Licensed To Ill

I could be all Kathleen Hanna about this record, and like, look, that queen is so right in her critiques. But before I was a woman, I was once a teenage boi, and Licensed to Ill speaks to the pre-transition dipshit in me in a way that I can’t chastise. The lyrical energy, the party boi vibes, the use of hard rock samples and Kerry King guitar solos– it’s all kind of magical. While it starts strong despite its very ‘80s 808s and ‘80s rhyme scheme, this thing really picks up in the middle. Sure, “Girls” is kitsch, but it’s obviously a joke, and still fun in an innocent way. From there, the pure chaotic energy of “Fight for Your Right” followed by the timeless head-banger of “No Sleep ’Til Brooklyn” absolutely rips, which is then followed by the solid “Paul Revere,” and “Brass Monkey” only a few tracks later. These songs, along with the intro that changed the game, “Rhymin & Stealin,” plus the ever-referenced “The New Style,” all make this a great album. The rest of it, though, does show its age. Sometimes that’s tolerable, like the simplicity of “Slow Ride,” or the flow of “Slow and Low,” but sometimes it unveils a grating noise from the the 808 that no one ever wanted to hear like on “Posse in Effect,” or the fact that MCs used to only be hypemen for a DJ, like you can see on “Hold It Now, Hit It.” The weakest moments on Licensed to Ill are when the Beastie Boys are put on the back burner in favor of highlighting the producer à la a DJ. And like, look, Rubin is a *GREAT* producer and his production does save those more bland moments, but they are still inherently bland moments. Combined with the more misogynistic lyrics found on tracks outside of “Girls,” there are some fatal flaws that I do need to consider when praising this record. I will say, I’m less enamored with this record today than I thought I would be as a result. What once felt like a great entry point into hip-hop from rock and metal as a youth now feels like a great entry point with some very dated tangents of the worst hip-hop had to offer in 1986. Thankfully, the flaws of Licensed to Ill were all things the genre moved past by 1987, but the fact that they’re still here are a shame, even if this was the best group of people to do them the most justice possible. Overall, though, I’m not going to knock Licensed to Ill too heavily. It’s still a great record, an essential record, and its best moments still make me bang my head and vibe. To me, the good here far outweighs and outshines the bad. Maybe that’s because I do have some nostalgia for this record, but maybe I’m just able to look past those things to see the positive in the positives. It’s not my go-to Beasties record any more, but that’s because I’m not a 12 year old boy any more. But still, now as a 32 year old woman, I’m not going to act like I’m above the immature and energetic fun of Licensed to Ill.

This album is a very good time. I think "Paul's Boutique" is still my favorite because the sampling is really next level on that one. That said, this one exudes attitude and funk in a way that I love.

It's impossible for me to even try to have an 'objective' view on this one - this album crucially shaped my taste in music as a kid. It stands as one of my favorite albums of all time. The sampling and the dynamic between the three emcees sounds timelessly fresh. The beasties made rhyming 101 sound exciting on these songs. I'll admit that some of the lyrical content is a bit immature, but they owned up to that by apologizing for problematic lyrics. I always love revisiting Licensed, it sounds exciting and just super cool every single time. The quality of their output kept elevating after this album, this is a near perfect debut LP though.

FUN Album!!!

Fantastic!

If you don’t like this, you hate music.

Hell yeah. So solid all the way through. Paul Revere with the backwards high-hat. What an absolutely gold record stem to stern.

It has it all, 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.

In the context of hip hop of its time, this is catchy as hell and super goofy, a good time. 5* Highlights: no sleep till brooklyn, fight for your right, brass monkey

I love it

Just an absolute classic

Stealin' and rhymin'

Beastie Boys represent another side of urban youth, like the second generation of immigrants to any country who look like they're from somewhere else, but when they speak with your own accent you realize their from here now. Beastie Boys let people know white people CAN make rap music. Wearing their punk roots on their sleeves, and almost amateur diy vibe, it might be hard for people used to their later efforts to realize they were making this shit up on the fly. And they were both dorky and cool as fuck at the same time. Five stars.

Barnligt, plat og dumt. Men jeg elsker det

Goody white boy party rock. Some tracks aged well some didn’t No Sleep Til Brooklyn is still one of the best cock rock songs ever, even unintentionally

All time favorite. One of the best albums. Period

Another perfect album. Not one bad song.

'Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones' locker'; 'I got a girl in the Castle and one in the pagoda / You know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda' (or is it Phyllis Diller?); 'Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (busted).' The Beasties spend a fair amount of time rapping about 'girlies with the def behinds,' and really girlies of all shapes and sizes, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this album remains sonically fresh and persists as a cultural touchstone that few other records approach. Behind the boasting, rhyming, and stealing is the inception of the hip hop avant-garde, persevered by Kool Keith, MF Doom, etc. Sampling is a form of cultural allusion, and when the lyrics are equally, hilariously allusive, you get something that is truly sui generis. And fun as hell.

