they might have started defaulting to that but they kind of did that all along?
― babu frik fan account (mh), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:45 (four years ago) link
it's something they copped from Run DMC and there's nothing wrong with it - but there's a lot more variety to the rhyming styles on the first three records. Once you get to Hello Nasty though, that's the only style they use.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:48 (four years ago) link
fair enough
I was immediately thinking of Slow and Low when you mentioned that style, and it's.. a Run DMC song recorded by the Beastie Boys
― babu frik fan account (mh), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:50 (four years ago) link
and I know I know by that point they were trying to do a million things - reggae, hardcore, jazz-funk, indie rock, whatever - and rapping just became one of many things they did, but their attention to the craft of it suffered, and as that was always one of the things that really drew me to them, it was disappointing and my attention wandered
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:50 (four years ago) link
don't get me wrong I'm not knockin' em, they went where their interests guided them and that's cool, I will always love them
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:51 (four years ago) link
The fact that they were trying to do a million things on Hello Nasty at least kept it interesting. When they decided to go to strictly hip hop with To the 5 Boroughs is probably where their lazy rhyme style ended up hurting them more.
― MarkoP, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:53 (four years ago) link
^^ agree 100%
― The Squalls Of Hate (sleeve), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:54 (four years ago) link
they definitely just started jamming on ideas based on things they liked by the mid-90s
as a teen during the mid/late 90s it was cool to listen to them as a sort of amalgamation of things you should get into, lots of musical ideas that, like the rhymes, were a grab bag of cultural references
― babu frik fan account (mh), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:55 (four years ago) link
agree on Nasty/Boroughs. Loved Hot Sauce Committee, it was a nice surprise to get another Hello Nasty type trip
― maffew12, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 16:59 (four years ago) link
I finally got around in the past year to watching the long, goofy celebrity cameo-filled video from that last album and it's in this weird technological gap where it exists online but only in a low resolution grainy version.
like there's this entire media shift that they didn't bridge as the project ended and MCA died :(
― babu frik fan account (mh), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:03 (four years ago) link
Hello Nasty was the last album I bought. Liked it initially and then less and less each listen. The production style/textures/equipment had no life to it.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:33 (four years ago) link
That's one of the crazy things about BB to me, that they never really updated their rap style from their old school roots, yet managed to make it feel adequately fresh (for at least 12+ years) by re-contextualizing it with their music/production, which was always curious and evolving.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:35 (four years ago) link
they definitely never before or after seemed to really try to write rhymes on the same level they did on Paul's Boutique
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:44 (four years ago) link
the peakhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEVKO9_ZDY
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:47 (four years ago) link
I only just noticed that they recycle (but reverse) the "We're from Manhattan, you're from Secaucus" put down from "Rock Hard" in "The New Style."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:51 (four years ago) link
I did once enjoy Ad-Rock doing his shtick whilst ordering lunch on line in front of me, but yeah.
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 17:53 (four years ago) link
I'm sure I've posted about it before, but my favorite BB story was when I went to see a history of hip-hop exhibit at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. My friend and I were freaking out that one of the only other people in there that day/time was Yauch. It must have been around sukkot, because outside the museum were all these Lubavitch Jews in wait, ready to hand out a lulav and etrog (palm frond and citrus fruit) and corner you about your beliefs. My friend and I think, aw man, we're as Jewish as they look, there's so way we can get through the gauntlet. So we prepare ourselves, but they zoom right past us and straight to Yauch. So thanks for taking the heat, Yauch.
My second favorite was seeing them right when "Check Your Head" came out, in '92, at close to the nadir of their coolness (but right before they became cooler than everybody else) at the Troc in Philly, with fIREHOSE and Basehead opening. That show ruuuuuuuuuuuled. They came out and did PE's "Sophisticated Bitch" with fIREHOSE.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:11 (four years ago) link
oh fuck yeah, fIREHOSE used to totally rip it up on that tune, I saw them do it in maybe 1989
― The Squalls Of Hate (sleeve), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:15 (four years ago) link
I was so pissed that I couldn't get anyone to drive me up to see that bill in Oakland - I think the Butthole Surfers were on it as well?
