Adam Yauch Remembered

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Verbal Spacey

I could have gone with a hundred different Beastie Boys videos or tracks to lead this post off, but I decided “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” was fitting for a couple of reasons. The opening skit they perform embodies their entire career. They are 100% hip-hop but have blended many genre lines since their inception. Plus this is arguably their most recognizable song of their vast catalog.

I can remember back home in Rhode Island almost never hearing Beastie Boys records on the rap stations, maybe when I was in high school and they’d throw this song on the lunch-time-rewind shows. But WAAF in Boston played their fair share of Beasties, as did WHJY in Providence, both stations predominantly rock-based. There is no editorializing here, it just always struck me as odd that it worked out that way back home. But, that’s radio. And they do fucked up things.

My best friend from elementary school through high school and I would rock his brother’s Beastie Boys tapes until they wore out. I remember buying him Paul’s Boutique for his birthday one year. At Strawberries for probably $19.99. I remember he got the Anthology for Christmas the year that came out and we made his mom play it in their Suburban. We would listen to the Beastie Boys and stare at his posters of Jenny McCarthy scantily clad for hours on end. The trio was on in the background during our first halfies, that’s for sure. Shout out to Jenny McCarthy, where ever the fuck you are.  My brother and I would blast Ill Communication at inaudible levels whenever we had the house to ourselves. The liner notes had lyrics in those days so “Get it Together” was one of the first rap songs I can recall reciting. I can’t believe I can still remember all the lyrics. Whenever someone says “the phone is ringing” to this day, no matter the instance, I finish and say “Oh my god!” in my best Q-Tip voice.

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Filed under: Hip-Hop, Music, News, Yo! TECB Raps | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

If it’s going to be that kind of party…

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Verbal Spacey

I could extend our “Gangsta’s in the Kitchen Doing Gangsta Shit” series here but I don’t go near the kitchen. Not because I’m super sexist, but because my parents are cousins and I was born half-retarded. Plus everyone knows how to make mashed potates. You peel them shits. Smash them shits. Whip them shits. Word to Method Man. Sprinkle in your fave-five fancy shit, i.e, garlic, rosemary, chopped green onion, et al, and Frank Viola, you have smashed face potatoes. Good job, ya dunce.

The wiener schnitzel I ordered Ill Communication from finally delivered the goods. I hold it under Paul’s Boutique (which is my #1 Beastie Boys Album), Licensed to Ill and Hello Nasty, but it’s still pretty fucking dope. “Sure Shot” leads off the album and that song is just stereotypical Beastie. “Sabotage” is another track everyone and the mother knows, and rightfully so, because it bangs, is also on here. Q-Tip stops by on “Get it Together” which is factually proven to be the best track on the record (TECB is gospel, son.).

When I was a youngin’ listening to these dudes, I feel I never gave them more of a listen. I just blasted the radio hits and skipped over the dope production interludes and passed over every other track and chalked it up as filler. . . even though I didn’t know what filler was at the time. As an adult (can I say that when I still sit cross-legged (Indian-style for all you racists) while playing and managing virtual baseball teams on the X Box), I appreciate Beastie Boys more than ever. They’re geniuses and more than pioneers. I wish they received more shout-outs from dudes in Hip-Hop nowadays. I hold them in just as high regard as Kool G Rap, Rakim, and KRS-1. They’re not as nice lyrically as Giacanna, but their genre bending style and ridiculous beats should be in everyone’s collection.

I was ten when this album came out. I was two when Licensed to Ill dropped. Even though Ad-Rock could be in the next Just For Men ad, he’s still so Hip-Hop.

Filed under: Album Talk/Review, Hip-Hop, Music | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

My vice other than booze, coffee, and meth… amazon.com

Posted on April 11, 2010 by Verbal Spacey

One of the few perks of working retail cell phone sales is (no, not nuddie mms day… you’d be surprised of the lack of shame fat fucks have. I digest.) winning sales contests here and there. Free shit gets nice. I’ve won some phones here and there and 2009 brought a gift certificate to Royal Caribbean. 2010, however, got me some points that I could redeem for a gang of shotty merchandise or gift cards from some hand picked retailers that probably use my location in their sales incentive games. Naturally I picked amazon.com since Newbury Comics wasn’t one of the four retail stores chosen, plus I’d have to use up that cruise gift certificate and take a Columbus-style trip ’round the Americas to get to the closest one.

The majority of my gift card went towards a video game for my cousin’s son back home. Lego Indiana Jones already in the shopping cart, I went all out on my wish list of 300+ and just started adding every $.01 album I had on there. After shipping costs, my total ended up dipping $25 over my gift card balance and into my debit card, but I think it will be worth it. Peep my jerk off CD list I ended up with :

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Filed under: Album Talk/Review, Hip-Hop, Music | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

In all seriousness, I have a question for y’all…

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Chris

I wanted to post this song, “B-Boys Makin’ with the Freak Freak,” by the Beastie Boys for a couple reasons.  First off, I think the Beastie’s are too oft overlooked for their funky-ass production.  If you have yet to notice, they’ve dabbled in a number of genres of music throughout their career as a group, and, in some cases, even within a single album.  They are great musicians and, more importantly, artists that have had an impact on the musical landscape like not many others have.  Okay.  Now you know.

Anyway, peep the song:

Now, riddle me this:  What the fuck “kind of party” does it have to be when someone decides that dipping their dick in mashed potatoes is a good idea?

Peace to Mantan Moreland for making my neurons fire.

Filed under: Hip-Hop, Music, Throwback Rap Attack | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Yeah, you can’t front on that…

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Chris

As most of you already know, Jimmy Fallon is the least funny man on the planet.  I know toddlers funnier.  Re-toddlers.  Luckily for Fallon, people that are actually worth their human existence still associate themselves with him by appearing on his piece of shit Late Night Show.  For example, the Beastie Boys rolled through on May 25 to speak about the recent re-release of their 1992 classic Check Your Head.  The above excellence resulted.

A Beastie Boy/Roots collabo…dope, right?  But even in all its dopeness, the performance – which is unquestionably the best thing to ever happen on Fallon’s show — still can’t save the other fifty-seven unbearable minutes with this jack-momma.

Anyway, I’ve always been a fan of the Beastie Boys, and even more so after I read the Check Your Head segment of Brian Coleman’s Check the Technique (you should buy it), in which Coleman provides an in-depth description of the three-year recording process of the album.  In my opinion, “So What’cha Want” is the best track off said record, and maybe from the entire, extensive Beastie catalog.   The original video for “So What’cha Want” (seen below) has always been one of my all-time favorites, too…

By the way, Adrock is an unsung hero of hip-hop.  He’s one of the illest.  Ever.  Don’t try to debate it.

Filed under: Hip-Hop, Music, Throwback Rap Attack, Yo! TECB Raps | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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