10/10.

5/5

I think I gotta go 5 on it even though the Beasties middle period is my favorite. Incredibly strong debut and brilliant blend of punk and rap at the time when hip hop wasn't even fully developed. So many iconic tracks

This is my childhood. I love every single one of these tracks.

Literally packed full of iconic tracks. I admit it got a little tiresome listing straight through the album. Also I think I'm getting too old for stereotypical rap lyrics.

Classic juvenile rap rock, creative, quotable, funky fun.

Stacked with hits, groundbreaking, creative and influential. This was huge at the time of its release. Not much else to say. Not quite a full 5er but I’ll round up. 4.5/5

To have the ability to incorporate samples from Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, CCR and Mr. Ed while featuring Slayer’s guitarist…pretty much says it all. A great debut and definitely one of the greatest rap albums of the 80s. Setting the stage for their next album that would be their masterpiece. 4.5/5.

Love how they use familiar elements in creative ways…some more explicit that others. The beat from When the Levee breaks is prolly one of the best of all time. So if you want to start some heads bobbing, why not start with that? I’m quite stingy with my 5’s but just enjoyed this too much. 4.5 and rounding up.

Not sure this is truly a 5 star album…but as a soundtrack to a weekend? Chefs kiss. I’m not on the bandwagon that Paul’s Boutique is their best album. Gimme this debut any day of the week (especially the weekend days of the week). 4.25/5

They have such a unique sound and just like their other works this album gets you ready to run through a wall. Few do hype music as good as them. It’s even better on a second listen when you know the lyrics and can sing along.

I listened to this one over and over again back in the day.

Iconic. Defining a genre, and well done.

The best

I still know all the lyrics to this album, its etched in my brain pan.

well my name's COFFEETRON and I'll MAKE SOME NOISE I gave five stars the BEASTIE BOYS

This album still sounds somewhat fresh after 30 years. None of the tracks really hit all the things I would be looking for, but there's so much power and conviction that you just have to give in.

The great thing about this album (and BB in general) is how low stakes everything is. No emotional heft AT ALL, just a few lads fucking around and doing it exceptionally well. And the album is short enough that the shtick doesn’t wear out it’s welcome. RIP MCA

I'll say now that I'm not into hip hop. A lot of shouting about guns and "da hood" and "n**gaz this and hoes that. I've obviously heard 'Fight for your Right' before (a banger) but that's about it. So is this album Hip hop? The first 4 tracks are awesome. Then it drops in quality a tad for the next 2 until Fight for your Right and No Sleep pick up the quality until the end. In places it sounds like it's the cast of South Park. So its a novelty record? just with great lyrics and great tunes? After 2 listens I still dont know if this is Hip Hop or Rock What I do know is its a great big piss take and I love it.

I know this album's def cuz we all applauded. Impossible to understate the influence this had on the evolution of my music tastes. It was my gateway into hip-hop, and sampling Van Halen and Led Zeppelin dovetailed nicely with my initial interests in heavy metal. Sure, some of it is dated and maybe hasn't aged so well, but it's such a fun album all the way through that I don't care. And its influence on the music that followed is undeniable. So, yes, it deserves a spot on this list. Matter of fact, you could put any combination of their first 4 albums on here, and you'd get no arguments from me.

no notes will not take questions could i write poetry to this? y

Juvenile.

Yes, it's juvenile and has some lines to don't hold up. Still love this record. Love the layered samples and the craziness of the early Beastie Boys.

So good. Hit machine

One of the best hip hop albums ever. A true classic

Great album, many of the Beastie Boys songs I know are from this album so it was fun to listen again. 4.5/5

Funny, innovative, tasteful, timely and tasteless

Absolute chaotic energy where the sum of its parts shouldn't work, but it all comes together and makes absolute magic, and it's not even a top 3 Beasties album... Kick it over here baby pop, and let all the fly skimmies feel the beat.... drrrrrrooooopppppp!

Lisensiadisimo

Iconic album from my youth. Listened to all even if I knew every song. So many great songs but even the less known ones are great

LP

This album still earns playtime nearly 40 years after its release. Classic rap/hip-hop that would pave the way for the Beastie Boys to continue producing music until MCA’s passing.

