Licensed To Ill

Not a bad album for what is a fairly distinctive edge. I enjoy some of these songs from my past so keeps me interested. Can be a bit crashy and clumsy at times but enjoyable.

Putting aside the fact that the most annoying people you know have adopted “Fight for Your Right” as a mantra (looking at you, Travis Kelce), Licensed to Ill still stands up as a pretty great record. Sure, its production and some of the subject matter might be dated, but overall, it’s hard not to have a good time listening to this record. The Beasties would go on to put out better records, with more expansive sounds and intricate production, but their debut is no slouch, even if a lot of the tracks rely on the same tricks (classic rock guitar/samples, bombastic drum machines) to get their point across.

KICK IT!!

I ALREADY KNOW WHAT LICENSE TO ILL SOUNDS LIKE. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE CAN OF WORMS YOUVE JUST PRESENTED TO ME

Licensed to Ill has some standout tracks, though it feels a bit dated overall. The album has its highs but also some low points with less impressive songs. The sampling is excellent throughout, adding a lot to the sound, and the rapping is strong in places, though at times it falls short.

One of the most groundbreaking Hip Hop albums of the 80's even if it didn't age all that well when held against albums like those from Public Enemy. The combined energy of Rick Rubin's production which he showcased on previous albums like Run-D.M.C or even Slayer with three white guys that mixed Rap and Rock that created the first #1 Rap album in the US. Still to this day, the Beastie Boys get some legendary credit, mainly for pushing Hip Hop into a more commercial frame that ultimately helped artists later to be as popular as they are. Still, it is a relic of its time and at many points sound simply dated which does give it some very Old-School vibes (it's Mid-School Hip Hop but whatever) that might hit a nerve with some but to me it's more influential than an actual good listen. The fitting description of Hip Hop with 'Rhymin & Stealin' opens the quite fittingly. Because that's what they are doing: sampling rock records to make beats and rapping on top. That's what Hip Hop (at least back then) was and was about. The song itself is pretty good as well with a lot of Rock and even a tad bit of Metal which is abviously accompanied by the energetic and playful rap vocals. It's a very typical Beastie boys track in terms of sound and delivery and even if it does sound good, there is still the fact that I find that it sounds incredibly dated and not as interesting as when it released in '86. There seems to be lack of focus, knowledge as well as ideas even if that's not the problem here. It's above average but just slightly. On 'The New Style' they go more into Hip Hop than Rock but with enouh influence to not sound too far off. It also does some very interesting and experimental things with the beat which feels like a predecessor of the Trap genre but still is undeniably 80's (with the turntable bridges). Even in terms of delivery it's more interesting and the mix of ideas, production & rap results in a much more interesting song that even if it isn't perfect because there are just too many things happening, it's still good. 'She's Crafty' has a really well implemented riff that repeats throughout the track with some interesting elements added like a cowbell. The delivery has a nice energy but it doesn't come over the best way and has some moments that feel very dull. I think it sounds good but I don't care much about what it ultimately does. The Electro influence in the beat of 'Posse in Effect' does make it very much feel like early, early Rap and even though I think it's done better than Afrika Bambaataa did it, I still think that this isn't really the best way to make Hip Hop. The rapping also isn't the most interesting and I'm often more annoyed than hyped. It's still okay. The mix of Jazz and Latin Funk on 'Slow Ride' does make the song in the intro and the times it appears later on but sadly it's not there when they are rapping which does make the verses feel a bit empty. Again, it's okay but if they did more with the verses, they might've made an overall better track. The "Comedy" Rap of 'Girls' that combines a very silly New Wave sounding beat with some very annoying deliveries on the even more annoying instrumental. This is absolutely horrible to listen to and the text doesn't make it remotely better. Easily the worst song that they ever did on a major project. The legendary 'Fight for Your Right' which combines Stadium Glam Metal with Hard Rock and of course a bit of Hip Hop but mainly Rock... The result is a song that sees them do a much better performance that works incredibly well with the beat and stays interesting throughout the entire track. I think that it's a bit sad that they do the "Rock" better than the "Rap" (at least on this album) but it is what it is. It's an incredible track. On Side 2, the second legendary Rap Rock track 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' starts with a pretty Heavy riff that repeats throughout. Both the production and the delivery doesn't feel much different than what they did before but it's both so much more effective and makes this easily one of the best songs here. It's the sound that they did all these songs before but something changed that makes this so much better. It's nearly a perfect song and one of the best Beastie Boys tracks ever. With 'Paul Revere', one of the most Experimental tracks on the album with the reversed drums and simple but weird production. Additionally the verses are much longer and feel more stiched together than on previous tracks but I personally am just irritated with what they did here. I get that some might like it but I personally think that this is a time when experimentation doesn't mean better. I can appreciate what they did but it's still pretty bad. 'Hold It Now, Hit It' continues the experimentation but does it less and a bit better. It does sound really dated with the Electro beat and the rapping is just 'eh' but the sampled interludes are pretty cool. I think that it's a middle of the road track with some nice moments that ultimately don't do much as well as some annoying parts that do effect the final outcome. With 'Brass Monkey' they go even further into the Electro Hip Hop which I am not a big fan to begin with because it just sounds incredibly dated. This song especially also doesn't much sound like them and could've easily been from someone else. Plus, it's annoying with both the rapping and the beat. It's really annoying and honestly bad. The return to more Rock on 'Slow and Low' also means another high in quality because even with some really annoying parts with the rapping, the beat and the energy is enough to make a really enjoyable track that is honestly pretty good. Only the bridge does ruin it a bit but it's still enough that I'd call it "good". The final track 'Time to Get Ill' which combines a lot of stilistic ideas that they played with throughout. I really like the instrumental at some points as well as the chorus but there are times that I do not enjoy it quite as much, mainly because it sounds a bit weak and not fully fleshed out but ultimately it's still a nice track. favourites: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Fight for Your Right least favourites: Girls, Paul Revere Rating: strong 5 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Licensed to Ill I’m never quite sure if they are joking on this, or if they actually mean it. I can see why they would say it’s a joke, and bearing in mind the rest of their career, I’m probably inclined to believe them. Even if their wordplay, pop culture references and delivery are all great, and whether it is all tongue in cheek or is actually sincere, the constant fixation on and references to girls, beers and defying the authority of teachers and parents does get a little tiresome over the course of the whole album. Musically it’s also very of its time and very 80s Rick Rubin, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Led Zep sample on Rhyming and Stealing is great and sets the tone for well chosen samples and big, echoey beats, and its fusion of rock and rap is clearly hugely important, along with Run DMC (with Rick Rubin of course), in Rap's emergence into the mainstream. I suppose the flip side of that is that it also birthed some god awful rap-rock in its wake, like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and particularly and most egregiously Kid Rock. Rhymin and Stealin, Slow Ride, Girls, Fight For your Right, No Sleep till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey and Time to Get Ill are the standout tracks. I particularly like the Led Zep, War and Creedence samples on Rhymin, Slow Ride and Licensed to Ill and of course Fight for Your Right is a great tune. Girls (aside from the lyrics) and Brass Monkey do indicate some of the musical playfulness they would subsequently exhibit It may be a bit low, but in the context of their whole career a high 3 probably feels about right - it shows glimpses of their sense of humour, and their ears for a hook, but it misses the sense of inventiveness and fun that you get from Paul’s Boutique onwards. 🤒🤒🤒 Playlist submission: Fight For your Right

45 minutes of three guys yelling at me over a drum machine, is not really my thing. Some of the tracks that have actually music on them are not bad, though. Fight For Your Right is a classic, but I can't listen to No Sleep Till Brooklyn without thinking of Morris Minor and the Majors.

