Paul's Boutique

One of the best by the Beasties!

I mean I know there’s going to a bunch of haters, but I’m not going to let that bother me. This album is a party from the get go and I want to go to it.

The depth and breadth of this album is incredible. And usually when an album comes out and people say “it was ahead of its time” they usually mean they didn’t like it but are just trying to be polite. But this one actually was. We weren’t ready for where the group went on their sophomore effort. But man is this album brilliant. Both musically and lyrically. It’s entirely possible that this album predicted the future direction of what music would become.

Listening to this album in elementary school in secret was a formative experience for me and cemented my love of hip-hop.

This is one of the biggest 180’s I’ve done on an album - this project or otherwise. Came into this knowing their hits and maybe an additional track or two, but never actually gave them a listen, and didn’t know anything off this album. What a blast! Like - I can’t hardly believe how much I enjoyed it - I remember not ‘getting’ Beastie Boys appeal when they were coming up, but listening now, I could rock this just about anytime anywhere. Sounds of Science is a new favorite track, but man, just let this whole thing ride - all the samples, the back and forth lyrical interplay, the beats - so much fun.

88/89 saw the release of It takes a nation by Public Enemy, 3 feet high and rising by De La Soul, and Paul’s Boutique by The Beastie Boys, all 3 LPS were a masterclass in sampling and really showed what could be achieved “stealing” from other artists. Paul’s boutique has an estimated 105 samples, although I suspect there’s many more. The fact that it is so cohesive is testament to the production skills of the Dust Brothers Unfortunately the legal action taken against De La meant that the sampling laws changed and hip-hop has never really sounded as good as this ever since. Paul’s boutique-An easy 5⭐️ Beastie Boys are potentially my favourite group of all time and this might be my favourite of their albums (it’s not its Ill communication. It’s not its Hello Nasty)

This is so much fun. The samples, the jokes, the pop culture references are all firing at once.

Lots of samples

Fantastic find! Didn't know a straw in a lid could be considered for sampling.

This sophomore effort still holds up as a fantastic album. Dense and layered sampling, playful and groovy as fuck. While it may not have been an overt hit when it came out, they boys definitely were flexing and stretching what they were and what they could do. The Dust Brothers are a huge part of this and the sheer amount of sampling in this record and how well it is done is amazing.

Mature albumpure class

I had so much fun listening to this one. A lot of old hip hop *sounds* old but this still felt fresh. Will definitely listen to this one again.

Best Beastie Boys album!!!

Gold, lot of variety

The absolutely mental sampling would be enough to warrant this album a 5/5 on its own, but then you get phrases like "suckers they come a dime a dozen // when I say dozen, you know what I'm talking about, boyyy" in a song about launching eggs to boot, and you know you're listening to something truly special. Amazingly invigorating material front to back, and in my opinion the very best of 80's hip hop.

One of the best. Amazing samples and DJ work. Great rhymes. Already listen at least once per year

Top 5 hip hop album of all time…nah, my names Clarence! 🤣👏🏻👏🏻

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken, and then I ate his leg.

Fantastic album! The Boys laid it down on this one. Opened many a door for future hip hop artists! Their best album! 5 ++++

Brilliant and epic. Was a late comer to it but still strong after all these years

My favorite album

Even better than their debut. Just a first listen alone is an absolute blast, but then you start digging into the samples and it really dawns on you just how incredible it is that this record exists. The trio hold their own to make the mic a fun time as well, leading to an all around incredible package. Thank you Fantano for putting me on.

The Beastie Boys completely reinvented themselves on their second album, abandoning the juvenile party rap of Licensed to Ill for something far more sophisticated. Working with the Dust Brothers, they created a dense sonic collage built from hundreds of samples that blend funk, soul, rock, and TV soundbites into something entirely new. The album was a commercial flop when it came out in 1989. Too weird, too layered, too experimental for hip-hop audiences at the time. But it's since been recognized as one of the most important hip-hop albums ever made, capturing a unique moment before sampling laws made this kind of wholesale musical borrowing financially impossible. The production is incredibly dense but never feels cluttered. Tracks like "Shake Your Rump" and "Hey Ladies" showcase the group's evolved wordplay over seamless sample transitions that feel like controlled chaos. "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" is an ambitious nine-minute suite that proves their artistic growth, while "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" explores darker territory. What makes the album special is how it rewards repeated listening. Each playthrough reveals new samples, new jokes, new moments of brilliance hiding in the mix. The cultural references span everything from Curtis Mayfield to Gilligan's Island, creating a fever dream of American pop culture. Paul's Boutique stands as proof that the most important art is often misunderstood in its time. It transformed three party rappers into genuine artists and created a template for adventurous hip-hop that remains unmatched. A brilliant, essential masterpiece.

I love this album. This or check your head in my favorite beastie boys album!

Ahead of its time.

Uniquely dizzying in its variety of samples used and how they are sequenced, making for some standout backing tracks. Lyrically it’s funny and snappy. Just a fantastic record, and they only get better from here. All hail the Beasties.

Amazing! One of the greatest albums of all time.

Got so deep into this album in my late teens, early 20’s. We listened to this album non stop on Biscayne Blvd. A lot of crazy shit went down in that house and this album was part of the soundtrack to some great memories.

Completely changed my mind about these guys. This album is stupendous

Yes.

one of my favorites, surprised there's two beastie boys albums on this.

Second Beastie Boys this week! Anyways, as a young and dumb high schooler, I never understood why people always said this was their best album. Some of the songs were weird and short and not as fun as License to Ill. Looking back the sampling and creativity is another another level. Obviously it's their best album (jus maybe not the most fun to listen to) 9/10

Perfect 10! I imagine its the best album on this list. Definitely one of the best albums ever recorded. 100/100

классика че

total classic

Beastie Boys are always cool!

Awesome! I listened to it all day

Really fun to listen to

Absolute classic rap album. Has a unique feeling all the way through. Naive and playful pass-the-mic goodness.