More often than not, parody and satire can be a hard tightrope to walk. Unless the satire's broad enough or you're incredibly obvious about it being parodic, a lot of people can and will naturally assume you're being completely legit in the views that're being expressed. Like, believe me, there are people who very easily miss the point of the movie STARSHIP TROOPERS. By that same token, however, how different, really, is expressing a view ironically from expressing it sincerely? I mean, to even give it air, no matter what your intention... To reference a Todd In The Shadows video: even hitting your hand with a hammer ironically still hurts. So, should one not be held accountable for things they say, even under the veneer of "satirism?" (Especially if you have someone trying to claim innocence by saying they were being "satirical," although that's not really relevant to this discussion.) 'Coz here's the thing you hafta keep in mind about this album: it's a joke. In large portions of the album, the Beastie Boys are playing caricatures of stupid, dumb "PARTY HARD" frat boys who don't respect women. Like, in its conception, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" was meant as a parody of meathead "attitude" rock songs like "Smokin' In The Boys Room". You are absolutely not meant to take this as a serious portrayal of who they are as people. And yet, of course, people did. A large part of their audience became the dumb frat boys they were trying to take the piss out of, and as a result they swerved hard away from this sound on their follow-up, PAUL'S BOUTIQUE. And, well, I can't exactly blame the general public for believing the Boys were being genuine about all of this; this **was** their debut, after all. What other information did they have to go off of? Just as well, I wouldn't blame someone these days, aware of the satire or not, for criticising this album for a lot of its dated, sexist lyricism. I know that's not who the Boys are, but even despite that, "Girls" still might not've played that well back in the 80's. And if it didn't back then, then in 2024 — woof. All the same, however, LICENSED TO ILL is still considered one of the greatest debuts in hip hop history. Given what I just said, I'm sure you could have a long, analytical look into why that is. For me, though, I actually wanna briefly bring it back to STARSHIP TROOPERS for a second. The film is a satire of fascism, and, in my mind, not exactly a subtle one in parts — you look at Neil Patrick Harris dressed as a Nazi and tell me otherwise, eh? However, there are some people who see the film as just a fun, dumb sci-fi action movie, and, frankly, honestly? That's completely valid. 'Coz it is fun, even if I recognize what it's actually supposed to be saying. I don't think someone's dumb if they don't really see anything more in the film than that. A similar sorta thing goes for LICENSED TO ILL. At its core, beneath its satirizing of frat boys, it's just a fun album. The Boys would get better about their flows, hand-offs and lyricism on their later albums, but they still have the energy here where it's an entertaining time to hear them do their thing. Like, there's a reason why songs like "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" have endured despite the Boys' own disowning and distancing from it. It rocks, pure and simple And, like, I wanna take a second here to mention "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" all on its own. To this day, it's still maybe one of the all-time greatest rap rock songs of all time. It kicks so much ass, and I love it every time I hear it. On this listen-through alone, I went out of my way to hear it twice before moving on. And can you believe the Boys didn't like the Kerry King guitar solo on it? Goodness, that's an amazingly wild solo. I feel like there's a lot of things in general you could rightfully criticize Rick Rubin for, but choices like that on this album aren't one of them. So, yeah, I really like LICENSED TO ILL. I don't know if I say I **love** it, 'coz I do prefer the sampledelia of PAUL'S BOUTIQUE, and there can be a bit of that "beats too simple for its own good" problem that Run-D.M.C.'s RAISING HELL ran into... But on the whole, I think it deserves the reputation it has, for good and for ill. I can give it... Aw, heck. I'll give it a 5. 'Coz, absolutely, it's worth taking them to task for a few of the worse lyrics on here, but I don't think it's anything you should be thinking too hard about, ultimately. Just slap on "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn", and you'll be having nothing but a good time. (Also, kinda weird I kept bringing up STARSHIP TROOPERS in this review? As if I didn't have a second example of satire to bring up. I'unno, jus' the contrast in their targets is all — y'know?)