This should be good but it's not the beastie boys that resonate with me

Every beastie boys song is the same song

I seriously don't understand why people like this. I will admit, it's perfectly fine. Like, I wouldn't tell someone to turn off Beastie Boys. I might even play them on my own sometimes. A few songs at a time though. This album is full of bad rhymes and that annoying thing where one person sings a whole line except for the last word that a lot of people sing. That's every song. Literally. Why. It's not funny, it's not cool, there's a lot of samples so any good part isn't even their doing. I am 6 songs into the album as I'm writing this. I know I like a couple upcoming songs, but already this is going to be a low score. Nothing can save it, not even the Guardians of the Galaxy. Alright, No Sleep Till Brooklyn is great. But still. Again, the album is just perfectly fine and not for me. But I don't get how anyone has any better opinions of this album than that. If you love this album, I'm happy for you.

Funny how this seems entirely concocted to appeal to young suburbia teens. With allowance money. How cool is it that? Did you notice that 3MTA3 (above the engine) is Eat Me backwards? How cool is that? I suppose it is an accident of birth that kept me off this bandwagon. Just lucky, I guess.

Sounds like a Led Zep sample off the bat to me. I have two problems with this album, its boring and annoying. The only songs I enjoyed were Fight For Your Right and Time to Get Ill. 2.1/5

Cheesy beats, cheesy rhymes, samples where the original is infinitely better than the resulting song, it gets an extra star for the iconic cover.

• bargain-basement Beastie Boys • 3MTA3 = "EAT ME" spegelvänt • Lustiga instrumentkombinationer, xylofon & elgitarr • Låter lite som Mickey med Carola Betyg: 3/10

I've never quite gotten the appeal of the Beastie Boys. After listening to Licensed to Ill all the way through, I...still don't get the appeal. But then I have listened to this album all the way through before. It's interesting, amusing, and am glad to listen to it as a cultural thing, but it's just not that interesting, musically, intellectually, or any other way.

I really love no sleep till Brooklyn and fight for your right, but would have been fine listening to just those 2 songs. So much yellinf

I just don't like the Beastie Boys, unfortunately

J'aurais mis 2.5 si on me laissait le faire...

Why is this considered “good”? Stealing Black culture and packaging it as a novelty act. Zero stars.

Stop yelling at me gosh

Sorry kids, I've decided I *hate* the Beastie Boys. Their whiny-shout juvenile "rap" style gets annoying fast, and the backing/scratching is essentially the same on EVERY track. The aural equivalent of a mosquito bite, this was irritating when trying to be cool in 1986 and is even more irritating now. As with "Paul's Boutique", the occasional sample raises the quality but it's a shame Led Zeppelin never sued them.

Waarom schreeuwen ze zo, beetje barbaars

This project sucks sometimes, this is not cutting edge, and if it is, then the other two albums aren't, they all sound the same. Girls is without a doubt the low point.

Boring with nit great lyrics or sounds

9.5/10

Was für ein Banger von einem Album. Das geht einfach hart!

4.5 Classic, of course.

This is what sellout hippies from the 60s listened to in the 70s to feel like they hadn't sold out. But they had.

Making future verses to acknowledge problematic behavior doesn’t excuse them but proves Tim Robinson was right when he said, “people can change.” That being said it’s a funky fresh good time.

This is a really fun album, and groundbreaking for its time. I remember hearing Fight for your Right to Party on the radio as a 16 year old and my head exploding. I heard more of the album and didn't quote know what to make of it, but loved it all the same. I still do to some extent. It probably makes me an immature asshole but I just don't care.

While it’s not my favorite Beastie Boys album it’s still fantastic and hints at how clever they really are despite being hidden behind a frat boy persona.

Classic

Incredible 5* album. Didn't realize so much was zeppelin. So many call-outs to other rappers and songs. Complex. Fun. Wow.

Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill (1986) Absolute masterpiece of album bangers after bangers, drawn closer The New Style and Time To Get Ill the instrumental went crazy rhmes crazy 5/5

Yeah, this album is completely goated. Unbelievable production for 86. I have to imagine this was mind-boggling to listen to as a young adult back then. Angsty bars, some offensive shit, top notch, storytelling the writing and the delivery really has it all. This is up there with some of the best debut albums ever and the first hip-hop album to go number one absolutely legendary shit.

I’m a beastie boys sucker. I think Paul’s Boutique is their real magnum opus and this a step below it, but it’s still a 5 for me.

This was awesome. Exactly what was needed on a Friday morning; a perfect pick me up to help get me going. What an amazing debut album - talk about introducing yourself to the world with a bang. A fun listen from start to finish.

One of the best rap albums from start to finish. Mic drop. The Beastie Boys have a unique style of delivering their genius and it’s on full display with License to Ill. They are story tellers at heart whose fun lyrics are even more entertaining when their passion and iconic intonation are thrown in. This was a real treat.

For fun I imagined myself as today me listening to this album for the first time back in 1986. I would have rolled my eyes and dismissed this as juvenile trash while lamenting the state of music, a low 2. What I learned is that today me is lame AF. Monster album, nearly every track on this album was a hit single. The guitars riffs, the hooks, the dj, and of course those crazy ass rhymes. The energy on this album is off the chain, if you have a pulse this will get you moving. Ground breaking album, but unlike others ground breaking albums on this list I'm not taking thay into account in my review because I dont have to. Licensed To Ill needs no help, the album is as awesome today as it was when it came out.

Legendarny na wielu poziomach, od sampli Led Zeppelin, po Brass Monkey

Classic

This is #day704 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… here's to crossing another band off the list, as this is my third and final Beastie Boys record. Now, this is a game-changing record. What is there to add, really? As one of the songs says: "The New Style." That's all you need to know. Blast it out loud. This is a 5 out of 5. Looking forward to #day705.

Amazing album! It's more of a Rap album, but it has some hard rock songs on it. It's their best album and I enjoyed it all the way through! Truly amazing!

Lots of fun. Reminds me of Group Sex in a way that it’s short, dynamic, and juvenile enough in its humor that some of the lyrics that could be cringy come off as goofy.

Good

One of the first great albums I owned as a kid. I know it is immature, but I still love it. 9/10 Top song Paul Revere

Awesome

good stuff great!!

Illað stöff. Eldist vel og húmor í þessu. Beatin feit og rokkið er gott. Rick Rubin er meistari.

Geggjuð plata. Eldist ótrúlega vel.

Outstanding. I can't believe I've never listened to this album. Fight for Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn back to back. I love their sound, its so punchy. The alternating vocalists (espcially in the same line) just works so damn well. Makes me feel awesome. Album name and cover are awesome too. 5 stars

Iconic. So ahead of its time. Great Album!

Fucking love this album, so much fun and fight for your right is the best karaoke song of all time. 5.0/5.0 Best song: No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Incredible, genuinely the most fun you can have listening to music. The beats are insane for 1986, it makes you laugh it makes you want to dance it is untouchable.

Mmmmmmm. Drop!

This was the music of my high school dances. Laughing at the send up of frat-boy culture and memorizing all the lyrics until we became part of the problem. I'm drinking not thinking. We got drunk on the potent mix of rock and rap with sensibilities spawned in the punk world and with tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. I know in my mind that Paul's Boutique was the peak, but my heart says it just doesn't get any better than this. RIP Adam\MCA, you left too soon.