I got so thrown off by the intro I began to have doubts listening to this, then Shake Your Rump just hit me in the face like an aluminum baseball bat. The boisterous and captivating aura flowing from this album is unbelievable. On top of that you got some amazing samples that just come out of nowhere like they sampled The Beatles, Mountain, and so much more. A cool thing to note is the influence that this album had on legends like J Dilla and MF DOOM (some of my favorite artists/producers). Wonderful listen. Top 5: The Sounds Of Science, High Plains Drifter (MPF), Egg Man, Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun, and Johnny Ryall / Honorable Mention: B-Boy Bouillabaisse No bad songs 4.50-4.75/5

Tons of funky samples. Production blends many genres from rock, funk, soul, and jazz. Witty and energetic flows.

This was a reeeally good record. I love this sound. Loved the samples and almost everything about it. There are some stronger, some weaker tracks, but all around i is at least a low 5

My number one favorite album of all time. 10/5

Can't go wrong with the Beastie Boys. Snotty, smart, and funny, and always on point with bars and beats (Minus the blatant misogyny of the early years). This is a sampling masterpiece. A whopping 100+ tracks sampled, providing a sense of familiarity on every track while combining to produce something fresh. Johnny Ryall and Hey Ladies are going to be living rent free in my head for the next few weeks. Happens with every spin.

“Sampledelic”

the best the best the best the best 10/5

Beastie Boys should cover Danny Brown

Yep. It's Paul's Boutique.

Nuff said.

9.2/10

I am so excited. There have been a few albums I knew I was going to rate a 5 before I pushed play, but this is the first one where I felt giddy and thought "this is awesome, I get to listen to this album again".

Excellent album, one of my favorite Beastie Boys albums. It wasn’t one of the first albums I owned on tape so I don’t quite have it memorized like Licensed To Ill, but this is definitely a classic.

It would have been a 4 star album, just on the samples alone, but adding in possibly the best Beastie Boys lyrical performances of all time? It's a 5 star album. This is so far and away above License to Ill. It's amazing that these are the same people that created both albums. Too much good stuff to mention everything but easily a very re-listenable album. - Got more suits than Jacoby and Meyers (the puns on this album are on point) - I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh (if you know, you know) And Mario Andretti cause he always drives the car well

Helllzzzz yeah!

'It's the joint.' Paul's Boutique is the logical continuation of License to Ill, which sets the standard for witty rhymes and sample-based production. Tho this goes full throttle in the direction of an avant-garde explosion, it's still dedicated to 'all the girls,' and the three white boys are in no mood to be overly serious: 'A strapped shoplifter, a pirate on cassette'; 'Well, me in the corner with a good-lookin' daughter'; 'I love girlies, waxin' and milkin'.' Musically, things culminate most brilliantly on 'High Plains Drifter,' 'The Sounds of Science,' and 'Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun,' all of which contribute to a sonic experience that is equally brash and temperate. No other Hip-hop record is as unorthodox or as hilariously smashing as this.

There’s never was before and never will be another band quite the the Beasties! We don’t get many true originals anymore, but these guys were the real deal. I love HipHop with actual instruments and lush samples and…fun!

A truly classic and stellar album of hip hop made by 3 Jewish kids from NYC. They snuck this album in just before the ruling was made about sampling and it shows- an album lush with samples and one that even samples the Beatles which is almost unheard of. Fun and funky and great. After their first album, people thought they were kind of a joke. PB showed they were here to stay.

A lot of people they be jonesin’ cuz they hear me rock the mic.

Genuinely a masterpiece. From start to finish it is fully original and authentic. The beats are amazing and the sampling is super creative. Basically a perfect rap album. I don’t know that it’s my favorite beastie boys album, but it’s definitely in the running.

Excellent

Exceptional and masterful record. One of the Beastie Boys' best work is in here. The flow and creativity in full force. The Dust Brothers mix and samples makes this pair some of the best work for this group. Very enjoyable and extremely recommended.

Love this one! I need to give it a more thorough listen to try and catch more of the lyrics as well as the samples. Very cool piece of history before sampling was no more.

Another of the so-called important albums from my childhood, but it helps that every track is a total banger. I’ve never personally been a fan of B Boy Bouillabaisse, but after the previous tracks go song after song with such variety, such absolute enjoyment, I suppose they’re entitled.

May be my favorite record of all time!

Not listened to it for years so happy that it still absolutely slaps, production is insane, an easy 5

Probably first time listening to this cover to cover actually, production (and everything else) is psychedelic and incredible. What a trip

If my generation had their own White Album, this would be it.

Mon préféré des BB! Du génie! Un monument d'échantillonage, qui fonctionne au niveau musical et aussi au niveau geek, pour ceux qui veulent s,amuser à trouver l'origine des samples. Un album trippant fait par des trippeux.

Cet album a un cool factor intemporel. Les Dust Brothers sont des savants fous. C'est 7 ans avant Odelay mais ça pourrait être 2 semaines tellement c'est des prods hors du temps. Un peu long, la séquence finale est pas nécessaire. Ben du fun pour le reste.

Greatest!

To call this simply a Beastie Boys album is a bit of a misnomer, because Paul's Boutique was a team effort between the boys and the Dust Brothers to create a fresh and innovative venture in the world of sample-based hip-hop. The production takes center stage as they got wildly creative with the many samples and how they are interweaved in these tracks. Having listened to a fair amount of tracks beforehand, it was fun to follow along and pick out different elements that were inserted, chopped, spliced, slowed down, sped up, and manipulated in other such manners. The bassline from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" with the string arrangements from the themes of Psycho and Saw on "Egg Man", the multiple Beatles samples on "The Sounds of Science", the opening drums of Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick" into a combination of riffs from Gene Harris and The Three Sounds, "Put On Train," and Alice Cooper's "It's Hot Tonight" on "What Comes Around", the back masked guitar play from the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Are You Experienced?" on "B-Boy Bouillabaisse: 59 Chrystie Street", ending the album on a scratched-out sample of Chic's "Good Times" on "B-Boy Bouillabaisse: A.W.O.L.", I could go on. The samples are even incorporated as ad-libs in the Beastie Boys' rapping, such as the titular phrases for "Shake Your Rump" and "Hey Ladies". Even the Beastie Boys themselves are sampled from their first album, such as the "Kick it" line from "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" on "Johnny Ryall". If this album were just instrumental like the Dust Brothers originally intended, it would have been an underground classic already. Adding to the experience were the Beastie Boys themselves, with such tight lyrical focus as MCA, Mike D and Ad-Rock effectively bounced off each other's flows. Between the numerous lyrical references, the aforementioned sample ad-lib incorporation, witty humor and self-awareness of the image they garnered from Licensed to Ill, they made the most of their rhymes over the foundation they created with the Dust Brothers. Between the lyrics and production, never once did Paul's Boutique get stale or overwhelming for me. This is an astounding record from the golden age of hip hop, before copyright laws caught up with sampling. In a word, game-changer.

