Never saw the Beasties do this.

[Extra Cheese]

Originally Posted by WesleyOHSnaps!

I don’t think they actually say the N word

lol, I don’t know Man, When I listen to the first n-bomb a little too hard I even hear an ‘er at the end lol

We like the band so we’ll give it a pass or even defend it but It ain’t right. I don’t however subscribe to the thought of ‘95 being a different time as an excuse, non black people using it now get shit for it, if Twitter, Instagram, smartphones were around back then I’m sure they would catch heat for it too.

This was posted back back back in the day on these boards, maybe not the same exact show but Using tip’s lyrics when they did it live. I think the tone of the post was the same, some disagree, some agree, some defended it

Personally, I want to hear more from Dr. Dre. I bet the Apollo story was definitely true lol

[dust monkey]

Originally Posted by Extra Cheese

I don’t however subscribe to the thought of ‘95 being a different time as an excuse...

2 cents.

i do subscribe to the thought of different time/different place. better perhaps in some regard, less so in others. i said bad bad things to a lot of people, i rapped along to NWA loud, i quoted chappelle's rick james skit many a time "they gave you ... too much money". today...nope unless alone in my car and nobody next to me at a stoplight. this is part of the reason newish hip hop doesn't appeal to me. not because the bars and beats aren't sometimes better, the word just got harder to rock with the older i get. anyway i def think there's something to different time/different place. having said that, people are so god damned sensitive nowadays i'm just tired of the judging/cancelling for shit that was said 20 years ago. it's gone too far & i'm prob the most liberal leaning person i personally know. it was said, hopefully you learned something and matured and that's it...keep movin'.

i mean how we ever going to get Desperado if things like this are scrutinized....big picture my friends.

[Jiberish]

Originally Posted by dust monkey

2 cents.

it was said, hopefully you learned something and matured and that's it...keep movin'.

I'd rather be a hypocrite than a zombie - Ad Rock

Over The Years, I've Grown And Changed So Much
Things I Know Now Years Ago, I Couldn't Touch
There Are Things I've Done That I Wouldn't Do Again
But I'm Glad That I Did 'Cause I've Learned From Them - MCA

i've got a hole in my head and there's no one to fix it
got to straighten my thoughts, i'm thinking too much sick shit
everyone just takes and takes, takes, takes, takes
i've got to step back, i've got to contemplate - Mike D

I've thought about these lyrics (and quote) a lot as I get older, and I gotta say, it's one of the things that keeps me firmly "in it" as far as diehard fan. I love that they acknowledge mistakes and keeping yourself in check. Both lyrically, and when put on the spot about changes to their public persona.

For me at least, I come back to these thoughts when I realize I've grown and changed and other people I'm close with haven't. I'm only responsible for myself. And it's on me to make sure I end up a better person than I was when I was 15-25-35 whatever age. end stream of conscious pre-coffee thoughts.

[WesleyOHSnaps!]

Originally Posted by Extra Cheese

lol, I don’t know Man, When I listen to the first n-bomb a little too hard I even hear an ‘er at the end lol

We like the band so we’ll give it a pass or even defend it but It ain’t right. I don’t however subscribe to the thought of ‘95 being a different time as an excuse, non black people using it now get shit for it, if Twitter, Instagram, smartphones were around back then I’m sure they would catch heat for it too.

This was posted back back back in the day on these boards, maybe not the same exact show but Using tip’s lyrics when they did it live. I think the tone of the post was the same, some disagree, some agree, some defended it

Personally, I want to hear more from Dr. Dre. I bet the Apollo story was definitely true lol

I by no means was defending them. I was just saying it was hard for me to make it. It’s not cool if they said now or then. I wish they didn’t, but I guess they did and that sucks. But as with the Beastie Boys they would own up to it and apologize for being stupid.

[cj hood]

Didn't mean to cause a shit storm. It was just something new.
But on the same note...this was the era they took the word pimp out of SYR.
'like a shrimp i'm shrimpin'

[brooklyndust]

This is disappointing. There is no defending it.

For me the arguments of it being a different time doesn't fly. I grew up in the 90's, it wasn't ok to say. Not saying that we haven't all made mistakes but there was no grey area here.

As it was already mentioned, if the Dr. Dre Apollo story is true, then they already had their own lesson / experiment on how they shouldn't say it: https://www.spin.com/1998/09/story-y...eastie-boys/2/

That being said other MC's and artists have said it, two that come to mind off the top of my head is Bob Dylan on 'Hurricane' and Zack de la Rocha on 'I'm Housin' with context and covering being the guise, and maybe that was the Beasties approach was but who knows.

I don't know if it was a bet, maybe they got the go ahead from someone else in the band or what they were thinking. But as a fan who is inspired, motivated and sometimes guided by their art, it sucks. On the other hand I have also learned to stop lionizing artists. They're just people. To err is human and I am in no position to judge anyone or to stand on any moral high ground.

There is a Beastie Boys Facebook group and some person got called out for saying something racist and they responded by saying something along the lines of "Beastie Boys themselves say the N word on Get It Together" I chimed in saying they never did, and now I stand corrected. And that's another reason why it sucks because idiots like that are going to see it as a pass.

Side note on the "PC police, cancel culture" debate. Obviously there is a lot more sensitivity and some could argue an over correction. But we are also just hearing previously silenced people say "fuck off, these things were never ok to say, we just weren't allowed to say anything before" Plus everyone who seems to be complaining of being "cancelled" seems to be doing it from a platform that they're not cancelled from while making tons of money doing so. Making some oppressed people think they're not yelling "Fuck Off" loud enough.

[Uru-Nitro]

Not defending any kind of racism at all, but I see the paradox in being wrong for they to sing the lyrics of one of their own songs. Probably it's unfortunate, and that's why MCA doen't say that word, but maybe with the spur of the moment mike and adrock just spitted the rhymes that happened to be the last word of the verses (so it's not a word you can't hide so easily).
Again, not defending it, but I don't think this even close to a "Cosmo Kramer racist show" situation

[Laver1969]

Racism is schism on a serious tip.

Who is to know if they just got caught up singing Q-tip’s lyrics because they are in the actual song? Or if they had a big meeting to discuss it, weighing the pros and cons? Or if they were trying to make some sort of statement? Or didn’t think twice and just let it fly because times were different than they are now.

I know they definitely wouldn’t make that same decision today. They’ve grown and changed and evolved over time.

[dust monkey]

An Oral History of the Beastie Boys: “The Story of Yo”

"Doctor Dre: I was onstage at the famous we-almost-got-killed concert at the Apollo Theater, opening for Run-D.M.C. Everybody was like, “Look, whatever you do, don’t say ‘nigger'” — because it was part of what we did, before a lot of people were doing that in hip-hop. They didn’t mean it in a negative way, they meant it as something warm and generous to their audience. But Russell grabs me and says, “Don’t let ‘em do it.” And I’m like, “What am I gonna do? I’m in the back DJing.” So they’re out there doing “She’s On It,” and Ad-Rock says, “All you niggers, wave your hands in the air!” I’ve never seen so many blank stares! Mike looks back like he doesn’t know what to do, but Yauch was like, I’m out of here! And Ad-Rock’s going, “Come on y’all, come on y’all,” and nobody’s waving back. They finished the song, dropped the mics, and ran off the stage. I’m still out there, and everybody’s kind of looking at me. I run upstairs to the dressing rooms, and everything’s gone. They weren’t even on the tour bus. They all jumped in a cab and went home."