINETLY MADE TO BE BLASTED IN A GOOD CAR STERIO CUZ IT JUST CUTS THROUGH EVERYTHING ... AND I HAVE MAD RESPECT FOR MIX MASTER MIKE DEVELOPING THOSE BEATS .. THE B BOYS DEFINETLY MADE THE RIGHT MOVE GOING WITH HIM .. HE UNDERSTANDS ALOT ABOUT THE B BOYS STYLE AND HOW UNIVERSAL THEY ARE .. OPEN LETTER TO NYC REMINDS ME OF A LINKIN PARK BEAT WHICH BLOWS CUZ I HATE THEM BUT EITHER WAY TT5B IS CRAZY AND THEIR NEXT ALBUM IS GONNA BE CRAZY TO .. THEY DONT COPME OUT WIT BAD SHIT EVER!!

[Bobtwi]

TT5B IS SO INCREDIBLE . AD ROCK AND MIKE D BOTH STEPPED UP THEIR RYMES ,, THEY JUST GET NICER AND NICER .. THE BEATS R DEFINETLY MADE TO BE BLASTED IN A GOOD CAR STERIO CUZ IT JUST CUTS THROUGH EVERYTHING ... AND I HAVE MAD RESPECT FOR MIX MASTER MIKE DEVELOPING THOSE BEATS .. THE B BOYS DEFINETLY MADE THE RIGHT MOVE GOING WITH HIM .. HE UNDERSTANDS ALOT ABOUT THE B BOYS STYLE AND HOW UNIVERSAL THEY ARE .. OPEN LETTER TO NYC REMINDS ME OF A LINKIN PARK BEAT WHICH BLOWS CUZ I HATE THEM BUT EITHER WAY TT5B IS CRAZY AND THEIR NEXT ALBUM IS GONNA BE CRAZY TO .. THEY DONT COPME OUT WIT BAD SHIT EVER!!
Uh MMM doesnt (didnt)develope the beats.

[spideybodymover]

i think that if you listen to tt5b long enough you can sort of pick out the little pieces of there old stuff. like not exact rip-offs, but you can still hear that old beastie boy sound. it truly is a great comeback album. even though they never left. (y)

[SuckerMC]

Word!