Frickin amazing album. Incredible songs, insane production. Such a great headphones listen.

Banger after banger after banger after banger. 4.7/5

What a banger. If I wasn't being given another album I would probably just go back through it again

10/10 classic.

Hey Ladies

DUh

Simply awesome. Coming from the De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, there's a clear contrast on how raw this album is. The funny lyrics and kinda reckless and silly style won me over

What a blast - the production on this thing is actually insane. Seeing these dudes team up on tour with RUN DMC must have been all-time. 4.5/5 (but I can't because of how the rating system works)...

1. To All the Girls - too short N/A 2. Shake Your Rump - 10 3. Johnny Ryall - lite 9 4. Egg Man - 10 5. High Plains Drifter - lite 9 6. The Sounds of Science - strong 9 7. 3-Minute Rule - decent 8 8. Hey Ladies - lite 9 9. 5-Piece Chicken Dinner - too short N/A 10. Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun - 10 11. Car Thief - strong 8 12. What Comes Around - decent 8 13. Shadrach - strong 8 14. Ask for Janice - too short N/A 15. B-Boy Bouillabaisse - Collection of Tracks N/A Favourite 3 Tracks - 1. Shake Your Rump 2. Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun 3. Egg Man - NOTE RATINGS ARE FROM A FIRST LISTEN -

The ultimate album to start listening to hip hop from. Beastie boys walked so Eminem could run. Very good dance beats. The beginning part felt light but eventually the end beats made up for it.

What’s to say. I grew up listening to the Beastie Boys. My Dad was a huge fan. It wasn’t until I was older that I got in to them on my own - specifically their older stuff, this stuff. It’s iconic. Nobody sounds like this, and if they did they’d be told they’re just ripping off the Beastie Boys. Instant 5 stars, no questions. I had a great time listening to this a couple times today, even though it’s a regular record pull in our household. “Shadrach” is one of my all time favorite Beasties song.

Hip hop staple. Samples go crazy on this thing. 10/10

So good!!!!!!!

One of the greatest albums of all time.

Sampled The Beatles. No notes.

Amazing. Gold.

I’d clearly heard that ‘Sgt Pepper’s of Hip-Hop’ cliché as a younger man and repeated it somewhere as I remember being told it was the whitest thing I’d ever said. Probably a fair call. While clichés are often unimaginative and reductive, there is sometimes truth to them and the fact is, this is as groundbreaking and phenomenal an album in many ways as Sgt P was in its time. The production and sampling amount to an absolute masterclass and while you can question the Beastie Boys’ lyrical themes and maturity, they truly nailed the delivery and execution. It’s a belter and one of my all-time favourites.

Man what a blast!

NY by way of LA. Loose, fun but groundbreaking.

I like em. So unique and just some guys taking some risks and paving ways for others.

Amazing B-Boys

Probably my favorite album of all time and I will never get tired of listening to it. In fact, as I listen to more music I end up liking this album more because I can recognize more samples after each listen. Pristine production and some of the best rapping chemistry you'll listen to. Love this.

classic

Now I rock a house party at the drop of a hat, yeah I beat a biter down with an aluminum bat A lot of people they be jonesin just to hear me rock the mic They'll be staring at the radio Staying up all night So like a pimp I'm pimpin I got a boat to eat shrimp in Nothing wrong with my leg just B-boy limpin Got arrested at the Mardi Gras for jumping on a float My man MCA's got a beard like a billy goat Oowah oowah is my disco call MCA hu-huh, I'm gettin rope yall Routines, I bust, and the rhymes that I write And I'll be busting routines and rhymes all night Like eating burgers or chicken or you'll be picking your nose I'm on time homie that's how it goes You heard my style I think you missed the point It's the joint One of the top 20 best albums of all time. Yeah, its that good. 5/5

This album launched modern hip hop fight me

Excellent beats, great trade-off rapping, unbeatable sampling! New things to discover for every listen, and I still haven’t unwrapped everything

5/5 - Paul's Boutique remains to this day a timeless classic hip hop record. After the success of the extremely commercial hit that was 1986's Licensed To Ill the Beastie Boys cemented themselves as the best in the game with their next record which was 1989's Paul's Boutique. The sampling is insane and way ahead of it's time. When you have that and the counter punch lyricism from Mike D and Ad Rock you know you have something special on your hands. Or should as say as cool as lemonade!

Love this one.

Þeirra besta verk.

I’ve been listening to this album on a regular basis since the 1990s and I never get tired of it.

This album is a time capsule. I press play and I’m sitting in the back of my dad’s pickup truck. The windows are rolled down because he’s smoking a cigarette. We’re on our way to my brother’s little league game, and the bass is up so high that the whole car vibrates during “Shake Your Rump.” Of course, when I was 10 I could easily disregard all of the violence and misogyny. And you know what? I still can.

9/10 Favorite Song: High Plains Drifter Least favorite Song: A Year And A Day

This album is so much fun. I love the Beastie Boys, but I never got around to listening to this one. It's too bad, as I missed all of this good stuff for so long. Liked Songs Added: Shake Your Rump Johnny Ryall Egg Man High Plains Drifter Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun Car Theif What Comes Around Shadrach

Perfection! Not much more can be said about this album that hasn't already been said, so creative, so fresh, it's timeless! The more you listen the more new sounds you hear! Probably a few lyrics that didn't exactly stand the test of time but what do you expect from the crew that were licensed to ill?

Loved this. Sample heavy, funky, witty lyrics. What's not to love?