Every single one of the songs are at least solid and enough of them are amazing to make this a 5 star album

Licensed to Ill is probably one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time. Sure the music is dated being created mostly on an 808 drum machine it would sound dated. But it fits perfectly in that era. The key to this album is to think about where the Beastie Boys came from. The were a punk group but they became interested in hip hop and Russell Simmons ever the opportunist thought he would capitalize on having a white group kind of similar to Run DMC. He signs them and they record a few songs like She’s on It. They tour with Madonna because Russ is offered $500. So they get booed. Eventually they start recording the masterpiece that is this album. Sure the producer is said to be Rick Rubin but there is a lot of disputing how much he helped. They claim they had already recorded much of the album and he came in and tweaked it a little. Who knows the truth? I also believe they created an album that was true to who they were at the time a bunch of kids. Is it jokey? Sure. But they also were partying and could do whatever brother had been partying and going to clubs since they were like 15 so they were just trying to capture who they were. I remember seeing them on this tour. They drank enough beer to make most frat boys jealous so if they were trying to parody them they had become what they were making fun of. Sure they apologized for some of the lyrics but it’s still who they were at the time. Young dudes having fun. And you felt that on the album.

Number: 164 Date: 06/16/2026 Artist: Beastie Boys Album: Licensed To Ill Year: 1986 Style: Rap Rock Familiarity: Extremely (5) Rating: 5 Before: ======= Nice one. It's a 5. In fact this would be in my top 100 essential albums, without a doubt. Maybe even top 10. It's no their best but since it was the first, it gets a special nod from me. I'm a gonna go ahead and rate each song and maybe listen to the album at some point today abut seeing how's I know it so well, it's really not necessary. It will give me a chance to catch up on some other music, starting with this week's Discover Weekly, which has been leaning towards folk-chamber-pop-alt-country lately. But one final thought before that, I just wanted to say that one reason I like the Beastie Boys so much is that they have a sense of humor and don't take themselves too seriously, which counts for a lot with me. During: ======= 5 Rhymin & Stealin 5 The New Style 5 She's Crafty 4 Posse In Effect 4 Slow Ride 5 Girls 5 Fight For Your Right 5 No Sleep Till Brooklyn 3 Paul Revere 4 Hold It Now, Hit It 5 Brass Monkey 4 Slow And Low 4 Time To Get Ill ----------------------------------------------------- 4.47 WEIGHTED AVERAGE (accounts for song lengths) After : ======= Yep, I still think it's a 5, even though the average per song comes in at just below 4.5. 4 my personal rating 5 suitability for this list 5 impact ----------------------------------------------- 4.7 composite rating

Every song a banger. Crazy how much their songs have been sampled

Very similar to the Run DMC album I had yesterday, but I think the Beastie Boys improved on that with better samples and beats. I love the way they trade lines and it's a fun album front to back.

Feels appropriate for the day after a Knicks championship. I don’t think there’s a better rap/rock fusion group, or record, than this one. The boys really cooked here. It’s everything Rick Rubin wanted to do with Run DMC & Aerosmith, but bolder and better (probably because he’d sold his proof of concept already).

A third of these songs are already on my favorites list.

Aku baru pertama kali mendengarkan album hiphop secara utuh. Sebenernya ini bukan tipe musik yang sering kudengar setiapharinya tapi aku sangat menikmati pengalaman mendengar album ini.

It's so close to 5 stars that I went ahead and rounded up. Love the samples they use. How they trade off verses is great. At 45 minutes, the album is just enough time to spend with them.

iconic 80s banger

this album is slay

If I still know every word of every song 30 years after I first heard it, it's an automatic 5.

Classic from my teen years. I still own this album.

non skip, de los mejores discos de hip hop

Fucking masterpiece

Before Biggie Before Tupac There was BEASTIE three white boys from NYC just fuckin around end up making an all time classic that defies easy classification. It hip hops. It raps. It rocks. It’s all over the place, but never loses that infectious groove that keeps your head bobbing and if you’re ever in a group, you will get people singing song. The beasties also blended comedy lyrics and party tunes while smartly sampling sabbath, zeppelin, and others- it’s a wonderful production. So many hits off this one- fight for your right, brass monkey, girls, Paul revere, and NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN. Easy 5. Nostalgia, hits, longevity, and still hop hops, rocks, and raps along. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A classic

Three Idiots (and Rick Rubin) Create A Masterpiece 5/5 Highlights: - Rhymin & Stealin - She’s Crafty - Slow Ride - Fight For Your Right - No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Maybe the album on the list that is most perfect, to me. Best Song: No Sleep Til Brooklyn Rating: 10/10 Stars: 5

So fun and entertaining, on paper I feel like I wouldn't even like this group but somehow it works so well

A classic hip hop album

Best Beastie Boys album has the hits and kick ass samples of songs by legendary acts like Led Zeppelin. You can't listen to this and not smile, it is so much fun. 4.5/5

Released the same year as Slayer’s “Reign in Blood” and had the same producer, and they are both sonically the same. Hilarious, obnoxious, vibrant, ridiculous fun. Listening to the rhymes about Phyllis Diller, Abe Vigoda, classic TV and “Guys and Dolls,” you wonder how anyone ever thought these guys were really dangerous — they’re obviously having a laugh and they’re a blast to listen to. But there’s no ignoring the homophobia and sexism in some of the lyrics; in places it’s glaring and gross.

Now that’s an album - fun, exciting and every sample makes me laugh. Favourite track: Slow Ride

This album still holds up 40 years later. I love it from start to finish. I remember when I first got into this album, and I would drive around in my moms Eagle Talon, listening to this. I didn't have my own car at the time, so I had to take hers. I remember liking her stereo speakers since the bass was good for a car that didn't have a kicker box or bazooka in it. I remember cranking the volume on her car as I drove the car down suburban streets to showcase the bass, which was ridiculous to assume that the bass even made it out to the street where anyone could hear it; that was life on the mean streets of northwest suburban illinois.

Absolute classic album with a trio of goofy ass guys pretending to be hard. As long as you look at the lyrics as the joke they were intended to be you’ll have a ball.

13/05/26 wow, rap com guitarra, foda se ficar repetitivo vai ser uma bosta essa primeira é bem banger loud and nonsense, gostei da vibe, combina cmg e com um amigo meu que é foda a segunda tbm nossa vai se fuder é bom pra caramba tinha que ser o rick rubin os beats, a voz, a sonoridade mais experimental e guitarra é bom pra cacete que beat switch, caralho que rap bom vibes total a sonoridade não muda, mas ela é versátil na própeia exploração do melhor jeito possível - os vocais francamente não são uma voz boa, mas a vibe deles no instrumetnal é perfeita e esse defeito eletrônico em posse in effect, foda pra caralho esses scratches tbm, do caralho slow ride tem algum sample latino (a mais paia, e é tipo nota 7) girls tem um beat estranho mas funciona de algum jeito meio maluco essas porras são contagiantes, dá vontade de dançar - rick rubin goat letra meio machista, ignorarei pra continuar gostando fight for your right é mais rock infused comparado ao resto, mas tbm é agradável e a produção eclética junto com a voz berrada faz isso aqui se diferenciar e ser mto perfeito pensei que ia ser solo, foi quase é foda como vc consegue ouvir como os instrumentos são gravados de forma eletrônica mas ainda assim de um jeito humano muito foda o beat ao contrário, visionário o melhor beat invertido existente na vida, o melhor que eu já ouvi esse beat de apito puta que pariu é simplesmente sensacional essa produção do rick rubin, ele usa de tudo e fica incrível: apito, rock infusion, sampling, hi-hat ao contrário, etc a vibe dos caras combina demais com tudo, é animado, é grito, é estrondoso e isso faz esse álbum ser tão foda pra mim: ele não é comum e não tem medo disso, funciona melhor que muita merda hoje em dia amo hiphop 10/10 / 5/5 (surpresa sensacional)

I don’t really need to listen to this album, it’s the only time the police ever showed up at my house because the music was too loud. Regardless, a reason to re-listen cannot be passed up!

