"Caught In The Middle of A 3-Way Mix" (Tribute to "Paul's Boutique", 2012)

Several years ago, Solid Steel DJs Cheeba, Moneyshot and Food had the idea of collaborating on a version of the Beastie Boys' Paul’s Boutique album, made entirely from the original sample sources. The result is titled ‘Caught In The Middle Of A 3-Way Mix’ - each of them have taken a third of the album to work on and combined their efforts into a mix that will make you hear it in a new way. Aside from the original sample sources they’ve included commentary from the Beasties, vintage interviews, demo versions and much more. The mix was over half way completed when they heard the tragic news of MCA‘s death in May, 2012, so the impetus to finish it was instantly doubled and new meaning was given to the project. It goes without saying that this is also a tribute to Adam Yauch and the legacy he left behind. Check out their tribute to the Beastie's Paul's Boutique below...

Beastie Boys "Ill Communication" (May 31, 1994)

Guaranteed plan for success: Spend your formative teenage years in early '80s downtown NYC, following hip hop all-nighters with full afternoons of hardcore punk at CBGB and vice versa. Confound fans of your hardcore band by working full-on rap numbers into your repertoire, ultimately dropping instrumentation altogether. Release the first ever rap album to top the pop charts, spend a couple years as the biggest hip hop outfit ever, then go underground. Come out a few years and 180 degrees later, working live instrumental jams and straight-up punk rock back into the set. Record sales are back up past the million mark, shows selling out everywhere... and then what the f#ck do you do? Well, unless you're the Beastie Boys, you don't get this far in the first place. If you are the Beastie Boys, however, you once again release your most ambitious record to date, Ill Communication (Grand Royal/Capitol). Like its predecessor, 1992's Check Your Head, Ill Communication is a B-Boys/Mario Caldato Jr. - produced 20-song blend of genius lyrics and rhymes (John Woo/Rod Carew, Kojak/bozack, divorcee/Lee Dorsey... all by the end of the first verse of lead track/first single "Sure Shot"), soulful instrumental interludes (including the bass-overdriven "Futterman's Rule," the plaintive "Ricky's Theme," and closing cool-down "Transitions"), and the occasional blast of hardcore punk ("Tough Guy," "Heart Attack Man"). Unlike Check..., which was two years in the making, the bi-coastally recorded Ill Communication took barely seven months to complete--just over a year to the day from beginning of recording to release date--setting a precedent for a band whose fans have grown accustomed to three-year intervals between albums. "We finished the Check Your Head tour around Thanksgiving '92," Mike D recalls. "We were on tour for eight months, then we took five months off. Then we started on the new album in New York. We just got back together, set up all our equipment, and started playing right off. We then headed back to the world-famous G-Son studios in LA to sift through our collection of 'Space Truckin'-esque jams and begin working on the hip-hop tracks." - Press Kit, 1994. "Get It Together" with Q-Tip was absolutely my jam at that time. Revisit the Ill Communication album from the Beastie Boys below...

I hope history never forgets the unique impact the Beastie's had on music.

Mick Boogie + Beastie Boys "Grand Royal" (Mixtape)

Originally released in 2012, MICK (f/k/a) Mick Boogie re-issued this mixtape through his Soundcloud page, along with the following message: "From 2012: In honor of the Beastie Boys being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week… I thought it’s finally the right time to do a Beasties mixtape. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time… something people have asked me to do for a long time, actually… but I wanted it to mean something. Now, it’s finally the right time. I present to you Grand Royal. 80 minutes of my favorite Beastie Boys rarities, remixes, demos, live versions, out-takes, and more. If you’re a Beasties fan, I guarantee you find something new and exciting on this mix!" At the time of the tape's original release (2012), the Beastie Boys had become the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Adam "MCA" Yauch was unable to attend the ceremony and passed away soon after from Cancer on 5/4/12: R.I.P. MCA. 

Eric B. & Rakim "We're The Opposite of the Beastie Boys" (1987)

Smash Hits was a pop magazine in the UK from the late 70s into the 2000s. This article with Eric B. & Rakim was featured in their November-December issue in 1987. In the brief interview, Eric B made reference to them being the opposite of the Beastie Boys and while it wasn't the focus of the article, headlines do sell, lol. "Yeah, we're like the opposite of the Beastie Boys in a way," Eric B says in response to being 'a serious pair.' "Now people see them as being rowdy and unpleasant but I just see them as living out everybody's fantasy. Everyone wants to behave loosely and badly and just do what they feel like doing. But we're not like that -- our stage act isn't a whole lot of laughing clowns dancing about on the stage -- it's a serious 45 minutes. Our songs are about serious everyday situations that people can relate to." The article, promoting their Paid In Full release, also includes the lyrics and a breakdown of some of the bars about positivity and their ultimate message on the song, 'Don't be a stick up kid!' That's sound advice! Peep the technique from Rakim below...

Beastie Boys "Check Your Head" (Press Kit, 1992)

Check Your Head, the new record from rap's most innovative trio, will be released April 13th. The follow-up to the Beastie Boys' acknowledge masterpiece Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head will astonish each and every contemporary music fan. First off, group members Mike D., MCA, and Ad-Rock have returned to their musical roots -- 70% of the album's music, a stunning array of styles including Funkadelicized fuzz bass riffs, slinky guitar-propelled reggae, and straight-up hardcore punk, is played by the Beasties, seamlessly blended with off-the-wall sampled tidbits. Looping their own dusted-out riffs, the Beastie Boys have taken sampling to its logical conclusion. The self-produced Check Your Head's exploitation of new and old music sources could well be the most radical to date." Check out the visuals to their smash, "So What'cha Want," cont'd below...

"Apart from three diverse instrumentals ("Pow," "Groove Holmes," and "In 3's") that make up the 20 song set, the group gets on the mic to flaunt superior rhyming skills, frantic scratching, and the fattest keyboards this side of Jimmy Smith. Such old-school flavored jams as "Pass The Mic," "Finger Lickin'," and "What'cha Want" shred in an entirely new way, suggesting some unexplored netherland between The Minutemen and Spoonie G; "Time For Livin'," a hardcore punk tune harkening back to the group's Lower End Side origins, sounds as fresh as the Boys' whisper-sung vocals on "Mark On The Bus," the rootsy "Lighten Up," and the acid-soaked "Something's Got To Give." Keep an eye out for the obligatory Biz Markie cameo, "The Biz vs. The Nuge." Each song on Check Your Head speaks volumes. Loudly." - Press Kit, January 28, 1992 (25 years ago today), available below.