Have not listened to this in ages and had forgotten how good it is. Stand out track is Sounds of Science

Top-tier

This album fell flat commercially back when it was released, mainly due to the fact that it moved away from the rock influenced sound of Licensed To Ill. Listening to it now it's easy to see this was ahead of its time. The sampling is insanely good. Lyrically it has moved away from the juvenile a lot, although it still rears its ugly head.

Another classic, no beastie tats tho

5/5. Each time I listen to this album, there is something else I notice or another song becomes my favorite. It's a crazy collection of songs and crazy Licensed to Ill came right before this. The silliness and nonchalant attitude is here yet the production is the work of experienced professionals with intention. If you like hip hop at all or even interested in music at all, this is a must listen just for the sheer audacity they brought to the studio after already establishing themselves. Best Song: Shadrach, Shake Your Rump, B-Boy Bouillabaisse (feels like cheating, and in response, eat it squareheads)

With the disclaimer that hip-hop and rap are not my favorite genre, I loved this album. The vocal style is not my favorite but the magic here is the amazing use of samples. These guys were truly some of the early pioneers in sampling and they get it right. The layers going on behind the vocals here are amazing. And the lyrics are creative and catchy. I like it best when they alternate lines as you get a true sense that they could rip, mix, and burn on the fly as well as anyone. But really, the sampling is what pushes this whole album to the 5/5 range for me.

extremely funny and silly of me to wonder where g love, beck, and soul coughing all sprang up from and literally roll the beastie boys a couple days later lmao. owned by the RNG machine! kind of a funny contrast to g love cuz the beastie boys' delivery style is even more monotonous and theoretically way less conducive to an album of this length (and tbh im not Completely sold on it in a 10/10 classic way still) but where g love kinda dragged me across the finish line, this flies by. kinda gives me vertigo...rly kaleidoscopic, with their frantic trade-off style and weird combinations of words making even the non-sampled parts fit in with the Bottomless Pit Of Collage aesthetic. expectedly, very stimmy. may throw this on a bit when i need to drag myself out of bed for an early shift in a couple days lol

All I have in my head is Shake your Rump stuck in my head because of the Goldbergs

best beastie boys album

I've been wrong my whole life about these guys. I still don't like their vocal style, but this is brilliant. It's an absolute master class in sampling.

Classic

An instant classic. The rhymes, the beats, classic BBs.

This was a fun listen, as expected with a Beastie Boys album. Great production, performances, writing, and sampling to be found here. Among the Beastie Boy’s best work, and this probably is their best. I recommend it!

Really fun to try and recognise as many of the samples as you can. I really like this album, but it's not the Beastie Boys album I keep coming back to. Lots of great music on here though.

One of my favourites of all time. So inventive and interesting.

Absolute classic. Great production. Lots of fun.

I was 16 when this album came out and I hated it back then. I wish I could go back in time and punch my 16 year old self for not realizing what an absolute masterpiece this album is. All the samples hit hard. The beats are dope. The rhymes are the bomb. This works so masterfully that it can't be duplicated. And this isn't even their best album. Check Your Head is beyond incredible and somehow didn't make this list. Still, 5 stars and then some for this glorious recording.

I have enjoyed this as much or more than any hip-hop/ rap album that I have listened to. Musically it’s more than just a beat- fun lyrically and It actually has a bit of complexity.

Fantastic - haven't listened to it in a long time and that was overdue, I won't make the same mistake again.

Exceptional album so full of beats, samples and wild rap imagery. Very nostalgic for me as well. I remember my friends rejecting this album because it wasn’t Licensed to Ill. They missed it is 1000x more nuanced than that first album.

Over 100 samples, layered together into 1 album. Great stuff.

Nunca me habían gustado los Beastie Boys hasta que he escuchado este disco. No sé si es cosa de la edad.

could i write poetry to this? y

A masterpiece. The mash-up of genres, samples, and fresh lyrics make for something truly original.

This album is all about the production. The rapping and lyrics are not as important as the beats and samples.

Dude. This was so awesome. The sampling is a masterpiece and I definitely recommend this to all people who consider themselves hip-hop fans or are fascinated by the art of sampling. Also, almost every song is full of fire bars. Easy 5/5

Day248 - the best beastie boys album. sure doesn’t seem like it’s 35 years old

Easy 5

a chef's kiss of glorious nonsense

Just one of the best.

This is a stone cold classic. Dismissed on release. So many samples used so well. Shake your rummpaaa.

Total flop when it was released because it was so different from Licence to ill, but rightly now considered a classic. Appropriately samples from the 2nd half of Abbey Road (one of a million samples that would cost a fortune only a couple years later, but labels hadn’t caught on yet) as the whole album feels like one big medley. I’ve probably listened to the album 100 times but I’m not sure I’ve ever just put on one song, they don’t really work in their own but altogether its a one of a kind 5-mic album

This is a touchstone album. A turning point for the band and hip hop. It’s like Pet Sounds or the first Velvet Underground album, it wasn’t a runaway hit (although its flop is overstated) but its influence is remarkable. Ill Communication is my favorite Beasties record but this is arguably the most important.

Non so cosa sia successo, sono stato stregato dal fascino dello scapestrato

Sick beats, hilarious lyrics, great production. A classic.

The "Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop" according to some, but possibly drags a little unlike the Sgt. Pepper of rock. Very very good, and an absolute cornerstone of modern rap music - especially in the way they used samples. The "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" suite, while overlong as one song, shows a whole other way of doing hip-hop, more akin to the end of the second side of Abbey Road

Loved every second of this album. Listening back, I really enjoyed hearing all the different samples these guys used.

A classic of the genre just for the layers of sampling alone. I love me some Beastie Boys. Easy 5.

I believe Paul's Boutique is an absolute gem. Every single track on here is packed with fitting samples, witty lyrics, raunchy and edgy rap, great pacing and extremly catchy bass riffs.

Bardzo dobre. Kilka dobrych kawałków. Czuć klimat starego, pionierskiego hip-hopu.

This week is on fire! For sure the best Beastie Boys album, it’s weird this flopped so hard considering how much it paved the way for hip-hop to come. On the other hand, the failure of this album led the band to start playing their instruments again, and because of that we have Sabotage. Win-win.

A lot of fun, a great album, absolutely deserving to be in this list. These guys were so good. All the samples and production was done really well, and their personalities really come through.