The energy hits you right from the very first second, I absolutely looove the snare drum beat and the bass riffs. And the lyrics to the first song are so funny 😆 But it's really not for the lyrics that I will listen, it's mainly about teenager's lives.

Gen X here so naturally Licensed to Ill fits into the cornerstone of my upbringing. The fellas are in top form with their performative call-and-response raps, the beats...dated but sharp. And it's LOADED with front to back hits, so yeah, this is the illest.

Albums and artists that changed everything deserve a special place of this list. And that is true with this quintessential Beastie Boys album. Interestingly the did it again later on in their catalog.

This album is loud and brash and stupid and funny and awesome. The Beastie Boys and Rick Ruben crafted a masterpiece with this one.

I have not listened to many of these songs in years, and it's surprising how silly/goofy many of the lyrics are - ones I have been able to recite since the late 80s, but never reflected on how just inane they are. But it still works years later. This is a great album.

habs sehr gefühlt, good vibes, gute laune, gute tracks, zum kopfmitnicken und tanzen

I just love the beastie boys, that's it. That's my review.

Iconic - if one word could sum up the Beastie Boys in general it would be exactly that. License to Ill is maybe their most accessible in their catalogue thanks to Rubin's production and the relatively short runtime. The songs (regardless of how fans and the media interpreted them) remain an essential introduction to what would be a legendary discography.

I can't believe how good this album is. + 1 star for the shit flinging at Jimmy Paige. I love how the album switched genres, I'm not too familiarized with Hip-hop myself, but the albums I've been getting recommended here are making me get curious. Favorite song: Hard to say, I really liked a handful of them, but "Girls" is up there.

This was the first record I ever bought with my own money, which means it probably doesn't get a perfectly objective review. That's fine. Some records earn their place in your life before you have the critical vocabulary to explain why, and this is one of them. The juvenile quality is real and worth naming honestly. "Girls" is especially hard to defend in 2025, even with the vibes loop doing something genuinely cool underneath all the nonsense. But the rhymes throughout are sharper than the frat-boy reputation suggests, the energy is relentless, and Rick Rubin's sampling instincts were genuinely revolutionary — colliding Zeppelin riffs, funk breaks, and hardcore punk energy into something that hadn't existed before 1986. The musical details reward attention even decades later. The trumpet on "Slow Ride" catches you off guard in the best possible way. The drum entrance on "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" still hits like a freight train. "Brass Monkey" remains a strange and wonderful collision of scratching and horns that shouldn't work and absolutely does. And the sequencing of "Girls" directly into "Fight for Your Right" is a deliberate contrast move that shows more craft than the band usually gets credit for. There's a personal footnote worth including: in elementary school, a friend and I performed a lip sync to "Paul Revere" for a class skit. At the time I genuinely couldn't tell Ad Rock from Mike D. That's probably the most honest review of this record I can offer — it got inside you before you even knew what was happening. A stone cold classic. Five stars, no apology.

I was 16 when this came out. And it was a staple straight through college. So my rating is clearly biased, but this is the straight five star banger.

i come into this review with a ton of bias, but i LOVE this album. to me, its 5 stars through and through. 'fight for your right' and 'no sleep till brooklyn' are the obvious hits, but Paul Revere is an incredible feat of storytelling, She's Craft is hilarious, Brass Monkey is gold, and Hold it Now, Hit it i think is such a sick beat total bias on my part, but i love this album

Such a fantastic album, as long as you enjoy the Beastie Boys' unique sound. All of the main hits this group is known for come from this album and that made it so much more enjoyable. The four-song stretch that includes Girls, Fight for Your Right, No Sleep 'til Brooklyn and Paul Revere had me singing/rapping along the entire time. Late 80s rap is an acquired taste, but this album can get anyone bopping along I feel like.

So many great ones, can’t believe these were all on their first record!

The Feminist Internal Conflict is real with this one, but I can't give anything fewer than 5 stars. It's too good.

I'm gonna use this review box to write a shoutout for Rick Rubin. In the same year that he produced Slayer... he did Beastie Boys. Guess that might be to crazy to say but, Rubin is like Tarantino for the music. Everything he touched turned to gold. And when we able to put Beastie Boys, Slayer and Johnny Cash on the same phrase, you know the guy isn't sleeping on his shift... or he is, I don't know. About the album: Zeppelin with flow rhymes? Gimmesomathat! 5 stars.

Throughout this whole album, I was absolutely shocked when I loved it so much. I did not think that this album would do that at all, but I was in fact wrong.

Best white boys ever in the game…sit down, Marshall.

When I was a kid, I asked my dad to buy me an album he used to listen to. This was that album.

Licensed to Ill is the debut studio album by the American hip-hop group Beastie Boys, released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records. The album became the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200 chart, and was the second rap album to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is one of Columbia Records' fastest-selling debut records to date and was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2015 for shipping over ten million copies in the United States. The album received critical acclaim for its unique musical style, chemistry between the group members, and their stylized rapping. Since its release, Licensed to Ill has been ranked by critics as one of the greatest hip-hop and debut albums of all time. Despite its popularity and success, this would be the group’s only album to be released from Def Jam due to creative differences with producer Rick Rubin, resulting in the group leaving the label to sign with Capitol Records for their next album, Paul's Boutique (1989). Licensed to Ill was met with critical acclaim. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. It is the only album by a Jewish hip-hop act to receive 5 mics from The Source. In 2003, the album was ranked number 217 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, 219 in a 2012 revised list, and 192 in a 2020 revised list. In 2013 the magazine named it the 48th best debut album of all time. Vibe included it in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. Q gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Licensed to Ill remains the world's only punk rock rap album, arguably superior to Never Mind the Bollocks ... knowing that apathy and slovenliness were just around the corner." Melody Maker gave the album a positive review, saying "There's lots of self-reverential bragging, more tenuous rhymes than are usually permitted by law and, most importantly of all, an unshakably glorious celebration of being alive ... A surprisingly enduring classic." In 2002, Pitchfork ranked the album at number 41 on its list of the "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s", despite their prior unflattering review of the album. In the 2018 edition of the "Top 200 Albums of the 1980s", the album placed number 103. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at number 16 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 12 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s" saying "Rife with layer upon layer of sampling, start-stop transitions, and aggressive beats, it helped transform the genre from a direct dialogue between MC and DJ into a piercing, multi-threaded narrative" and "helped set an exciting template for the future". Eminem said the album was one of his favorites of all time and said it changed hip-hop.

yeahhhh boiii

I didn’t just listen to this album, there was a full on performance. Are some of the lyrics questionable? Yep. Did the guys learn and grow and change their beliefs? Also yep. Rest well, MCA, the world was lucky to have you. One Lonely Beastie I Be.

If you look past the lyrics this is a really vibey album with some bangers on it. Would rate 4.5

insanely good for its time catchy would genuinely listen to

Bah moi j'ai kiffé de fou 😂

There are a ton of classic Beastie Boys songs on this album, and they are all great. I’m not sure if I ever listened to the entire album straight through, but I definitely enjoyed it.