I’m at a 4.5 that will get bumped up to a 5. This is the third Beastie Boys album we’ve gotten, but we’ve gotten them in a sort of weird, reversed order; going from Ill Communication, to Paul’s Boutique, and THEN to their debut album makes for a weird expectation. I’m giving this 5 with a bit of grace – this is the weakest of the 3 albums we’ve gotten so far, so I’d consider Paul’s Boutique a retroactive 5, if I could go back to give it that. With that said, it’s still really fucking good. Rick Rubin’s production, while much emptier compared to the other two albums we’ve gotten (and nowhere near as rich and full in its sampling) is still pretty cool here. It’s no surprise that the biggest hits on this album are the ones that blend rock sensibilities with rap’s flow, and while it’s a formula pretty directly copied from Run-DMC (and we’ll get to Run-DMC later in this write-up, trust me), I think it’s a much more successful blend here than on Raising Hell, because it’s not as entrenched in percussion-based beats, allowing the rock instrumentals to shine, and letting the vocals flow more naturally, especially with their adlibs, group flow, and call-and-response style. This album does suffer to me when the percussion overtakes the flow, and I think that’s a lesson most rappers have learned from; I’m not saying you can’t structure a great rap song around a percussive beat (quite literally, just look at Sticky from CHROMAKOPIA), but when it comes to 80s rap, I find it just stilts everything a bit, and forces really basic rhyme schemes that don’t play well with my tastes. It stilted Raising Hell for me (which admittedly, maybe I was a little harsh on), and it stilted this album a bit, though not as much. Run-DMC’s influence on the Beastie Boys is obvious here, but it’s more so obvious through Rick Rubin himself, who had a hand in producing both albums. Hell, “Slow and Low” is literally a demo of a Run-DMC track repurposed for the Beastie Boys. It fits them well enough, but they didn’t do enough to really make it their own. With my mild bitching out of the way (which really boils down to personal taste), allow me to fucking gush over how much personality and charisma these guys showed in spite of some emptier beats – the Beastie Boys themselves make this fucking album, and they stamp their mark pretty instantly. Rhymin and Stealin is drenched in percussion heavy reverb that could’ve really sunk the album on a potentially bad first impression, but their vocal style and their lyricism come out of the gate to make that track work. This album is at its very best when the Beastie Boys get to show off that personality, and it’s most apparent on “The New Style”, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”, and “Paul Revere”. Their charisma just oozes off of this album, so whenever Rick Rubin has them doing their best Run-DMC impression, that’s when the album suffers, because it’s not their musical voice, and everyone knows it. (I promise that I do actually like Run-DMC.) It is still the weakest of the 3 Beastie Boys albums we’ve gotten so far, but those albums wouldn’t exist without this one, and there’s some great fucking tracks here. It’s a breezy 44 minutes, with great lyricism (for the most part), smooth flows, and some unique production for 1986 – the beat switch in The New Style got me really fucking good. Some of it’s emptier, but that’s all personal taste; Rick Rubin’s beats click more often than not, and like I said, the Beastie Boys are too damn charismatic and too damn good on this album to let a few bum beats kill their vibe. It’s a damn good rap album, and I have no problem bumping it up from a 4.5 to a 5.

The quality of this album is unmeasurable by its mere music. Living at the time was reward enough.

a work of absolute genius

Classic

Exceptional album

Because mutiny on the bounty's what we're all about I'm gonna board your ship and turn it on out No soft sucker with a parrot on his shoulder 'Cause I'm bad, gettin' bolder, cold getting colder Terrorizing suckers on the seven seas And if you've got beef, you'll get capped in the knees We got sixteen men on a dead man's chest And I shot those suckers and I'll shoot the rest Most illingest B-boy, I got that feeling 'Cause I am most ill and I'm rhymin' and stealin' This album is some serious marie kondo shit, it brings me so much joy. 5/5

This is just so damn fun

To anyone alive during the 80s the Beastie Boys are simply iconic- a genre unto themselves. Attempts to make them apologize for anything are revisionist bullshit. Rock solid Gold.

ma you're just jealous cuz it's the beastie boys

Es ist eins meiner Lieblingsalben: knackig frisch, immer in Bewegung, sorgt stets für gute Laune und musikalisch hervorragend produziert. Ein Hammer-Album.

I was so happy to get this album. I needed it today. Classic.

Say what you WILL about Licensed to ILL, but this album slaps from start to finish.

One of the ones I grew up with. I love the over the topness.

i think they've been to white castle more times than Harold and Kumar

Love it ! ;D

Beastie Boys is yet another of those bands that has a unique and instantly recognizable sound. The beats are punchy, the rap is punchier, the lyrics are wacky, and the party never stops. While portraying a parody of frat culture Beastie Boys pokes fun of any genre or style within spitting distance, and sound damn good doing it Standouts No Sleep Till Brooklyn Girls Fight For Your Right "Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones' locker"/5 (5/5)

One of the best

It was so amazing. The best album i have heard so far from this. Perfect beats and fun hip hop and great beat switches

This one's just a ton of fun. It's a staple of the 80s and inspired a ton of 90s artists. The crossing of Punk and Rap make for such an interesting sound that stood out then and still stands out now. Favorites were No Sleep til Brooklyn, Fight for your Right, Paul Revere, Brass Monkey, and Girls.

This one is a classic. It’s sounds like they had an absolute blast recording it. Girls and Fight For Your Right were some of the first songs I had on my iPod Shuffle back in 2008 and they still bang. While the sampling is more simplistic here compared to Paul’s Boutique it still works for what they are trying to do. Lyrics are funny and the wordplay is absolutely on point.

Rap rock. Está muy bien. Venga, vinilo.

I heard this at the skatepark at a very young age, and it changed the course of my life. Girls has aged poorly for me, but the rest still holds up. Paul Revere is one of my favorite songs ever. I have so many memories with this record.

Solid. What a debut album. I love it when an album peaks at the end.

I love this record so much. They were Eminem before Eminem. They revolutionized rap in the 80's being white and they drew tons of criticism because of that. It's clear that when somebody is good at something they will get shit. This record is magnificient. I remembered my father showed me this in my teens and it has stuck with me ever since. The rock influence it has is amazing, from sampling Led Zeppelin to writing huge riffs in 'Fight For Your Right'. Landmark album. Even Eminem himself copied the cover art for his record 'Kamikaze'. When the goat copies you, you must have done something extraordinary.