I really don't pay enough attention to this album. I'm a casual Beastie Boys fan and like them in small doses only normally. But this is really a perfect album. The Dust Brothers extensively layers sampling style fits like a glove to their vocal style (which admittedly isn't for everyone). It's a messy collage of samples from any genre you can think of, but it's still incredibly accessible. 'Paul's Boutique' shouldn't work but it does. It should feel like an assault on the senses but it's more fun than it is work to listen to it. The 100+ samples couldn't have been sampled so easily today, when record labels realized that there's good money to be made from licensing 3 seconds of a song. That alone keeps 'Paul's Boutique' unique and years later such famous samples would need to be used extensively to make it worth the cost. But in 1989, this all flew under the radar of pop culture and kept the commercial failure of the Beastie Boys a hidden secret for the few who connected with it at the time. The secret's been out for a while though and it's now recognized as a classic of hip hop, and one of the best in the genre.

Beastie Boys brilliance

I don't even like hip hop but I like this. Great production and a stylish use of samples combined with witty lyrics. Actually a must-hear.

I was feeling a lot of trepidation about this album. The only song I really knew by Beastie Boys is "Fight For Your Right" and was struggling to imagine enjoying a whole album of that sound. This really blew me away though. The skill in the sampling is something else. I felt like I never knew what I was going to hear next and I think on relistens I am going to keep noticing new things for a while. The humor in the lyrics is sharp imo and I enjoyed that and the style of rapping too. The beat also was great, it made me want to dance. All just layered together to make a fantastic album. Shocked to be giving this a 5 star rating, but that is what is fun about going through this list.

Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassic

One of those albums that was innovative and influential, and still holds up and still goes hard. I thought the egg man bass was cymande for a while, but I guess it's superfly? The rappings really good too, unlike Run-DMC's album I got on this list on which I feel I could easily pull of the swapped words/lines without rehearsing, theres a lotta complex interplay. Perfect mixture of dumb and clever. More stories than JD's got Salinger.

Life changing. 6/5

An absolute masterclass in sampling. Without a doubt, it's my favorite sampledelia album of all time. Like, seriously, the breadth of the samples used, and the way it all weaves together... I wish records like this could still be made. But short of releasing it independently, without clearing them beforehand... And I like what the Beasties are doing, too, by the way. I love how they rap, and the way they work with the samples is amazing. But the Beasties are the Beasties, y'know? Call me dumb for not catching the intricacies, but to me they don't sound terribly different from album to album. So for me, it's all about the beats, and I can hardly think of an album with better beats—not just sampled-based, honestly—than this. So, y'know, thanks for screwin' all this, Gilbert. Thanks a lot.

The album that showed that the Beastie Boys are more than a one album wonder, with immaculate sampling technique that could never be replicated today given modern copyright law. Easiest 5 I can give.

This album is great. The tracks go hard and there is so much charisma and style to this. These boys should be held in the same regards as NWA or the Wu-tang clan. The style and punchiness stands out and begs you to listen. It's great, the way the group bounces off each other with clever and interesting lyrics are great. The sampling and broad sonic pallet is great. It's the Beastie Boys at their best.

I loved Paul's Boutique. I've never heard a track from this album, the majority of my Beastie Boys exposure is through Intergalactic PLANETARY. The beats are infections, the rhymes are simple enough to help you catch on. I'm in the fan camp for sure.

I'm not much of a Beastie Boys fan to begin with but I found this was really good! not much else to say except its a must listen.

Top 3 Beastie Boys album. The samples on this album sent me on such a wonderful musical journey as a kid. It shaped a lot of my musical taste. Also I lip synced “Hey Ladies” for a church youth group lip sync battle when I was too young to understand how horrifying that must have been to the adults in the room. I did not win

Transcendent and mind blowing! Top 50 record all time!

This release shined on their incredible connections to rhythm and beats.

One of my all-time favorites. To really appreciate this album, listen to KEXP’s breakdown, here: https://www.kexp.org/breakdown/paulsboutique/

my favorite Beastie Boys album, a step up from Licensed To Ill. More sampling and less hard rock than their first record. great production by the Dust Brothers.

For years and years I listened to this very regularly, but for whatever reason it's long not been anywhere near the top of the list of Beastie Boys albums I think of to first put on. Still, I know this record like the back of my hand, and not having heard it for a while, it was great to really get deep in to the vibe of revisiting something you love. 5 stars all the way.

Tricky one, I do love the Beasties but I’ve never really spent much time with the this album, I probably should, it’s very dense. I want to give it a 5 but there just aren’t any amazing tracks on here for me. I think if I had it over a weekend it would be an easier decision but I’ve not got the time to really get into it today. Let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and make sure I find the time to listen properly when this silly list is behind me.

Beastie Boys always deliver - incredible energy

It's fun. It's boisterous. It's got some of the best sampling I've ever heard. It's one of those albums that I keep coming back to constantly. Simply put, it's a classic.

I hate copywrite law for preventing us from receiving more masterful uses of samples such as this. Just incredible from start to finish. So ahead of its time.

The sampling alone would be worthy of five stars, and then of course the rhymes match that in complexity and quality.

This is a hell of a ride. The production is incredible - more samples than I could ever hope to recognise and somehow it's pulled together into something cohesive. Reminds me of something like the Avalanches in more modern times, in now skilfully they meshed all these different elements without ever being reliant on any of them. The Beasties clever interplay and tongue in cheek lyrics are really on show, but the beats would stand up as an instrumental album, they're worth 5* alone

I think many would agree that this is possibly the best hip-hop/rap album of all time.

This is the beastie boys sound, baby.

Probably this and Check Your Head are my favorites

Already very familiar with the BBoys. Where Paul's Boutique suffers from its somewhat dated juvenile subject matter it makes up for with being the penultimate example of sampling. So goooooood.

Great

One of the bedt

Paul's Boutique has a new admirer. Holy shit I loved this. The wiki is worth a read. The way the Dust Brothers used sampling - insane. I found a video on YouTube with a clip from every song that was sampled followed by a snippet of how it was used in the song. I recognized the Beatles sample of The End in The Sounds Of Science, but there's other Beatles songs sampled in that track as well. It would be ridiculously expensive to (legally) make this album today. The sample that fades in at the start of the album is the same that fades out at the end - but that's not the only reason I immediately want to play it again. I'm so geeked, that was such a fun listen.