An amazing discovery. Excellent old-school sound, interesting hip hop, with heavy guitar riffs in places. In 2026, it still sounds lively.

Some wacky lines I heard: The New Style - The girls I like are underaged She's Crafty - She's named Lucy but they call her Loose Posse in Effect - Cheaper than a hotdog with no mustard Slow and Low - White Castle Fries only come in one size

Good !

One of the best albums of all time! And it's definitely a classic! So many classic songs! Long live the beastie boys!! Rip MCA

Absolutely subjective on this one. Love it since maybe 8 years old and ever since for different reasons as I grew up. Juvenile, crass, but a fine album with crazy samples and three extraordinary MC's who create something unique. It would only get better from here.

Loved it! It’s a very important and fun album. I had lots of laughs with it.

Todavía no lo terminé pero quiero destacar lo mucho q m gustan las baterías d las canciones. Peak Lamentablemente no pude tomarme enserio slow ride tuenti la concha d tu madre

Elite album. One of my favorites growing up

So many hits on this album!

Surprising/ cool/ charged with energy/ unapologetic/ addictive

GOAT ON WAX // bratty, loud, historically seismic // juvenile but self-aware // sounds like three kids who just realized they can bend culture for fun // all-time favorite, energetic, never apologizes, never slows down // because the beastie boys have gone awol is my forever out-of-office message

Another classic, Beastie Boys put out some great music in their time and this album was the blueprint. Probably my least favorite album of theirs but this is definitely a great album that laid the groundwork for everything they did after. Haven't heard it in quite a while and it is still great; A great fusion of punk and hip hop.

Loved to hear this one. Such a goated group and some absolute bangers on it. 5/5

This is my first album on here. I mostly listen to 2000s hip hop so this is very interesting to hear something from the 80s. Some of the songs werent for me but its a very good album. Safe to say that i will revisit this album again. Saved songs: Posse in effect, girls, fight for your right, brass monkey, time to get ill

Banger.

Really enjoyed it and I am not a huger rap fan. Beats are incredible and this album is now nostalgic.

This brings back middle school thrill. I later had this album…entire Beastie collection, in fact. Love.

Ooooobviously a lot of this albums lyrics aged terribly. But these boys grew and adapted with the times better than most men, in my opinion. This album is so nostalgic and fun. I can't help but love it.

Zero chill. Endless fun. Crank it up!! Gets me hyped every time. Still slaps, still pumps, still makes me want to break something.

The best beastie boys album in my opinion. Front to back no skips

Gotta fight for your right to paaaaarteeee! Better, finer stuff certainly followed this debut album but still gold in my opinion. Always loved that album cover too!

Classic. A trip back to the late 80’s

4.5/5

Gen X anthems!

Favorite Track: Fight For Your Right

Yeah i like it. No sleep till Brooklyn was a sick song on Guitar Heroes

Супер энергичный альбом, в стиле американского рэп и хип хопа. Это дебютный альбом группы и это был потрясающий старт. Однозначно пойдет в список любимых альбомов

No notes. Put it in the Louvre. Rhymin & Stealin is such a tough opening track.

Holds up for it’s humor and commitment to the bit.

Very much a product of its time and also visionary. This one isn’t for everyone, but for the people it’s for, it’s a helluva record.

Oh man this album was pretty big for me when it came out! I just started my first year of high school and with an insanely traumatic home life it really helped me get through some dark times by being able to escape into some sort of fantasy land in a very musical way. This and Raising Hell by Run-DMC really stood out at the time in the rapidly changing landscape of the popular music world. Even though I would have never understood the meaning of most of the lyrics there’s great musicality in the rapping (at such a high pitch!) as well as in all the backing tracks (great mix of beats and samples) which is probably what completely drew me in. It is too bad about the content of some of the lyrics now many years later but it probably does genuinely tell what a party their lives must have been at that time and with apologies made we must forgive them and be able to not take some of these lyrics too seriously. I hope their next two albums are also on this list because they really progressed a lot over those years.

Fucking classic! Such a great album!

It speaks for itself.

I see Beasties, I give 5.

Album 12/1001. Listened 1/22/2026. Classic. Does not get much better than this.

Sometimes you can let white boys get a little funky and it works

Huh. Looks like the Beastie Boys are fucking rad. Hip-hop meets hard-rock. Like finding a sex tape in the back corner of the internet of your two celebrity crushes getting it on. Man these dudes are white. But goddamn it, so am I. Licensed to Ill is a bonafide-fuckin' five.

listened while eating ramen on my couch, painted my nails, and realized it’s always been fuck the system and always will be

Seminal. What an album - some class sampling

Recuerdo que los descubrí por el guitar hero world tour, ahí venía No Sleep Till Brooklyn. Me gustó un buen pero me quedé solo con esa impresión de ellos y cuando empecé a escuchar hip hop dije “que coño hacen estos weyes aquí” y la primera vez que escuché el álbum no me gustó. Conforme lo fui escuchando más y más, fui encontrándole el encanto a los Beastie hasta que se convirtieron en uno de mis grupos favoritos de cualquier género.

This album changed my life. As a young kid growing up in North Dakota, this cassette tape (along with Run DMC's Raising Hell) opening up a whole new world for me and my cousin John. 10,000 hip hop shows later, still grateful. And it still rocks.

Play count exceeds maximum character limit.

Low key I didn’t know several of these signs were beastie boys. This album was rad!

Tout est parfait, j'adore l'énergie qui s'en dégage et le mélange musical opéré, putain que c'est bon

Best of all time

not my style

goated album

This was Harrrddd

my favorite album so far

Classic, tight, fun.

A+

I just really enjoyed listening to this, and that’s that.

I used to be a fan of a lot of the Def Jam artists back in the day, whether it was LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Warren G, Onyx, or these guys. But this was the first of their records that I owned and it is great. I remember hearing this back when I was growing up and thought it was so different from what I had heard before. Is it sophomoric? Yes. Does it hold up? Debatably. Do I still love it? Absolutely. So much to like about this album, whether it's No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Paul Revere, Brass Monkey, Girls, She's Crafty, Fight For Your Right, or others, this has a bunch of bangers from front to back. A great, great record. Debating 4 or 5 stars, but going with 5, given what it kicked off in terms of the Beastie Boys career, what it did for Def Jam, the fact that it was the first rap album to top the Billboard charts, etc.

Yeah this is the stuff right here. Bangers from start to finish

Man Beastie Boys slap so much ass! First time listening to them and I got to say its a banger. Love the sample of Black Sabbath's ,,Sweet Leaf'' on ,,Rhymin & Stealin'', ,,Fight For Your Rights'' is also a huge screamer. Not a single miss on here and i would be definitely listening to this album again.

I imagine if I listened to this album more than a couple times I would find it pretty repetitive and tiresome. On the first couple listens, though, there is definitely some magic in those heavy guitar riffs and shrill rapping.

The illest.

I think this is a solid 4 to 4.5, just due to the influence and impact, let alone the quality of the music for the time and how much a lot of it really does hold up. It's a style that some have tried to copy, but no one has ever been able to actually replicate. I do like many of their other albums more than this one, but the influence of their debut is undeniable.

iconic for a reason

Really like this album. Energy is unmatched. You can hear so many things that were sampled later, even by acts you wouldn’t expect like Sublime. Classic for a reason.

Trailblazing in both its creativity and mysogony.

