danielladrock24
11-12-2004, 07:17 AM
PARTY BOYS
Even after Kerry's defeat, Beasties fight on with the rhymes and the beats
BY STEVE KNOPPER
November 12, 2004
There is one thing that can bring down Adam Horovitz, the cheerful Beastie Boy who makes up raps such as "with the dipsy doodle/the kit and caboodle/the truth is brutal/your grandma's kugel."
Reached a week ago, just three days after the election, the unlikely political activist known as the King Ad-Rock sounds completely shell-shocked. "I'm sticking my head in the sand - for four years," he says, laughing nervously. "It's really depressing. You just have to remind yourself that the right wing, the Republicans and the Christian coalition, they can't really bring us completely down as much as they want to. We can still have parties and they're just not invited. They're not allowed to go everywhere - as much as they're going to try."
The Beastie Boys have been tilting toward politics since 1986, when Ad-Rock, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Michael "Mike D." Diamond injected a brash, bratty middle finger into hip-hop with the multi-platinum album "Licensed to Ill."
The smash "Fight for Your Right," along with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Brass Monkey," delighted frat boys everywhere, but within a decade MCA was organizing a festival supporting Tibet in its struggle against the Chinese government. Over the past year, the B Boys' politics have become more blatantly Democratic and in rhymes and statements all year, the New York rap trio have supported John Kerry for president.
They ripped the Bush administration in a 2003 song, "In a World Gone Mad," released on their Web site, and slipped lyrics such as "is the U.S. gonna keep breaking necks? Maybe it's time to impeach Tex" into this year's CD "To the 5 Boroughs." Throughout the year on their current tour - the Beastie Boys stop tonight at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale - they dedicate "Sabotage" to the president.
Was it all for naught? "I'm sure the kids were saying, 'I'm getting involved politically' because it was the thing to do. Whether they actually got [to the polls] or not, I don't know," Horovitz says. "I really hope there are more Public Enemys that are going to come out. That's basically the only good thing that's going to come of it."
Judging from "To the 5 Boroughs," a tribute to old-school New York rap that strips everything down to rhymes, beats and occasional boinging sound effects, Horovitz's sense of humor is likely to return quickly. The CD is frequently solemn - "A Letter to New York City" and the cover art of the Manhattan skyline including the World Trade Center towers will stick like a lump in the throat of even "Fight for Your Right" fans. But it's intermittently hilarious: "I've got more rhymes than Carl Sagan's got turtlenecks" goes one line.
Prompted away from politics, Horovitz notably relaxes as he shifts into lighter territory: ripping the relatively straightlaced (at least in public) Mike D., his friend and rapping partner of more than two decades. "He's just a sexy, sexual person. It's raw sex, Mike Diamond. He really stands out in that aspect," Horovitz says. "He's just borderline gross. He's always with the potty mouth, the sex talk."
Do fans or interviewers ever refer to Horovitz or Yauch as "Mike" by mistake? "Everybody's always called Mike D.," Horovitz says. "I think every white kid with a baseball cap is called Mike D."
WHEN&WHEREThe Beastie Boys, 7 tonight at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale. Tickets are $30.50-$41 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000, or at www.ticketmaster.com.
Even after Kerry's defeat, Beasties fight on with the rhymes and the beats
BY STEVE KNOPPER
November 12, 2004
There is one thing that can bring down Adam Horovitz, the cheerful Beastie Boy who makes up raps such as "with the dipsy doodle/the kit and caboodle/the truth is brutal/your grandma's kugel."
Reached a week ago, just three days after the election, the unlikely political activist known as the King Ad-Rock sounds completely shell-shocked. "I'm sticking my head in the sand - for four years," he says, laughing nervously. "It's really depressing. You just have to remind yourself that the right wing, the Republicans and the Christian coalition, they can't really bring us completely down as much as they want to. We can still have parties and they're just not invited. They're not allowed to go everywhere - as much as they're going to try."
The Beastie Boys have been tilting toward politics since 1986, when Ad-Rock, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Michael "Mike D." Diamond injected a brash, bratty middle finger into hip-hop with the multi-platinum album "Licensed to Ill."
The smash "Fight for Your Right," along with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Brass Monkey," delighted frat boys everywhere, but within a decade MCA was organizing a festival supporting Tibet in its struggle against the Chinese government. Over the past year, the B Boys' politics have become more blatantly Democratic and in rhymes and statements all year, the New York rap trio have supported John Kerry for president.
They ripped the Bush administration in a 2003 song, "In a World Gone Mad," released on their Web site, and slipped lyrics such as "is the U.S. gonna keep breaking necks? Maybe it's time to impeach Tex" into this year's CD "To the 5 Boroughs." Throughout the year on their current tour - the Beastie Boys stop tonight at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale - they dedicate "Sabotage" to the president.
Was it all for naught? "I'm sure the kids were saying, 'I'm getting involved politically' because it was the thing to do. Whether they actually got [to the polls] or not, I don't know," Horovitz says. "I really hope there are more Public Enemys that are going to come out. That's basically the only good thing that's going to come of it."
Judging from "To the 5 Boroughs," a tribute to old-school New York rap that strips everything down to rhymes, beats and occasional boinging sound effects, Horovitz's sense of humor is likely to return quickly. The CD is frequently solemn - "A Letter to New York City" and the cover art of the Manhattan skyline including the World Trade Center towers will stick like a lump in the throat of even "Fight for Your Right" fans. But it's intermittently hilarious: "I've got more rhymes than Carl Sagan's got turtlenecks" goes one line.
Prompted away from politics, Horovitz notably relaxes as he shifts into lighter territory: ripping the relatively straightlaced (at least in public) Mike D., his friend and rapping partner of more than two decades. "He's just a sexy, sexual person. It's raw sex, Mike Diamond. He really stands out in that aspect," Horovitz says. "He's just borderline gross. He's always with the potty mouth, the sex talk."
Do fans or interviewers ever refer to Horovitz or Yauch as "Mike" by mistake? "Everybody's always called Mike D.," Horovitz says. "I think every white kid with a baseball cap is called Mike D."
WHEN&WHEREThe Beastie Boys, 7 tonight at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale. Tickets are $30.50-$41 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000, or at www.ticketmaster.com.