Beastie Boys = National Treasure

I mean. I’m 52 years old. This is the easiest 5 star yet.

Not a fan of their debut but from Pauls Boutique through Hello Nasty there was no better hip hop group- maybe The Roots would be considered superior by most but I totally vibe with these three Jewish white boys from NYC. Teo of my all time favorite BB songs on here: Shake Your Rump and Hey Ladies. Its true they basically sampled everything on here but I give them props for the transformation of their sound and the funky tunes. A+++.

Legends

Love it.

fire record, no skips, energetic and interesting through it all

A pioneering alternative hip hop release that still slaps front to back.

So good, masterclass in sampling.

No notes!

Vriament du fun à écouter, catchy et très bien réalisé, très créatif, je comprend pourquoi c'est un landmark album.

I smoked up a bag of elephant tranquilizer.

So good

Samples, witty lyrics, edgy rap, great pace and catchy bass riffs

Classic And Best Beastie Boys Album.

Of all the albums described as the “Sgt. Peppers of XYZ genre,” this is hands down my favorite. But I’m as a girl who gets weak at the knees whenever she talks to some quirked up white boiz with a penchant for just saying whatever stupid shit comes to their brain, so I’m a bit biased.

own

Non so cosa sia successo, sono stato stregato dal fascino dello scapestrato

I almost cried because all I wanted was to see them perform this album. That will never happen. Dreams don’t come true 4.8

I'm a sucker for rap duos

B-Boys at their best

Beastie Boys are great!

I haven’t listened to this is years, but it’s a ton of fun. Hip hop isn’t usually in my wheelhouse, but this one is hard to resist.

So Sporadic but So loveable 🔥🔥 the synergy between them are rarely matched.

This album is just incredible. I can't imagine how much it would cost to use all these samples if it were made today.

Den vanliga beastie boys energin fast med bättre produktion och beats än de andra albumen ja hört av dem

loved it. and it's my bf fav band so :)

This is one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time and a master class in sampling. Easily the best Beastie Boys album. The was they wove so many different songs and styles together that there are web sites dedicated to listing the little snippets and phrases; there are just too many to catch otherwise. It is also astounding how seamless some of the transitions in B Boy Bouillabaisse are. Just a great album from start to finish.

Thesis 2022, Unreal

Thoroughly enjoy the Beasties. Paul's Boutique has a smoother, more musical feel with less frat-boy anthem efforts. A favorite.

De titel van de song 'The Sounds of Science' slaat de spijker op z'n kop bij het omschrijven van dit album. Uit dat nummer blijkt dat Beastie Boys zich er echt wel van bewust waren dat ze het Hip Hop genre bijna met academische precisie naar een hoger level tilde. Als je het hebt over evolutie van het rap-genre en urban music in general, dan is dit mogelijk de belangrijkste pioniersoort die als één van de eerste het habitat der sampledelia betrad. Waar de golden age van de Hip Hop, die zijn hoogtijdagen vierde eind jaren 80, gedomineerd werden door een MC en een sidekick DJ, was dit een verschuiving naar meer sonische experimentatie met MC's die zich aanpaste aan de tot in de precisie uitgemeten lagen aan samples. Het is daardoor niet alleen een Hip Hop album die geroemd is door mensen in de gelijknamige scene, maar kent ook vele fans uit de Trip Hop, de funk, de jazz, de rock en de electronica wereld. Ik denk alleen dat hij daarin al uniek is. Waar ik bij 'Ill Communication' soms m'n vraagtekens had bij de dynamiek tussen de eentonige stemgeluiden en de samples, rijden die twee nu echt perfect op de zelfde golflengte. De wacky lyrics vol absurde (onvolwassen) humor matchen eigenlijk over de hele lengte van het album met een eclectisch palet aan samples. De meerlaagse productie houdt de uitbundige vocalen in toom, en geeft de luisteraar ook voortdurend even rust om te genieten van een jazz-passage of een funky bassline. Vooral in die tweede excelleert dit album. Je hoort de dooddoener "je kunt niet stil zitten bij deze muziek" net iets te vaak, dat lukt me eigenlijk altijd wel, maar deze barst van de aanstekelijk energie. Weinig momenten waar de groove echt onderbroken wordt. Het klinkt raar, maar de kracht van dit album is de absentie van een 'Fight For Your Right' en een 'Sabotage'. De plaat leeft van z'n consistentie, waar een absolute banger ook andere songs kan doen verbleken. Ik heb wel echt persoonlijke favorieten, maar vraag het 100 mensen en je zult een hoop verschillende antwoorden horen. Het is een museum van de samplekunst, zonder een Nachtwacht die alle aandacht trekt. Het is die ene zaal waar het wat rustiger is, waardoor je alle ruimte hebt om élk schilderij van dichtbij te bekijken. De schilderijen waar ik wat langer bij blijf staan zijn dan wel ten eerste 'Shake Your Rump', P-Funk van de bovenste plank die de briljante chemie tussen de boys etaleert. En dan naar 'Sounds of Science', een Beatles mash-up par excellence zoals letterlijk alleen zij dat kunnen, ongekend in de Hip Hop wereld en onnavolgbaar groovy. Vervolgens naar 'Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun', met de metal riff waar je smerig van gaat kijken en de moddervette proto-Trip Hop drums. En als laatste nog even blijven hangen bij 'Car Thief'. Geen idee wat daar allemaal gebeurt qua geluiden maar ik hou van elke seconde. Alternatieve Hip Hop wat pas echt furore ging maken eind jaren 90 onder leiding van DOOM. Pioniers, niets meer en niets minder. In conclusie, het genre dat absoluut gedomineerd werd door de zwarte urbanite, kwam op dat ene moment in 1989 eventjes in handen van 3 witte Joodse jongens uit New York. Een korte wisseling van de wacht met verstrekkende gevolgen. 9/10 Highlights: Shake Your Rump The Sounds of Science Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun Car Thief

