To the 5 Burroughs
Beastie Boys
Capitol Records
$29.95
REVIEW BY NICK FREDMAN
The Beastie Boys, three weedy-looking Jewish guys with whining voices, were never the most obvious candidates for hip hop superstardom. However for over two decades they've served up innovative beats and rhythms and witty rhymes, and their latest album, To the 5 Borroughs, adds a new, progressive political edge to their work.
Adam Horovitz, Michael Diamond and Adam Yauch formed the Beastie Boys as teenagers active in the early 1980s New York hardcore punk scene. They soon saw hip hop, music anyone could make by rhyming over records, as a natural extension of the punk DIY ethos. Sporting new hip hop names (Adrock, Mike D and MCA), they became early stars of the Def Jam label and championed acts like Public Enemy.
Their early frat-boy image was typified by their first hit, in 1986, "Fight For Your Right to Party". Later, trying to assert a more progressive stance, the Beastie Boys' early antics came back to haunt them: when in 1995 they refused to play with British techno act Prodigy due to the latter's sexist song "Smack My Bitch Up", critics pointed to an early Beastie video featuring women in chains. The Boys now say this whole image was all due to major label pressure on impressionable youths.
However their early success gave the Beasties considerable independence. Their second, 1989, album, Paul's Boutique, released on their own label, was greeted with critical acclaim for the Beasties mastery of live funk as well as the hip hop staples of sampling, turntable mixing and scratching and witty word-play.
Their fourth album, Ill Communication, in 1994, continued their absurdist take on rap braggery but also began to express in music and lyric their interest in Buddhism and non-violence, also shown in their long-term involvement in benefit concerts for Tibetan independence.
Their 1998 release, Hello Nasty, contained a few anti-corporate rhymes, perhaps reflecting a new mood of dissent in the US. They also began doing benefits for radical black journalist, condemned to death on trumped-up charges, Mumia Abu-Jamal and supported Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential bid in 2000.
However September 11, 2001, seems to be the key date for the politicisation of the Beasties. They participated in benefit concerts aimed at supporting the victims of the terrorist hits, but not promoting nationalistic flag-waving.
The hits and the aftermath inspired the Beasties to return to the studio after a long break, where they've laboured until recently. They paused only in March 2003 to release as a free download their most political song to date, "A World Gone Mad", while the US prepared to invade Iraq. Their anti-war, anti-corporate message was now far more explicit: "Now how many people must get killed?/For oil families pockets to get filled?... We need health care more than going to war/You think it's democracy they're fighting for?"
After more than two years of recording, the Beasties emerged with To the 5 Burroughs, referring to the main districts of New York City. They've downed "real" instruments in favour of sampling and programming on this album, but there's still plenty of funk along with the kind of quirky electronica they developed on Hello Nasty.
Lyrically there's still a lot of mock-macho rap absurdity ("I got more rhymes than Carl Sagan's got turtlenecks"), but also an indictment of President George Bush's USA, and a call for ordinary people to take action to change society.
"Right Right Now Now" covers gun violence, with a nod to Michael Moore: "Columbine bowling, children stolen/we need a bit more gun controlling". On "It Takes Time to Build" the Beasties range over sustainability, militarism and the need for change: "Stop building SUVs strung out on OPEC... When it's time to wreck shop then shop I'll wreck/We need a little shift on towards the left... Is the US gonna keep breaking necks?/ Maybe it's time we impeach Tex and the military muscle he wants to flex".
The need for change is continued on "We Got The", with the Beasties rapping "If you want it, be the change/Like Gandhi and MLK/ Wait up, got to change the system. Need knowledge, power and wisdom/ Same way I rock this microphone/speak up, just let it be known".
Much of the album is an ode to New York City and its multicultural, diverse nature. It could be thought that the Beasties, while denouncing racism at a number of points, lack class analysis, with lines such as "Writers, prize fighters and Wall Street traders/We come together on the subway cars/Diversity unified, whoever you are" ("An Open Letter to NYC"). But whatever the limitations of their radical pacifism, the Beasties have come a long way from their sexist yob roots.
When some of the biggest stars in the biggest genre in popular music become dissenters, we know the radicalisation is getting deep. We should take heart from the last lines of this album: "Who got the power to make a difference? Who got the power to make a change? Who got the power to make a difference? We got the, we got the, we got the ...".
From Green Left Weekly, September 29, 2004.
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