Perfect album to represent its time. Mix of rock and rap

previously listened 5 stars

One of the best...ever.

Ali Baba and the forty thieves... Ali Baba and the forty thieves... Ali Baba and the forty thieves... ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES This album is so goofy, the peak hits are often worse than the rest of the album, the vocal delivery gets grating, and yet its undeniably fun, creative throughout, the boom bap rock stuff is done really well. I can see why a lot of people will hate this, but it's an awesome album.

Licensed to Ill is loud, bratty, and absolutely legendary — a one-of-a-kind debut that smashed hip-hop into rock with zero apologies and maximum swagger. The Beastie Boys delivered something totally fresh in 1986: a party album that was as clever as it was chaotic, packed with attitude and anthems that still hit decades later. “Fight For Your Right” is the ultimate teenage rebellion anthem, while “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” blends headbanging riffs with rapid-fire rhymes, proving these guys could hang in both mosh pits and cyphers. “Brass Monkey” is pure chaos in the best way — goofy, infectious, unforgettable. And yes, even “Girls,” for all its ridiculousness, captures the tongue-in-cheek charm that made the Beasties impossible to ignore. This isn’t just a party album — it’s a cultural reset. Wild, unfiltered, and way smarter than it pretends to be. A perfect storm of hip-hop, rock, and pure energy. Favorite song: "Fight For Your Right"

Pretty sure this is my favorite Beastie album. Am I lame? I know Paul’s Boutique is supposed to be the gym. But I just love these jams. I like the simpler samples and catchier songs. It's a classic through and through. 4.5+

On of the best rap albums ever. Such a great time all the way through.

Nothing reminds me quite so much of being 12 than this album. I was really surprised it came out in 1986, it's hillbilly in the right kind of way.

Love it listened to it when it came out

It’s fun, catchy, unique, all the good stuff, basically.

Complete turnaround for me. When this came out I thought the Beastie Boys were a puerile one hit wonder. Listening back now it's influence seems to be like a classic Motown album spawning countless samples and immediately recognisable loops. Who Sampled claims The New Style has been sampled by 359 other tracks! Such a large footprint, a cultural icon.

Such a great listening experience

Essential. First album I bought that I’d still listen to today.

From that first sample to the last… just perfect! Also quite back heavy with the hits, but the first half is just as good.

Klasse Album. Hervorragende Musik.

New spin on hip hop, brought power to new genre and withstands the test of time.

Really one of my favorite albums, the childhood memories is envokes are priceless

One of my favorite golden era hip hop records. Just plain fun to listen to.

Somehow, I’ve never listened to the whole thing front to back. So many good samples and a great cohesive vibe.

The Beastie Boys were highly influential, using their punk origins to blend hip-hop with rock. Born from that was their massive debut album "Licensed to Ill", eventually becoming the first Billboard #1 rap/hip-hop album ever. All from three white Jewish dudes in New York. This is probably one of the greatest debut records of all time. It certainly got a lot of play from me when I was younger and still getting exposed to hip-hop. The rock samples (as well as ACTUAL guitar play from Kerry King himself) mixed with the group's goofy delivery (and equally goofy lyrics) commanded my attention then and still does to this day. Not really a bad track here, although I think the run of tracks from "Fight for Your Right" to the end especially are matched by few in all of music. The best part is that their discography somehow gets even better from here depending on who you ask. It turns out that these dudes were just getting started.

When I want to listen to the Beastie Boys I usually gravitate towards Ill Communication, Paul's Boutique, or Check Your Head, but that doesn't mean this one is bad. When comparing this to their later albums, this album feels a little incomplete and immature (quality and personality wise). The production here is good, but once again compared to their later works feels a little unrefined. Shoutout to She's Crafty, I don't think that song gets enough attention. This album is probably closer to a 4, but compared to all the bland 70's crap I've had this past month this is a breath of fresh air.

It's just so good.

This is rightly held as a classic and like becks Odelay, the one album you need to introduce yourself to the beastie boys. Yes they grow and change but you start here. 4.5

Gush warning. I feel spoilt, to listen to not one but two (yes 2) Beastie Boys albums on this list. I would never have considered a whole album of their stuff. I thought they had a few fun tracks and that was it. Turns out they make a lot of thumping catchy stuff which I love and smile to (its so out there as to be almost mock ironic and hence - for me - hilarously fun as well and pumping rock). Perfect shit silly for a middl aged man to krank it up loud. Fully. Music for stomping around the house when you're feeling too silly and to listen to RATM. :-) Oddly, I am having too much fun to be annoyed by his nasal pee wee voice. And I have always liked the cover art to this album. There's something in that, isnt there? Some fo their most entertaining lines /rhymes: "I don't mean to brag I don't mean to boast; but I'm intercontinental when I eat French toast" " 'Cause I'll be rockin' this party eight days a week " "I'm Mike D and I'm back from the dead; chilling on the beach down at ClubMed" "I’m a writer, a poet; a genius, I know it" "Well I’m a 6.7 on the Richter Scale. Got rhymes galore and then I never fail. Like gravy to potatoes, Luke to Darth Vader, I’m a souped up sucker and I’ll see you all later."