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:17 (four years ago) link
Hello Nasty is one of the few late 90's full CD runtime grab bag albums actually worth listening to from front to back
― frogbs, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:19 (four years ago) link
fIREHOSE used to totally rip it up on that tune, I saw them do it in maybe 1989
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:31 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIqxMYLEB84
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:35 (four years ago) link
As far as covers go that whole '92 live EP was pretty hip: PE, Buttholes, Wire, BOC, Superchunk. Really couldn't go wrong whichever way you went for further research after that.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 18:53 (four years ago) link
Everybody rappin like it’s a documentaryActin like life is a big documentary
― calstars, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 00:54 (four years ago) link
imo the fact they left that flub in the final take instead of recording another take is pretty indicative of their ethosit’s funny
― babu frik fan account (mh), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:09 (four years ago) link
Have they ever said what the real rhyme was supposed to be?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:17 (four years ago) link
commercial/rehearsal iirc
― babu frik fan account (mh), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 02:31 (four years ago) link
I like the flubbed version better, it just sounds cool the way he repeats it. It's like he's too cool to rhyme.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 04:21 (four years ago) link
tbh it’s pretty obvious what it’s supposed to be and I laugh and go “really, what!” when it’sbeen a while since I’ve heard it
― babu frik fan account (mh), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 04:27 (four years ago) link
so it's like a screening with live commentary... or something?
the impression i got is, they asked spike to film one of the talk/q&as they did promoting the book, and then it spiralled from a straight 'concert movie' into an actual documentary, but with the talk/q&a still as the spine of the piece. but i don't know for sure, I just know I wanna watch it.
― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 08:12 (four years ago) link
it took 26 years, but Spike Jonze finally has a Beastie Boys feature film. bless 'em all
― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 09:26 (four years ago) link
all his prior efforts have been... sabotaged?
― babu frik fan account (mh), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 13:47 (four years ago) link
🥁
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 14:20 (four years ago) link
“Sure Shot” sure sounds good in this coffee shop.
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 16:02 (four years ago) link
something that really stuck with me from the book is how much it made it clear (and this is not a knock on them) that they were fans first and musicians second. Their enthusiasm as music nerds was what really put them over - they were like really goofy curators/gatekeepers that just could not WAIT to hip their core audience (suburban white kids) to all this super-cool stuff they were into. I dunno if that sort of role is even possible anymore in this day and age, their certainly aren't very many other bands that made a career out of it the way they did.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 16:08 (four years ago) link
Absolutely. The book has such a joyous sense of fandom to it and underlines the fact that all those references were done in a genuine spirit of generosity to it. Getting into the Beasties in the late 90s totally changed my life and gave me a life-raft from all the nu-metal my mates were into.
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 18:17 (four years ago) link
listened to a long interview with mario caldato recently where he mentioned that several times as a compliment - that they were bad-to-mediocre musicians but that they loved to play, both for its own sake and as a way of exploring/taking apart the music they were into
― warn me about a lurking rake (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:12 (four years ago) link
just wanted to acknowledge this
― the public eating of beans (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:53 (four years ago) link
which interview was that? (I feel like I saw him pop up on a podcast recently, but didn't listen to it)
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:55 (four years ago) link
I always loved the story of "Sabotage" - just one of the guys banging on a single chord, thinking it was the coolest shit ever, and turning it into a hit single
― frogbs, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 19:58 (four years ago) link
I like the story about how the working title for "Sabotage" was "Chris Rock", because when they were first working it out in the studio, their friend Chris ran in and went "this is the shit!!!! This shit rocks!!!!"
― JRN, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 20:23 (four years ago) link
Jordan it was on YouTube, one of those Red Bull music academy things from a few years ago. I never heard him talk before, he seems like a really sweet guy.
― warn me about a lurking rake (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:14 (four years ago) link
Hello Nasty is a near-great album, my favorite after PB and LTI. The ideal 1998 album: like ...Endtroducing, Odelay, Dots and Loops, it embraces the most luminous part of late '90s capital-fueled musical tourism, yet HN, in its rhymes and attitudes, is also a throwback. In the Jay-Z era the Run-DMC approach was quaint AND refreshing. To work it depended on star power and good will; the Beasties had the former and projected the latter.
Not everything works, but the sinuousness of the first nine or ten tracks is impressive in itself, a helluva lot more than Ill Communication's boho mysticism.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:52 (four years ago) link
The late summer of 1998 was seven or weight weeks of "Intergalactic" on at every bar I hit; to segue to "Doo Wop (That Thing)" was nice.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:53 (four years ago) link
That star power and good will really did help, since it's otherwise so innately cornball. Hip to be square, and all that.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 January 2020 22:59 (four years ago) link
seven or weight weeksTake the load off, AlfieAlfred
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Marat/Sade (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:32 (four years ago) link
Done.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:35 (four years ago) link
Hello Nasty still sounds convincingly futuristic/techy/spacy to me, even twenty years in the rear-view mirror. I think it’s the echoey production, but it might just be that it was my soundtrack during a summer of heavy psychadelics and forays into phone phreaking.
― rb (soda), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 23:42 (four years ago) link
otm
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 January 2020 01:03 (four years ago) link
the most amazing thing that the book revealed is that they'd write lyrics individually, come together to see how they fit together, and then assign them to one of the group
they didn't write their own parts, they wrote parts that probably targeted a voice, but then decided who was going to do what collectively
― babu frik fan account (mh), Thursday, 30 January 2020 04:15 (four years ago) link