BQNGING already know its banging

Great. Forgot how much I enjoy this album

Can I get one of my all time favorite albums for my birthday? OK! Kick It! Yes, this is pretty ridiculous and juvenile. Their next albums: Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, & Ill Communication are all better musically speaking but I'm still going 5 for the original.

5!

I mean, this is Licensed to Ill. Immediate 5. This album contains the holy trinity of early Beastiality- Girls, Fight for Your Right to Party, and No Sleep Til Brooklyn. Then, you have Brass Monkey, Paul Revere, and Low and Slow for good measure. What a powerhouse! Who else will make you rock out to the Mr. Ed theme? Who else can make you do the Jerry Lewis? Who else can make the beat, ehrr, droooppp??? I’ve never met someone who I can’t immediately bond with once this album comes on. I’ve literally chanted ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves’ with a room full of strangers thirty years after this album came out, and now we’re not strangers anymore. This album came out a year before I was born, and yet, it was an anthem for my teenage years and early twenties. I still listen to this often now that I’m reaching geezer status, and it still holds up. I still hear new details. The hair still stands up on my head when I make it back to BK, blasting No Sleep. Thank you, Beasties! All hail!

This album is big and dumb and problematic, but I love it. When I was too tired to think as a new parent, I could always remember the words to "Paul Revere"

A breakthrough album by one of rap music’s most iconic groups. Doesn’t get much better than this. 10/10

The thing about this album as a kid was that it made you feel like you could be them and make music too. It made me write raps with mates, try to rap over some crazy old vinyl we found. It gave me confidence to be white and like rap music. It also crossed the boundaries between the tap and the rock that I liked. Fight for your right and No Sleep Til Brooklyn back to back is also a ridiculous one-two knockout punch.

The Beasties would certainly mature both musically and as people after this (as we all should) but goddamn if this album isn't a blast to listen to. They would later claim a lot of of this is satire that went over people heads, and I mostly believe that. It's loud, stupid and obnoxious and pretty much a perfect debut album.

Prime hip hop, witty and shallow. I love it

Super Dope

Amazingly fresh with great rhymes.

I bought this when it was released. The samples blew my mind at the time.

So good. The back half is filled with extra chewy goodness.

I'm an elder Millennial and Beastie Boys is party vibes

Generational bangers & generational talents. One of the best hip hop albums ever imo. Plus, one of the best run of 4 straight songs ever with Girls, Fight for your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, & Paul Revere. I love the album Paul's Boutique but this has the bangers.

Love them or hate them, the Beasties are an essential part of the conversation.

What a debut album. Was waffling between 4 and 5 because it does sound a bit dated and juvenile now but this was pretty peak when I was a juvenile. Favorite bop is “girls” but anthems like “fight for your right” and “no sleep till Brooklyn” are still a blast. Great jams now where’s my Jammie.

own

A top 5 debut album across all genres!

Love this album. Start to finish it is a classic. Favorite: No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn.

A combination of Rap and Rock, while also being loud and brash. I really enjoy this album for just how much it doesn't take itself seriously.

Awesome possum. Top tier.

i've listened to this like five times now. it absolutely rips. favorite BBs album yet. the sampling is on point, the songs are fun and catchy, it all just WORKS. favorites: tracks 1-3, 5-9, and 11

I can totally see why this album became popular, especially with teenage boys. It’s a rocker and while I wouldn’t sit down and listen to it to relax, the music would be great to run with and would fit in nicely. It is truly a classic album that needs to be on this list.

Superb shit

Epic, just the start…

I've already listened to his album (28). The first track alone make it a perfect album.

5/5

I have maybe given hip-hop the benefit of doubt too often, but this album really is a 5! It has the energy I also find in Rage Against the Machine, Urban Dance Squad etc. I suppose, more rocky and funky than many and less reliant on just samples.

Amazing album. Considering I don't listen to rap, this was a very enjoyable album. Considering that, I loved this album as much as my favorite rock albums. It's hard to state how much I enjoyed this album. I loved the sampling (especially 'When the Levee Breaks') as well as the lyrical sound. Overall, the whole album is a masterpiece of rap, rap-rock and hip-hop.Personal favorites are Fight for Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. That riff in NSTB is absolutely killer, along with the guitar solo (actually played by the Slayer guitarist).

Perhaps the dumbest album of all time. 5 Stars.

RIP MCA.

Iconic and nostalgic. Paul Revere was one of the first rap songs to really tell a story. This album tore down a lot of racial lines. And not only made its way into the very segregated hip-hop community, but the rock/punk background music pulled in the city and suburban white kids too. I played this tape until it broke. Then I dubbed another.

Ok

Most favorite

Very familiar with this one, and ine of my favourites. A real breath of fresh air on its release. Amazing samples, fun rhymes and great beats (that they occasionally drop). Pop it on anywhere, anytime.

Tämä oli enemmän kuin tuttu albumi. On tullut jo tuoreeltaan kuunneltua paljon. Edelleenkin rokkaa! Tämä onkin ainoa bändin levy, minkä olen omistanut ja parasta räppiä mitä tiedän.

I will never not love this album.

incredible early rock /rap record

>>> the Beatles

This was pretty fun. Yea, maybe a little obnoxious at times with the yelling, but you really just want to go out and party with them anyway. Also, makes me realize how much I miss good sampling. 5/5

This album is both a nostalgia 5⭐️ for me and a classic of hip hop deserving a 5⭐️ review. To channel Stefan from SNL - this album has everything: extremely creative and hard-hitting funky jazzy beats, a nice variety of headbangers and funny satire of frat culture, and an edgy raw energy that is rarely seen from a contemporary hip hop outfit. Even after having listened to it many times, I never stop bopping my head and tapping my feet to Rhymin & Stealin, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Slow and Low and Brass Monkey, and I don't think I ever will. 5⭐️

Is this album stupid as hell? Absolutely. Is it also one of the most important albums of the 20th century? Definitely. Do I still love the hell out of it all these years later. 100%.

On ironically, love every second of this. Maybe it’s cause I’m a white boy, probably the target demographic, but I think this is the biggest development that I’ve enjoyed from this practice. Enjoying all of the 80s and 90s rap that I never really give a chance, it’s also good. The beats are great, the flow, this is all my favorites of all time now.

When my wife and I got introduced at our wedding, we came out to No Sleep Til Brooklyn This is where it all started. White guys rapping. Top 40 hip hop. (Run DMC might actually hold that crown). Gangsta Rap. One of the best albums of the 80s. One of the most innovative bands in hip hop/rap/rock. RIP MCA

One of the Illest debut albums of all time. Obviously it’s amazing and the Beasties were incredible. A couple of the lyrics were a little surprising “If I played guitar I’d be like Jimmy Page, the girlies I like are underage” - but I guess it’s meant as satire? Anyway, this has to be a top 5 hip hop debut all time.

Thoughts before listening: The Beastie Boys are one of my favorite bands of all time, and this is the album that started it all for them. Review: This is a 5-star album for both the amount of enjoyment I get when listening to it as well as its historical importance. There is a cool mix of rock backing tracks mixed with 80s style rap that was very influential to the future of both rap and alternative music. The Beastie's call and response style has always been fun, and its on full display here as well. I especially like how Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA each have their own voice and personality. Just a fun album with very classic songs.

5 stars not enough for this. Not a chore.