Most illingest B-boy, I got that feeling I am most ill and I'm rhymin' and stealin'! This album was kind of a shot heard 'round the world for suburban teenagers in the mid 80s. They were ridiculously obnoxious and would probably describe themselves even as stupid, but they were OURS! And they could rap surprisingly well and their rhymes were often hilarious with a variety of cultural references that hinted at a depth that said they were not your typical Adidas and Kangol bboys, nor your typical teenage idiots even. I still have my Volkswagen hood ornament medallion and would not hesitate to drop everything and bust it out if I saw the bat signal go up. The first time I heard "Girls" was at an unofficial cast party for our high school production of "Grease" and a girl put it on and when I saw all the girls dancing to "Girls" I intuited that the adult complaints about Beastie misogyny just didn't get it. That was also probably the first time in my life that I chose to dance. My only complaint is that it's a pain in the ass to be confronted with this on a Monday morning, as happened to me with this project, because now I have to blow off work and shotgun a six-pack of Bud tallboys and chase it with some of that funky monkey! NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN!

Yes it's incredibly dated and fairly juvenile. But when this came out it sounded like nothing else. Rap and rock fused together made everyone take notice, and it screamed up the charts as a result. Arguably one of the greatest debut albums of all time.

So this album has a lot of nostalgia for me. Cosart and I listened to this on repeat driving from NC to Maine. Yes it is belittling to women though I think some is tongue in cheek. However, their rhymes are on time and clever. It is still a great album and was ahead of its time for hip hop.

I know this may not be their best but it is such a classic from top to bottom

Look it’s not their best album but it’s just so much fun to listen to. The energy doesn’t ever drop at any point. Each song leads into the next and makes you want to get up and go. Do some/most have questionable lyrics, sure. But the energy and wonky lyrics I think makes up for that. These guys don’t take themselves seriously at all which I think is what makes them so good and fun to listen to.

hands down by far their weakest album. yes, lyrics can be crass & demeaning but they are also pretty fun and tongue in cheek. love the sounds & samples. fantastic group

I listened to this everyday while in college. It brings back so many memories. Driving around in my friends rusty Cutlass with dual 12" Cerwin Vega subs and a 300 watt Pioneer amp.

I Beastie Boys sono un po' il tuo ex cazzone scellerato coglioncello leggermente sgravato con cui ti eri messa per il brivido ma poi hai lasciato per la mancanza di prospettive future anche se ogni tanto ci ripensi e ti dici "chissà dove saremmo adesso...su una motocicletta in giro per le autostrade? In prigione?" E quando si rifà vivo dicendo di non averti mai dimenticata lo inviti comunque dentro casa e gli dai un 5/5 come facevi una volta. Puoi dirti che è solo in amicizia o in onore dei vecchi tempi ma la verità è un'altra.

ahead of its time and fresh

Excellent, inventive, some what immature but exciting and clever.

This might be the only true (definitely the 1st) punk rock rap album. The Beastie contributed to rap what it is today.

So many hits. So good. Love the samples. Love the simplicity.

These guys perfected rock samples into a hybrid genre that is almost uniquely theirs

I love the Beastie Boys but more of an Ill Communication guy, with that being said this is quality old school hip hop. Bonus points for the Kerry King feature.

Tremendous! I remember buying this on cassette on release day! A true classic

Rhymin & Stealin, another legendary opening track from a debut. This is a very Def Jam recording. You can picture LL Cool J rapping over these beats. They were the clown princes of rap at this point, they leaned into it and it worked in the time before gangsta rap. She's Crafty really leans into the humor. Girls is goofy as hell, but I love it. Fight For Your Right is amazing, rap-rock at it's finest and way before it's heyday. Girls, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Paul Revere is one of the best four song streaks on any album ever. Hold It Now, Hit It is a miss for me and I don't love Brass Monkey but if those are the worst songs on an album that's pretty impressive.

5/5. Lyrics don't age very well but the production and rapping in general, plus amazing beats, keeps this a classic. Taking the best from groups like Run-DMC and providing just back to back bangers, everyone can have a different favorite song from this album and it's hard to disagree. The confidence from these white boys is definitely misplaced and offensive but it's hard to not vibe with them, they can rock. Best Song: No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn, She's Crafty, Time To Get Ill

The Beastie Boys were groundbreaking and before their time. I was 8 but all the older cousins, big brother were all rocking the cassette. So good. And it still resonates 30 something years later.

