Licensed to Ill

ALL I REALLY WANT IS GIRLS

This is a very good early rap album. "The New Style" feels like it could have been written in the modern day with how many gangsta rap cliches it incorporates. The rest of the album continues in this vein, sending up frat bro and party culture. However, the vocal stylings were decidedly not great. Each Beastie only seems to have one voice that they use consistently throughout the record, and the interplay tends to follow a specific pattern.

načelno za trojku al mi je pjesma "girls" tolko usrala doživljaj, brate...

Maybe not as good as their two next albums, but still a gooood time. Almost a 5 for me

There’s something almost genius to how stupidly fun this is

No one can deny they have a unique sound! But as previously discussed, it's not for me. And I feel extra validated in my Beastie hating after reading they were originally gonna call this album "Don't Be a [f-slur]". Excuse me?!

Good album cover though.

"I'll steal your honey like I stole your bike" is a line in LFO's 'Summer Girls'! I didn't know it was from here! (I wish LFO were on this list instead of the Beasties.)

'Girls' is supposed to mock misogynistic rappers, but I think it suffers from the Borat problem (=people are gonna miss the mockery and keep the misogyny). Ha, and exactly the same for 'Fight For Your Right to Party', although that's about ~lifestyle~ instead. (Wiki quotes Mike D saying: "There were tons of guys singing along to 'Fight for Your Right' who were oblivious to the fact it was a total goof on them"). That's often a risk of mockery and big audiences, I guess.

I have a soft spot for 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' because my favorite podcaster advertises Brooklinen bedding by saying "No Sleep Till Brooklinen". But that's not enough to save this album from joining the terrible 2s!

whole thing hits

This is an absolute hip-hop classic, I mean this was the first rap LP to top Billboard: it's a vital piece of hip-hop history. The synergy between Ad-Rock MCA and Mike D is infectious and thrilling, and Rick Rubin's production is just sick: a lot of the rock in the band's DNA comes out in his sampling on here. And a lot of these songs hit, and when they hit, they hit hard: Rhymin & Stealin, The New Style, Posse In Effect, Time To Get Ill and more have un-fucking-believable beats. We also have an example of prime early hip hop storytelling on Paul Revere. And the bigger singles here largely hit too. For one, Brass Monkey is incredibly funky. And there's also the rock songs here: Fight For Your Right, and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. I love no sleep, the flow is sick, and it has the better Kerry King solo. Honestly, I like Fight For Your Right, but I could kind of take or leave it, it feels a little played out to me. And there are a couple others that don't quite do it for me as well. She's Crafty is also not bad, but again, I could take it or leave it. Slow Ride's sampling can be a little annoying if I'm in the wrong mood. And Girls is the only song that I think is more or less bad: I realize it's a joke, but God this song's obnoxious. Also, there are a bunch of lyrics here that have aged pretty badly that The Beastie Boys have distanced themselves from. Basically, this is a really great album, but there's definitely a little growing room. And they did grow into it: The Beastie Boys have a good few albums that I prefer to this one. But I did really like this, and I don't want to understate its impact.

Hell yeah finally a great album again here

Party rock rap, that isn't as dumb as it's trying to be.

You know what? I'm going to be predictable and 5* this. It was ridiculous, silly, and really fun to listen to. :)

Decent with some fun tracks. Definitely should keep these guys' heads in some jars for over 1000 years to let them keep partying. 4/5

The whole album is a fun delight.

You can really tell this was produced by Rick Rubin. Striking stylistic similarities between She's Crafty and 99 Problems released 18 years layer by a much better rapper.

I'm gonna assume the rap style and the corny lyrics are intentional. Girls genuinely made me chuckle. Similar to how Eminem would so I can see how this would influence him.

They also can't get all the credit for this style of rock/rap when acts like Run DMC clearly influenced them.

3/5.

Initially, thought I'd get past the old-school flows due to the whole frat bro rapping angle, and the magic never fully wore off, but couldn't always suspend the disbelief. Not to say that I dislike that style of rapping, but like all the old school hip hop records I've had previously, it's just not what I'm looking for in hip hop. That said, there are still some absolutely bangers on this record like No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Fight For Your Right.

Additionally, the sample work on this record is top notch, and its insane how they did this back in 1986 and yet artists today struggle to do anything more than the absolute bare minimum of rapping over the original track unchanged.

Still gets a 4 though because the musical ideas on this thing are still miles ahead of a lot of hip hop records today.

3.5. There were some straight bangers, and there was some cringey mess. Overall, I actually think Paul’s Boutique was a better album. I never realized just how much classic rock was used for samples in Beastie Boys early work. I think I’ll give it a 4, but it’s just barely.

Told my son this was my album of the day.
His response: “it’s not musical genius but I bet we listened to it about a billion times”.
Head:4 stars. Heart: 5 freaking stars!

Another great one from Beastie Boys. So many bangers. It's intense compared to some of their work in a cool way.

Like the other beastie boys album we have very recently: great energy and sampling. This one maybe a bit more rock influenced. Also special mention to the use of the drums from When the Levee Breaks in the first song.

BRASS MONKEY. THAT FUNKY MONKEY

ou queria odiar muito mais do que odiei viu.
rap rock mas sem se levar a sério. bem produzido e caótico. os branquelo sabia de algo, de fato