Amazing production

Rating: 10/10 Classic album, one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. The sampling and production on this album is legendary, so diverse and fun to listen to. The amount of samples that were used is incredible and the fact that it all meshes so well is even more incredible; nothing on here feels forced. The Beastie Boys are having fun throughout the entire album, nothing serious lyrically but their interplay is fantastic. This is an album that was groundbreaking back then and still sounds amazing today; a timeless classic. Favorite songs: pretty much all of them. Least favorite song: High Plains Drifter.

a premier example in sample-based beats. Experimental, innovative, somewhat psychedelic, but also just a ton of fun. The sonics here are outstanding and the music is as essential to this album as the rapping. Samples come from a wide variety of sources and really make this a particularly interesting and unique album that’s both insanely dense but also smooth and not overwhelming. The Beastie Boys are in top form on this one - some people may not like their sound but if you do, this album hits all the right notes. Plus, it has 5-Piece Chicken Dinner. An essential album for anyone who enjoys hip hop. It’s great on a first listen, and the appreciate and respect just grows the deeper you dive - infinitely rewarding.

Got more hits than Sadaharu Oh. God this is just wonderful, wonderful stuff. Just listening to B-Boy Bouillabaisse again just slaps such a bigass smile on my face. No unexpected bangers. Just sheer genius and flow. Shake your rump-a!

4,5

Super fun

Brilliant throughout

Sounds of Science

Absolutely wild in the best way. I was a little skeptical when I read that this album has a heavy use of samples, but I love how smartly they are woven into the songs. Almost feel like easter eggs. Every song is enjoyable and fun

"Paul's Boutique" is the second album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys. It was produced by the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers and extensively uses samples drawn from funk, soul, jazz and rock. In fact, 105 or more samples are used which had a far less licensing cost than in today's world. The album is considered a landmark in the golden age of hip hop and a seminal work in sample-based production. It was commercially unsuccessful compared to their debut hitting #14 in US and #44 in the UK charts. The first full song is "Shake Your Rump." A hip hop beat and groove. The rapping is quick among the three Beastie Boys. Layered samples coming right after each other. A personal favorite of mine is "Johnny Ryall." It has slower beat and is about a homeless man. 11 songs are sampled including Pink Floyd. Who knew the Eagles "Those Shoes" could be incorporated into a good song? The Beastie Boys did in "High Plains Drifter." The boys go gansta here. They get a great groove going in "Hey Ladies" with apparently had 20 samples including the Commodores. Their second single "Shadrach" gets the groove going also with some scratching included. It's only a matter before you need to call on James Brown for some samples. It's a modern retelling of the biblical story of three men refusing to kneel before a king and are saved by angels after being thrown in a kiln. The album closes with the epic "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" and its nine suites. The music constantly changes as we get a world-wind tour of NYC. 26 or so samples were used including memorable ones of the Isley Brothers' "That Lady" and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." This is a great album. There is just brilliant use of samples. Some of the samples are one-second brief with others carrying throught the whole song. They're also layered and musically over over place (rock, soul, jazz, blues). You could listen to this album multiple times and hear something different each time just given the sheer volume of samples. The lyrics are in-your-face, fast, funny and clever...lots of pop references. I'll say my most overused word this week again: a classic.

Classic!

Paul’s Boutique is better than Licensed To Ill. Fight me.

Not my favorite Beastie Boys album but still great. Creative sample use and wicked flow.

Love me some Beastie Boys. Such a unique sound. One of the few bands who are immediately recognized.

I would probably give this 4 1/2 if I could. Rounding up.

yeahh.,... Drop! miss these guys so much. one of my most memorable concerts.

Still goes hard in the paint.

Paul's Boutique was not as commercially successful as Licence to Ill. But sonically this is a far superior record in all regards and it established the Beastie Boys as legitimate hip-hop musicians. Now when I say hip-hop, I do so with a grain of salt. I find that the Beasties have a hard rock and punk kinda vibe as opposed to several other hip-hop records in this list. I would classify this more as Alt hip-hop. The Beasties started as a punk band and the music and attitude of punk musicians shines throughout this record. The lyrical interplay is top-notch, and the lyrical content is very amusing even if it has an angry adolescent quality about it, same as License to Ill but, rawer and introspective. There are some shining stars on this record, Johnny Ryall being a particular favorite.

Yay!!!

Hell yes. This album rules, and so do the Beastie Boys.

Possibly a perfect album. A prog rock record of party hip hop. Lots of things blending into each other. Love it.

Oh, this album. I think I was vaguely aware this album came out in 1989 when I was 12 years old. I kinda remember Hey Ladies playing on MTV while thinking this doesn't sound like anything from License to Ill. Apparently critics and others dismissed this album at the time too. At least I have the defense that I was 12 years old. Fast forward to circa 1997-1998, and this was a staple CD for driving around with my friends. We appreciated it all, especially the super awesome samples of the Beatles among other very cool and very numerous samples. This album was a last of an era (no one can sample this liberally anymore) but also so ahead of its time it did not get the proper recognition it deserved until decades later. Shake Your Rump with its "disco call" and "The Sounds of Science" are stand outs. Hats off to you Beasties for making an ignored classic, and here's to more money to Sir Paul for all samples on the record.

I never listened to this in high school. Man I wish I had now. This was great

Pretty great, I have listened several times.

Easiest 5 I've given thus far. A masterclass in hip hop production.

Their best album

Har tænkt mig at lytte til den igen når jeg bliver caught up men behøver ikke høre den igen for at rate den! En af mine alltime yndlings!!

Det her må være en af de sidste hiphop plader der stadig kunne sample nogenlunde frit, og what a way to go out. Højdemålet for samplebaseret hiphop tbh

This album is where's waldo for a music fan, trying to find all the samples.

All over the place (complimentary)

Unique work of genius.

Is it perfect? Probably not. Is it one of three albums I listened to for an entire year of drives to school and fell in love with? Yes. I think the Bouillabaisse is probably where it lags a bit, but this thing is just filled to the brim with amazing hits, great beats, and goofy interwoven rhyme schemes from the boys. A personal favorite from way back, and one I’ll never get tired of.

Wow! I can't believe I had never listened to that all the way through before.

