'Paul's Boutique' at 25: The Beastie Boys grew up fast

[Edited 7/30/14 8:47am]

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[Edited 8/21/17 18:16pm]

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Here's another version of the Shadrach video

RIP Adam "MCA" Yauch and Don Cornelius

[Edited 8/21/17 18:26pm]

I remember I saw the Beastie Boys back in 1998. I was only 12 at the time, but since I was the youngest of three and had some rather hip siblings, I knew who they were VERY well. I had been to a few concerts already at that point, but nothing really could have prepared me for the B Boys. A Tribe Called Quest opened (something Im very proud to have seen as they broke up a few months later), and they were fantastic. Anyway, the Beasties proceeded to blow my young mind. After that, it was worshipping time.

Since this was the cycle for "Hello Nasty", MTV put together a fantastic documentary about them, and they went into great detail about pretty much every facet of their careers at that point (From Rick Rubin pressuring them to fire Kate Schellenbach in the early days all the way up to Hello Nasty hitting Number 1 on the Billboard). Last I checked, the documentary should still be on youtube. Anyway, whenever I earned money from chores and had a chance to hit the mall, I'd acquire another Beastie album.

I remember the night I bought "Paul's Boutique" very well. It was a day off from school in the middle of the week, and a few friends and myself went to the mall. We were all outside in this secluded area smoking cigs (SO cool), and I was busy to myself looking at the case, and the insert and what have you.

When I first listened to it, it most certainly grabbed me, but not in the way that everyone thats a true music fan sees the record as. To my young ears, it was bombastic, funny, and most definitely eclectic. In the doc I talked about earlier, the section thats dedicated to this album explained the great labor of love that both the Beasties and Dust Brothers put into this, but how could a 12 year old that was really beginning to explore his love for music really appreciate that labor?

The fact that this album STILL gets discovered to this day should really tell you something. Everything about the album just reeks of meticoulousness, and (most importantly) chemistry. Layer upon layer of samples and overall chaos in it's music requires repeated listens, and its almost a given that no matter how many times one has played this record, they are almost guaranteed to find something new on it. And for people to obsess over this record and search for things they have missed before is not only a testament to it's reputation, but for just how goddamn genius this album is, and theres a reason why it flopped.

In all honesty, how could the general public really grasp this record? The Beastie Boys the masses knew of were a bunch of corny, bratty Jewish white guys with simplistic rhymes over even more simplistic beats. Easy to understand, and even easier to digest (And come on, who DOESNT like License to Ill?!). For them to release PB after License To Ill....yeah, the album rightfully and understandably went over the heads of those that treat music as an object, not as the art that it truly is. Even if said general public didnt exactly "get" Paul's Boutique, maybe the album just came out at a wrong time in a decade that reeks of excess, and over-production (something this album is guilty of ironically enough). Whatever the case may be, this album is the introduction to the Beastie Boys that those arrogant music snobs noticed.

It's also well-known that the Beasties wanted to be taken seriously after the melee of License. Even if PB didn't exactly set the world on fire sales-wise (Has it even gone platinum yet?), the respect and admiration that was born with this record should be satisfaction enough. They really created something magical here, and from here to eternity, this album has and will continue to be discovered as not only a hip-hop masterpiece, but a masterpiece of musical art and modern art as a whole. This album is fucking dope. Ask for Janice..

(To paraphrase here) "It was the dirty secret in the ghetto, everybody knew Paul's Boutique had the best beats"- Chuck D

Love this album! 'specially the last track with all the little snippets up there. "Shot a man in Brooklyn... (just to watch him die ). Dope shit.

This is one of my top five hip hop albums ever.

first thing i do when i wake up is blast beastie boys .. im so feelin theyre stuff right now its like im plugged in and the world makes better sense when im listening to it

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