Love this, was one of the first I had on CD. 5/5

Some of the most impressive, creative sampling/mixing to come out of the decade and very ahead of its time. A very impressive synthesis of a lot of genres, too. It's a pleasure to hear the kind of comedic, self-aware, creatively witty, cleverly crude lyricism in rap that pretty much died out. Has its peaks and valleys upon a relisten (especially in the first half of the album) but it's got some of the best peaks in hip hop. It's a little underdeveloped compared to their later stuff but this is guaranteed party music and genuinely capital-F Fun. fav songs: Fight For Your Right (To Party), No Sleep Till Brooklyn

whole thing hits

stone cold classic.

pretty great album

Not every song is perfect, some lack structure or a clear message. However, with these guys on their debut album it comes down to the basics, and yes I mean basic raps for starters, but I also mean a fundamental focus on sampling incredible rock music, producing and mixing it extremely well (thanks Rick), and molding some passionate and fun lyrics over the top. The difference is the confidence. These guys excrete solid bricks of it, to pose as a lifestyle they obviously don’t live but to do it so well that the community appreciates and embraces them. Mainstream rock embraces them. It’s a true classic.

This is actually pretty good. I like all of the tracks I knew beforehand, but there's more than just nostalgia at work here. The tracks I didn't know are well mixed and, frankly, brilliant in their sampling. The lyrics are undeniably shallow and, at times, outright obnoxious, but the whole thing somehow works really, really well. All things considered, in conjunction with its achievements and impact on the industry, this has to be a 5.

Great album, love the beastie boys

yaga

One of the best rap and rock albums. What this band created is brutal, and this album, with the help of Rick Rubin, is an incredible beast.

Oh MAN does this album have some legendary bangers on it. Beastie Boys is another band on an increasingly growing list that’s very likely just automatically going to get 5 stars from me, and deservingly so. No other band like them. Every song is a certified bop. The samples they draw from are iconic, every song is quotable, and the music is still solid almost 40 years later. Crazy to me to think this album could be that old and still hold up as well as it does. Anyway, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” is my favorite song on the album, but I believe “Fight For Your Right”, “Paul Revere” and “Brass Monkey” equally deserve a shoutout, as well as “She’s Crafty” for sampling another iconic riff from Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean”. Licensed to Ill is my personal favorite Beastie Boys album for multiple reasons, but I couldn’t help but notice that a grand majority of the songs I already have favorited by them are on this album. That being said, I’ve got 2 more Beastie Boys albums to go, so we’ll see if this one is truly the gem of the lot. If it’s not, I’ll end up adding a ton of new Beastie Boys songs I’m less familiar with. Either way it’s a win win for me!!

Fantastic. Heard the influences they’ve had on other artists.

Hell yeah finally a great album again here

A perfect record.

Honestly so iconic

It's got a good beat and I can SLAM to it! Love some of the sampling!

There's a 5-6 song run here that is just all bangers. What an album.

Can't be objective, love the Beastie Boys too much. One of the best debuts of all time. Brass Monkey, Slow & Low and Paul Revere all belters for the non big hit parade.

Party rock rap, that isn't as dumb as it's trying to be.

# Playlist Track - Fight For Your Right # Notes - This is crazy good. It's weird and broken and annoying in all the right ways. - YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTAY is such an amazing verse. The entire song would be worth 2 stars on its own.

Excellent

This was so loud and dumb and fun. I love it.

Love this album. So much fun to listen to. Not all the lyrics aged well, but this album introduced a lot of suburban white kids to hip-hop.

Solid rhymes. Music ok

Amazing album - from start to finish. Solid 4.5 - will round up.

So many good tracks on this, a classic.

Pure rap and metal!

Still in the rotation. Is this the best Beastie Boys record? No. Are the lyrics written by literal teenagers a bit awkward all these years later? Yes. Do most people miss the irony in “Fight For Your Right”? Also yes. Groundbreaking used of rock samples, and the Beasties are important figures in hip-hop. Iconic album that will never be repeated.

Classic…amazing!

Очень круто!!!

Absolute banger of an album!!!

love

What can I say about this album that no one else has said? Juvenile? Groundbreaking? Sure and it paved the way for other white rappers. There isn't a bad song to be found here and it when you listen to it it should be played loud.

Makes me want to drink light beer and party hard

You know what? I'm going to be predictable and 5* this. It was ridiculous, silly, and really fun to listen to. :)

One of the all time great classic rap albums. The Beastie Boys distinctive sound in in full force here, and it's hard not to love every second of it. Highly recommended album!

“So here’s a little story I’d Like to tell…” my brother bought this cassette right before we left for a Canadian road trip. By the time we got back, we each knew every part: mine was MCA’s. Not just for Paul Reeves, but the entire album. When Adam Yauch died, it hit me hard because this album launched my love of rap and historically gave permission to be the oddball, the gangster, the horndog, and artist that I could be. In truth, this is not my favorite album (that’s Check Your Head), but this album is revolutionary, historical and personal. I recently made a best of B-Boys play list: almost this entire album was on it. Slow and Low still hits like a freight train; Brass Monkey is still laughably inappropriate; Slayer’s Kerry King solos on Fight for You Right and No Sleep ‘Til are ‘80s crossover magic and the songs that broken their legacy; Posse in Effect is a banger. Reading about the making of this album in their book was awesome. Knowing it’s being picked up by the next generation is even better. This is becoming to Gen-Z what the Beatles were for us. I’m glad.

Random thoughts: * to the best of my recollection, this was the first album I bought that was just for me. I wasn’t sharing this with my parents. It might have been the first cassette album I ever purchased. * I wonder what my dad thought when I played Fight For Your Right to Party?! * This is a tough album to rate: on one hand, the nostalgia and feelings I have for this album are immense. On the other hand: the misogyny and juvenility are impossible to defend. * Some of the songs are still bangers: Paul Revere, Brooklyn, Brass Monkey. * My personal deep cut is the addendum to New Style which I’ve always called My Posse. I consider it a song unto itself even if I’ve never seen anything saying that fact. * My heart says 5 stars, my head says 4 stars. * I’m going with my heart on this one.

It's kind of easy to be dismissive of this record given how the Beastie Boys were when they burst on the scene, but man so many of these songs just rip and are so iconic. It's not the first, or even second, third or fourth Beastie Boys record I reach for, but it was great to listen to it this morning.

Kick it!

Never a fan of rap or hip hop but these guys meld rock into Rap and every song just works.

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS

classic

Timeless

Maybe may be my favorite Beastie Boys record. While the lyrics are juvenile, their beats and rhymes were ahead of their time. I grew up listening to this with my Dad. I always knew it was cool.

Where it all started- I learned every word to paul revere with one of my friends when I was 11 and still know it to this day. They only got better from here but the energy on this album is great. In some ways it boxed them into these caricatures and it took an album as seminal as paul’s boutique to break them out and show the world that they had something to say.

shwifteeey. C'est bon.

Bases absolutas del rap rock

Fun energetic early hiphop. Amazing use of early hiphop technology, fun and clever lyrics. A fun old school party album.

PODEROSÍSIMO. No me imagino que exista alguien que escuche este disco y no sienta su fuerza, lo brutal de sus letras y lo increíble de su música y sus beats. Una joya.

Kick it! Changed my perspective about rock and rap. I don’t know that someone today would be effected the same way I was in the day, but this was a bridge to me for so much music.

Genuinely great. Punchy delivery, fun lyrics, GREAT sampling. I'd never listened to this album despite being familiar with the group. Glad I did.

A classic. Bought it when it came out and it defined our time as kids for that year, at least. Still holds up, albeit sounding a little dated now. They made better records, but never made that definitive record.

