5 Beastie Boys Albums That Changed Hip-Hop

Produced by Rick Rubin, with samples from songs by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and The Clash, Licensed To Ill showed the world how to mix rock and rap for maximum impact. The group’s debut crammed together hard rock, metal (including a guest guitar solo from Kerry King of Slayer on “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”), and punk elements into a decidedly feel-good atmosphere. Couple this with the eclectic sample choices and wordplay in songs like “The New Style” and “Brass Monkey,” and it’s easy to understand why Licensed To Ill enticed enough listeners to become the first rap LP to top the Billboard charts.

After parting ways with producer Rick Rubin and recognizing that the humor of their debut was being misconstrued and attracting undesirable associations, Beastie Boys decided to make a record that was less commercial and more ambitious.

They enlisted the help of the Dust Brothers, who helped define the art of multi-layered sampling, the art of building backing tracks by looping numerous samples from various genres and combining them. The dense layering of instrumental loops takes on a psychedelic feel. 

Sampling changed following a 1991 court case, where Grand Upright Music, Ltd. sued Biz Markie and Warner Bros. Records for using an uncleared sample. After the court ruled that the defendants knowingly used the sample without permission and aimed to profit from it, artists began paying clearance fees to avoid legal battles.

Using the amount of samples that a record like Paul’s Boutique did isn’t feasible for a mainstream act anymore. The nature of the technique may have shifted, but the complex arrangements and nimble rhymes of the group’s sophomore effort inspired everyone from Wu-Tang Clan and The Pharcyde to OutKast and Jurassic 5. 

Paul’s Boutique is often credited as being one of the greatest albums ever made, but it wasn’t viewed that way at the time of its release. For their next album, Beastie Boys wanted to move away from sample-heavy beats and tap into their punk roots by playing guitar, bass, and drums throughout the majority of the record. 

The group’s blend of rock and rap became more organic, the grooves became more infectious, and the grittier sound of the recordings made Check Your Head a record that appealed to fans of hip-hop and alternative rock in equal measure. The group’s use of traditional rock instruments in “Gratitude,”  punk aggression of “Time For Livin’,” and the lo-fi funk hooks of “So What’Cha Want” opened new doors for Beastie Boys and aspiring hip-hop artists everywhere.

Ill Communication continued to incorporate live instruments, but this time around, Beastie Boys leaned even deeper into their punk influences and tapped into some jazz-rock fusion inspired by Miles Davis’s On The Corner and Agharta. The album also saw them working with Spike Jonze again, who directed the video for the Check Your Head track “Time For Livin’.” 

This time, the Beasties and Jonze took the album’s lead single “Sabotage” and created a music video that parodied ‘70s crime dramas like Hawaii Five-O and Starsky and Hutch. The group’s knack for visual storytelling helped them achieve their second number-one record on the Billboard 200 and made an indelible impact on hip-hop, mainstream culture, and comedy films like Anchorman. 

Hello Nasty saw the Beasties making moves and once again claiming the top spot on the charts. This time, they achieved this feat by adding turntablist Mix Master Mike to the lineup. The group used analog synthesizers, vintage drum machines, and Mike’s virtuoso turntablism to craft a retro-futuristic sound, most evident in tracks like “Intergalactic” and “Body Movin,”

Experimental, progressive, and somehow still accessible, Hello Nasty was the culmination of Beastie Boys’ various strengths, including more memorable music videos that paid tribute to films and television series from the 1960s and ‘70s. The album’s chart performance and videos led to Grammy awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, which further solidified Beastie Boys’ status as an unparalleled crossover phenomenon.