Timeless classic.

I already know and love, but had forgotten just HOW good it is.

This is not their best album, but it is probably the most culturally significant.

Not necessarily my favorite beastie boys album but undeniably awesome.

Probably a top 3 favorite album of all time for me. Can pretty much recite every lyric to every song. Every single song is memorable. Money has changed the ability for artists to sample so freely but this entire album is the pinnacle of sampled music. Lyrics are silly and genius. I can remember in 5th grade, standing in the recess line singing Paul Revere with a bunch of kids in the class. It’s one of those anthems that anyone of a certain age will suddenly want to sign a long to. “Did it like this, did it like that. Did it with a whiffle ball bat”. I’ve personally burned through 3 tapes of this song and still get fired up hearing it. I get if I put this on with a bunch of younger kids today, they would be amazed and think it was great. Rest in Peace to Yauch. This album gets 12 stars

Seminal

Possibly helped by the fact that I listened to this on the coach to Glasto, but sooo good! Simpsons: not even looking it up, just assuming yes

Streetrat vibes

Quintessential. This was one of the cassette tapes that I wore out listening to this album. Such a great album. And such a great group.

Name me any other group who mentions white Castle as much as the Beastie Boys do. Or at all, for that matter.

Moronic yelling. Pretty important

lovely

Rad rap album I've heard in a while.Too many cool beats were made throughout the album

Fricken Awsome! I never knew. I love the Beastie Boys!!

Fucking FINALLY!!!! This album is iconic, first and foremost. You get the guys playing the most cartoonish and outlandish caricatures of themselves, hamming up the frat boy stupidity 24/7. The songs are outrageous, ridiculous and obnoxious in the most goofy fun way. It’s so stupid, it goes beyond stupid and then comes full circle back to amazing again. I just love it! Is there a more hype inducing opening riff than No Sleep til Brooklyn?!?! No, there isn’t. And! It’s an incredible landmark for reflection and growth, which I love even more. These guys are a wonderful example of how artists can find fame in a super gimmicky niche and outgrow it in a thoughtful way to continued success. I love that these guys grew to loathe the idiocy of what they were doing and rose from the ashes reborn as mindful and caring artists, feminist champions and peacemakers. I love that they can look back on their past and acknowledge how problematic it was without excusing it. They’ve given us all the best gift in doing so, because we can continue to listen to this album fondly. We can see the stupidity and smirk and appreciate how this moment in time was simply that, a moment. It’s good to learn. It’s good to grow. These guys are so fucking cool for that. And for just always going against the grain. I still mourn MCA. I know a ton of us do. I wish he was still here, making music and touring. What a huge loss. Rest in power, my dude. You were the illest.

I Beastie Boys sono un po’ il tuo ex cazzone scellerato coglioncello leggermente sgravato con cui ti eri messə per il brivido ma poi hai lasciato per la mancanza di prospettive future anche se ogni tanto ci ripensi e ti dici “chissà dove saremmo adesso…su una motocicletta in giro per le autostrade? In prigione?” E quando si rifà vivo dicendo di non averti mai dimenticatə lo inviti comunque dentro casa e gli dai un 5/5 come facevi una volta. Puoi dirti che è solo in amicizia o in onore dei vecchi tempi ma la verità è un’altra.

4.6/5 listened 2x. great album and some of the first i listened to on the elementary school bus as a kid.

reminds me of my childhood. classic album

This one one made me crank the volume!!!

Oh yeah. Now we’re talking!

The progression of the Beastie Boys from hardcore and joke punk songs to become pioneers of hip-hop is laid bare on these 13 tracks (and the album that followed) - from picking out the samples that range from Led Zeppelin to 80s television characters to tracking the beats and snippets that were subsequently sampled by the future hip-hop greats, it's very clear to see where this absolutely vital album sits in the history of the genre. It's a phenomenal record that takes rock and rap and forces them to play nice. Sure, some of the lyrical content is dated, but the Beasties were literally boys at the time, and the production is many years beyond its time.

Big surprise for me how much I loved this as an album.

Among the first masterstrokes for Rick Rubin as a producer! Compare this kind of fun-loving old-school rap with the Slim Shady LP and it's aged so much more gracefully. It's rough around the edges, sure, but it comes off as playful grinning rather than antisocial, aggressive, and cringeworthy. The Beastie Boys were much more astute in the game than anyone saw at the time - this was only two years after Run DMC hit the scene. License To Ill is the ultimate Just Guys Being Dudes record and a ton of fun to spin.

REALLY hard-hitting 80s rap rock that's either so unbelievably loud you'll thrash your head like a maniac or you'll cackle at how silly it is, it's both. seriously if they ain't shoutin' some sick bars they're just having a lot of fun. the way the beastie boys rap is like a whole bunch of sarcastic middle school skater boys and i love it.

