It's here. Finally. "To the 5 Boroughs" (Capitol Records), the Beastie Boys' highly-anticipated first full-length
album in six years, has hit records shops and online music stores.
Six years! Damn, dawg! That's a long, long time!
"To the 5 Boroughs" is the Beastie Boys re-entry (don't call it a "comeback," as LL Cool J would
say) to a world and a hip-hop culture much changed since the release of its last album, "Hello Nasty,"
in 1998. That was
the era of the dotcom revolution, soaring stock markets, full-employment, a booming economy and what
seemed like--at the time--a blindingly bright future.
"Hello Nasty" was
pre-Napster and pre-9/11. A product of the Old Normal. In hip-hop terms, it was pre-Mos Def and pre-"Roots Come Alive." Outkast
was a prophecy still waiting to be fulfilled and waiting to fill arenas. Jay Z was contemplating
his next success, not retirement. Lil' Jon, Lil' Flip and Lil' Romeo were, well, way lil'er.
And Eminem--who had even heard of Eminem? MTV was just one channel.
In other words, a lot has happened in six years. Not the least of which is that the Beasties have
entered early middle age. So the question is do the Beastie Boys still have it? After six years, do they still have their
mojo?
The anwser is yes ... and no. They've got the mojo--there's no doubt about that. But they're not
quite the same Beastie Boys. And that, as Martha Stewart would say, is a good thing.
"To the 5 Boroughs" is the Beastie's sparest, most hip-hop record to date. Its tracks are more focused, tighter, groovier
than the group's previous collections.
The beats are thicker, heavier and hark to old-school hip hop, though not by emulating the old-school style but
rather by sampling old school beats and rhythms and building them into an entirely new
and original sound: Call it Beastie Boys 2004.
It is as nearly perfect an album as the Beasties have ever made. But "5 Boroughs" is not without its flaws. And no
matter how many times we listen to it we can't help but think there's something missing.
"To the 5 Boroughs" has none of the forays into jazz, folksy ditties, dub or skate-punk that
artfully punctuated and successfully relieved the main course of breakbeats, samples and mostly
comic rap lyrics of preceding Beastie's albums.
This is not a weakness of the album, but a disappointment. Who can forget Lee Scratch
Perry's sweet and poignant reggae-dub number on "Hello Nasty" or Money Mark Nishita's
laidback, West Coast jazz-style keyboards on "Ill Communication." These surprises were gems that
proved the Beastie Boys were so much more than meets the eye.
And rarely are the 15 tracks on "5 Boroughs" overweight with samples and noise as on earlier discs,
especially "Hello Nasty," which--as wonderful a record as it is--at times felt over produced.
Only two tracks sound like they may have survived from the "Hello Nasty"-era repetoire: "Right
Right Now Now" and "The Brouhaha," which are built on samples of harpsichord riffs.
The two stand out tracks are "Ch-Check It Out," which debuted a couple of
months ago as a single, and "Triple Trouble," an instantly likeable tune sung partially by King Adrock (Adam
Horovitz) in an exagerrated faux British accent.
"Triple Trouble" not only comes across as the disc's most polished and catchiest tune, it showcases the
Beastie Boys' flow at its best while offering a tempered dose of the group's trademark goofiness. The
track is a surprisngly spare number built around a lifted sample from the classic and really old-school
hip hop track "Rapper's Delight," complete with funky piano riff and Latin cowbell percussion.
The Beastie Boys have never pulled punches with their lyrics, but more often these were humorous stabs, playful,
comically barbed jabs, sometimes crude and borderline offensive. But on "5 Boroughs" the lyrical content is far more explicit in
political expression than anything the rap trio has previously recorded. Four tracks into the album
on "Time to Build," the Beastie Boys go to school on U.S. foreign policy and President Bush ...
We've got a president we didn't elect
the Kyoto treaty he decided to neglect
And still the U.S. just wants to flex
Keep doin' that wop we gonna break our necks
In the last third of the disc, the serious tone returns in "An Open Letter to NYC," a track
that will have a lot of people talking. As with the album's title, the tune is a tribute
to the Beastie Boys' home town and filled with references to 9/11 and post-terrorist-attack New
York.
Since 9/11 we're still livin' and lovin' life we've been given.
Ain't nothin' gonna take that away
from us.
We're lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust.
Dear New York I know a lot
has changed.
2 towers down but you're still in the game.
We can't stop playing "Open Letter." It's infectious. Plus we're New Yorkers ourselves, so we're naturally curious given the tune's title.
But a couple of things about the track
seem off. In some way, the lyrics and rap style misfire. The Beasties' flow on "Open Letter" at moments feels
too forced and unnatural and
overly-enunciated, though it is precisely this latter quality that has endeared the trio's rap style on more
comical turns at the mic. What's more, it's been close to three
years since 9/11, so the song's sentiments seem already dated, unintentionally underscoring the fact that
for most New Yorkers the collective grieving over 9/11 is long over. We needed this song two years
ago. (But, hey, better late than never, right?).
But "Open Letter" isn't really a song about 9/11 anyway; it's a paean to the City
That Never Sleeps and on that level it works best. The tune is also a surpisngly innovative recording, reworking sped-up snippets of
edgy, undulating guitar riffs, which are offset by a muted, high-pitched hum of electronic feedback that provides the tune's
underlying rhythmic tension.
"To the 5 Boroughs" is an enhanced CD, meaning it comes with a bonus digital video, "Rhyme the Rhyme Well,"
that will play on most computers. The video, directed by Adam Yauch (MCA) under the name of his
alter-ego Nathaniel Hornblower, was shot on a Tribeca roof in the middle of a blizzard.
What "To the 5 Boroughs" ultimately proves is that MCA, Mike D. and Adrock can still rock a party and come
correct on their mics in 2004. It also proves that rarest of birds in popular music: the ability
to achieve longevity and remain relevant within a pop culture landscape that is changing faster
than ever.
--Instamatic + Micropundit
RELATED LINKS
+ Beastie Boys Web Site
+ Beastie Boys Music Videos Online [BeastieBoys.com]