Amazing album

HIT IT

J - 5/5 Best Track - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" F - 4/5

Now we're talking. Maybe one of the most influential albums in my lifetime. Completely.reshaped my musical taste. I need a 6th star for this album

Dat's some good shit. A splendid debut album start to finish with lots of bangerz.

I did not know I have been missing the Bestie Boys all my life till I listened to this

This is their best work by far - silly and fun

A true classic, full of attitude and danceable beats and sawing guitars. Hard not to love this album.

As amazing now as it was back then

Easy 5, no question! One of the greatest albums of all time! And another vinyl listen for me, couldn't be better than that!

This album brings up some wonderful memories of some of the best times of my life. Album released when I was in college at WMU. I would meet a beautiful woman named Mindy a few months after this release, but that's a another story for another time. As a younger kid, grew up with rap artist like LL Cool J, Kool Moe Dee, Whodini, UTFO and many similar, this rap was album was something that was different and once it came out, you couldn't stop hearing all through campus, all the time. There is no "bad" or skip song off this album. I can never get enough of my 2 personal favorites, Rhymin & Stealin and Paul Revere. I can tell you, Girls was banned from our dorm suite. A couple of the guys wanted to play this like 10 times a day every day. Just got to be too much. Not going to look back in anger though. Me, Ninja and Jason went to see them at Wings stadium. The opening act was Fishbone, who is still playing to live audiences to this day. Great memories of great times have been rekindled. Combined with a great album, I have to give this a 5. Maybe more due the sentimental side, but that's what makes music great for this listener. Brings a smile to my face and joy to my soul. Can't believe we've already lost a one of the boys. RIP, MCA. 5

Classic banger

Good, just shame it took white musicians to do it

Favourite songs: all of em. This album rules, made me feel cool while cutting grass. Calling jimmy page a pedo while also sampling zep like three times is funny af. Been a big fan of this album since I was like 7, no complaints. 9.1/10

First album I purchased with my own money

This album changed everything. My teenage daughter listens to some of these songs, and they were made 23 years before she was born! Classic and as perfect as you can get.

Love the beastie boys. A lot of favorite songs on this album.

These guys just absolutely fuckin rule. They’re all the Mans for sure. Is there anybody else who sticks that landing on the edge of paradox so well?

One of the most fun albums I've listened to. Has all the musical edge and angst of punk, the bravado of hip hop, and humor of a Weird Al song. It's so intentionally ridiculous that I can fully feel 'in' on the joke and enjoy the ride instead of cringe (minus the weird 'underage' lyric). It's masterfully produced, and such easy listening. It feels like everyone committed to the bit, and it worked wonderfully.

This whole album is awesome. I remember when it was released and heard it on the radio, i thought oh that’s a cool sounding new rock band. Boy was I shocked! Paul Revere is the best song on here, followed by No Sleep, Brass Monkey, She’s crafty, and The Nee Style. Even the rest of The tracks have grown on me over the years. I can listen to it all the way through and it still sounds different and fresh today. The cover is iconic as well. 1001 album worthy: yes - 91/167

Well this is unexpected. I love it but is it good? Great? A parody that became real. I think it’s 5 stars? So fun, so dated. My brains in a blender.

The Beastie Boys debut may not be their best but what a fun debut it is. They made a huge impression with both Fight For Your Right and No Sleep and fill the rest of it out with some super clever and dumb lines. The storytelling on Paul Revere is so great, “He Said Howdy, He said, Hi” I don’t know why that dumb line cracks me up so much. These guys knew how to sample from the beginning, working in some Led Zeppelin and Sabbath. It’s such a great blend of snotty, clever, talent and dumb. Its fun. 5 stars

This one's easy...what more could I add?

Another classic

Told my son this was my album of the day. His response: “it’s not musical genius but I bet we listened to it about a billion times”. Head:4 stars. Heart: 5 freaking stars!

Mom You're Just Jealous, It's The Beastie Boys 1001 Albums Generator 40 (05/28/2025) After growing in the burgeoning hardcore punk scene in New York City and releasing a single punk EP in 1982, trio Beastie Boys (short for Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence... Boys) decided to do a complete 180 and become the first mainstream white rap group. Although they would begin incorporating punk sounds in their music again starting with their third album Check Your Head, Licensed To Ill, their debut album, features none of the Beastie's punk roots. No, this is pure mid school hip hop, cut from the same cloth as contemporaries Run D.M.C. and Slick Rick, but the Boys' high level of musicality comes through in both the sample choices themselves and the intricate ways that the production weaves all these samples together. In the 80's, the art of sampling was the Wild Wild West, so the Boys did not need to concern themselves with sample clearance process that limits modern artists. The Beastie Boys first five albums are all considered classics, but Licensed To Ill is often unfairly maligned as just a little brother of the highly acclaimed Paul's Boutique. I wouldn't argue that Licensed To Ill is inarguably better than its follow-up, as Paul's Boutique is really a natural extension to everything that this album was doing, but I think these albums are closer in quality than is often stated, and this may be my personal favorite Beastie Boys album. Rhymin & Stealin has a great Led Zeppelin drum sample and perfectly introduces us to the Beasties. The "Ali Baba and the 40 thieves" build up near the middle is especially epic, and this song is one of the highest energy songs here. I love the instrumental chorus of The New Style with it's great turntablism and funky beat. The ending of this song where the tempo slows down and we get a heavy 808 beat with the boys all yelling in the background is iconic, having been sampled prominently in Travis Scott's Carousel. The third song, She's Crafty, is the first of a few songs that are explicitly meant to be funny, and it really is quite humorous. It tells the story of the Boys getting scammed by a girl who comes to their place, sleeps with them, and then steals all their stuff. In this song, like many of the funny songs on this album, the Boys make themselves the butt of the joke, which is why I think that the humor on this album works. Even a song like Girls, which is undeniably dumb, is still funny since the perspective of the narrator is such an exaggerated stereotype of a specific type of guy that is overly confident, misogynistic, and not nearly as cool as he thinks he is. We've all met guys like this, which is why that song works so well. You can also just tell Beastie Boys are having so much fun on this song. I love in the second verse when the guys doing the backing doo wop vocals start laughing. Licensed To Ill also contains some of the Boys' biggest hits. Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn show them leaning back into their rock roots, with the latter even featuring Slayer's Kerry King, which I always thought was so funny. The same year he was on one of the best thrash metal albums of all time, Kerry King made time to feature on a hip hop album by three nerdy Jews. It's just awesome. Brass Monkey was also a hit that has a surprisingly jazzy beat with some electro elements that foreshadow sounds that the Boys would explore further on later albums. Slow Ride and Hold It Now, Hit It are both underrated tracks here. Slow Ride has a distinctly Latin flavor in its beat and Hold It Now, Hit It has a super memorable chorus with fun little spoken word one-liners between verses. The closing track Time To Get Ill is a truly impressive piece of plunderphonics which samples 16 songs according to WhoSampled. I especially appreciate the CCR sample. I find Paul Revere to be the closest thing to a dim spot on this album. Even though its reversed 808 beat is unique, the verses here are the most awkward on the album and there isn't really a chorus or any moment where the song gets more energy. Overall, the Beastie Boys' debut album is a great encapsulation of an oft forgotten era of hip hop history. While some lines may be slightly dated, the plethora of clever samples and just pure energy of the three MC's make this a memorable, fun experience. It's a 4.5/5, rounded up to a 5. Favs: Rhymin' And Stealin' No Sleep Till Brooklyn Hold It Now, Hit It Least Fav: Paul Revere