(8.5)
I like music that infuses as many influences and styles into one as possible. The Beastie Boys were the kings of accomplishing that. Three jewish kids from the boroughs start a hardcore punk back in the late 80's, then the drop the guitars and put up the turntables.
1992's Check Your Head is when the Beastie Boys found their sound. They took the rap thing mixed with heavy metal from Licensed to Ill and combined it with the soul/funk/jazz sound form their second album, Paul's Boutique. I'm baffled just thinking about how they had this sound in '92, it sounds way before it's time.
Jimmy James starts out with a think jazzy bass line to which they do their white boy rap over adding a shit load of turntablism into the mix.
Gratitude mixes their early hardcore punk scene with some angry sounding rapping for three jews. The classic So Whatcha Want takes everything I've described so far and multiplies it by 5 for a throbber of a track. Time for Livin' is a straight hardcore punk track which proves they could have easily made it as a punk band. Everything in between is a mix of funk, jazz, punk and hip hop and collectively creates on of the first great cross over albums.
Interesting fact: The Beastie Boys debut album from 1986 was the first ever "gangster rap" album, containing lyrics of a violent and crime-ful nature. Three punks from the boroughs did it first. Never doubt the B Boys.
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