My second favourite album of all time just being Blur's 13. Perfection start to finish. Car Thief in particular.

HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS A BIG FAT EGG

I should have figured that an entire Beastie Boys album would be even more chaotic than any of their singles. A great chaos, though.

Hell yeah. This album is an all-timer.

Required listening for music fans. “Johnny Ryall” and “Shadrach” are favorites.

Dropping science like Galileo dropped an orange. There’s always a special spot in my ears for Beastie Boys, this album kept a great tempo and was so entertaining to listen through. The sampling was on point, the beats were tasty and the lyrics were a great mix of goofy, irreverent and at the same time absolutely well written and clever. Favorite songs - Johnny Ryell, Egg Man, The Sounds of Science, Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun 5/5 Dropped oranges.

Day 11, first 5 star rating <3

Short but good music

YES!!!!

Really cool. I see why Madonna wanted to fuck these Jewish nerds now

My favourite Beastie Boys album. One of those that needs repeated listens and a deep dive, always something new to notice. Recommend the 33 1/3 book on it if you are interested in how it was made.

Perfect!

I’ve seen the Beastie Boys twice. Once at Lollapalooza (when it was touring). It was blistering hot. When the Beastie Boys came on a rain shower appeared out of nowhere and the crowd went WILD. It was definitely a top 5 show for me. I didn’t even need to listen to this to know it’s 5 stars. The Beastie Boys reinvented themselves so many times but remained consistently the three fucking baddest white boys in the hip hop genre.

so good. Way ahead of its time - revolutionary. The best Beastie Boys album, and IMO best hip-hop album of the 80s.

A classic!

Unparalleled perfection!!! No notes. One of THE BEST albums PERIOD

It’s such a fun album. Some songs are upbeat. Some are dark. Very clever. Great sample choices.

So good!

Kinda perfect

Always good music in early rap years

Five stars. One of my all time favorites.

Raucously fun

Great piece

This is the goods. Singular record that would have begun a new genre if humanity was worthy of it. Flawless masterpieces aren't always that entertaining or fun. At Paul's Boutique art, fun, and innovation flow like wine.

What a way to start off 2024 I have come to a realization about this album and its place in society recently. I came to Paul’s Boutique in the early 2000s, possibly when this album was having a cultural reassessment and being recognized as the peak of the Beasties powers, that this was heir apparent to Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. So ambitious and pushing the limits of what music could be (figuratively and legally). 35 (!) years on it still sounds ahead of its time and a miracle that it all works so well; never does it sound like all the samples are overused or out of place. I think now though this is closer to Exile on Main Street, in a much as it’s such a ‘dude’ album that people (me included) take so much joy in explaining to people why it’s significant. Like where the samples are coming from, how unique this was at the time, that a song is made up of all Beatles samples. Like I believe that the next Liz Phair will be writing a song for song companion to Paul’s Boutique. Kicked Out of Lees Sportswear? This along with Sound of Silver are on my essential New York record list I will be starting hahaha

This is the first Beastie Boys album I was exposed to and it's still my favorite album by them. The shouting does bother some (I've noticed this in other reviews), but that's the style and so it's not for everyone. This still has my favorite Beastie Boys songs on it and the sampling is very innovative and it exhausts me just thinking about trying to get all of them together. Classic and will always be in my collection.

Best Beastie Boys album. Fight me.

Great album

Love love love

Classic and only a little dated. If you can get past the nasally voice and back-and-forth rapping style that really gives away its age, the production and songs are excellent and many times still fresh.

All time great.

Love all the insane samples, lyrics are fun too.

10/10

Best album ever!!!

I know it already! It's great!

Fabulous. Seminal. As good today as ever was.

It's the production. The Dust Brothers did something here that will never be equalled - mostly because Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy of the Southern District of New York decided that, unlike compulsory licenses available in every other form of music cover, sampling from thence forth required permission of the original songwriter. R.I.P. an amazing form of artistic expression at the hands of a disinterested legal academic.

🤘🏼

I always hear something new

Forgot how awesome this album was when it came out and still is. BB is by far one of the most talented and gifted trio of the past 40 years and will always be a huge fan of their stuff. Paul’s Boutique is an eclectic group of songs that will keep you locked in from beginning to end. Enjoy

Straight, head bobbing fire.

Masterful use of samples. Rhymes effortless.

Full of creativity and energy

Doofy and fun

All time great rap album

Loved this!! So refreshing even for 2023, let alone 1989. I was hooked from the intro.

This is IT. So fun, so silly. Amazing beats. Completely obsessed with “Hey Ladies”!

Awesome album. Love it.

The album that made the Beastie Boys what they are. Totally changed their sound from the first album. Egg man is a favorite.

Doesn't quite reach the heights of I'll communication but it's still incredible in its own way. Also B-boy Bouillabaisse is a 10/10 track title.

Another classic

Loved it. Major flashback nostalgia. Solid early b boys charm

Never listened to it front to back before. Listened to it twice today.

Favourite tracks: bboys boulabaisse; car thief; Shadrach; shake your rump; egg man

This is one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time, hearing it again for this list was a pleasure.

What a joy. Like a hug from an old friend. Hasn't lost a thing in all the years since we had the posters up on our bedroom walls and celebrated the sound of these B-Boys from Brooklyn.

It's incredibly rare to find someone who'll finish your sentences for you. So glad these three found each other.

What do you do when you've been pigeonholed as drunken frat boys, running roughshod all over and being seen as lesser than gimmick rappers? Well, the conventional thing would have been to double down and keep making money and memories that would fade amongst diminishing returns. Instead, a kaideoscopic and sprawling journey was undertaken that occupied creatively patchworked beats and oddball characters and rhymes that befitted the scene and radically reinvented not only a genre that was already well into its golden age but careers that seemed to be operating in free fall. For Paul's Boutique is not just a hip-hop album, it is a manifesto. Beastie Boys had decided that, in order to keep ahead of the game, constant stylistic turnover would be required for longevity. And not only was that achieved, it set a precedent that many are still trying to keep up with to this day. If it weren't for Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys would have never climbed out of the 80s and into the 90s and beyond filled to the brim with memorable songs and albums that showcased their jack of all trades persona. A masterpiece of the hip-hop genre.