Total classic album, awesome to hear all those old-school Zep samples. Just fantastic.

i have beastie fever, and baby it’s incurable!!!!!!!

A great debut album that has admittedly very dated and juvenile lyrics at times. There is a certain charm to it that can’t help but laugh at.

it’s okay I guess

5 stars. Absolutely a legendary album and might be one of the best ever.

WOW WOW WOW THIS IS HYPE AF! I LOVE THIS THE 90S IS BEING SOLIFIDIED AS MY FAVORITE ERA THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME GIRLS IS AWESOME NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN IS SO SO ICONIC AND STILL SO COOL FUCK YEAH!

The immature beginnings of one of the most important hip hop bands of their era. I hate to play the race thing, because they’re a great group in their own right, but this album opened the genre up to a whole new audience and made it okay to listen to rap for a lot of white suburban kids. They even got a got bit of play on rock stations. While this isn’t their best album, it did break them into he scene and laid the groundwork for some great stuff. It’s also a good example of old school hip hop being fun, before it started to take itself too seriously. All in all this is just a fun album, quite a bit goofy, and all intentionally so. Also, before getting angry at the misogyny, etc, remember they were just dumb kids and grew up. They have since expressed remorse at how awful they were and have changed accordingly.

My favorite Beastie Boys album. Totally fratty and silly but idc, still sounds so good.

Dated? Yes. Classic? Yes. A time capsule into the 80s you will happily trap yourself in.

Awesome.

WHITE BOY SWAG

Very few freshman releases are this impactful. It all starts with three best friends and a fourth who knows something about music. The rest is history. The emergence of the Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin will change music and the accessibility of Rap music. 5/5

Gute alte Zeiten! Welch ein Album, erinnert an die Startzeiten und ist immer noch Hammer!

(Ascoltato per intero con la lettura di qualche testo) Tanta tanta roba. Album bello potente tra l'hip hop old school, l'hard rock e voci belle incazzose (a detta loro "we hot the kind of voices that are in your face). La mattina sta bene al posto di un bel caffè per essere pronti a scazzottare la realtà. Si sente la loro appartenenza alla New York di fine 80', visti i riferimenti alla famosa "forty deuce", oggi time square, al tempo lo "sleaziest block" per il magazine Rolling stones. Bella fusione tra i generi decisamente ben riuscita, grande l'utilizzo dei sample, particolarmente hard rock, specie provenienti dai Led Zeppelin. Interessante l'entrata in una realtà decisamente alternativa, ho apprezzato anche l'inserimento di due tracce deciasamente rock "Fight for your right" e "No sleep till Brooklin". L'alternarsi tra le voci dei componenti crea equilibrio e un ritmo più unito, incalzante e concitato, perfetto, assieme al tono che utilizzano, per la loro musica.

Great Production by Rick Rubin. So many classic samples. Superior Outing of the trio with tongue and cheek lyrics.

BRASS MONKEY. THAT FUNKY MONKEY.

Illest to the max 😎

An obvious classic tbh! I spin this regularly. The full album is FULL of classics but it’s one you can really sit down with all these years later. Sometimes the raps are a little bit cringe but this was their post hardcore, pre rapcore days so they were 100% in party mode here. First track hits HARD with a Led Zeppelin drum beat and it just takes off from there. Super dancey, super FUN stuff. Most of these songs use immediately recognizable samples (heavy on Led Zeppelin for some reason) but it works. For the time, this was groundbreaking work. The MC volley is one of my favorite things, the mic passing as it is. Honestly this is a massive record so I’ll cap it as a must listen for anyone.

Only the debut album by one of my all time favorite groups, no big deal. Everything instantly hits, but then peeling it back and breaking it down, they did their homework.

Took me almost 10 years to understand and enjoy this one, but it's something I listen to a lot. Originally I hated the party-boy vibe, before I realized it wast their schtick at this point. The lyrics and delivery are juvenile and snotty, but that doesn't stop them from being really catchy; arguably it helps. Stripped down beats and samples performed by Rick Rubin are as important (or more?) to this sound as anything else and showcase just how much Richer influenced hip-hop after this. Paul Revere has always been my fasvorite track, but other the "Girls", there are no stinkers on here.

Prefect rap party album. I knew half the tracks just from the radio.

There isn't a bad song on the album. Fantastic!

I already knew this was a great record but listening to it again affirmed that even more. The beats are so creative and the energy each of them bring to the songs make it so easy to dance around to. Although my favorite part has got to be how absolutely amazing these lyrics are. They are telling full blown stories! I had no idea how many literary references there were until listening again today! My favorite songs besides the five main classics (girls, paul revere, brass monkey, fight for your right, and no sleep till Brooklyn) are “The New Style”, “She’s Crafty”, and “Hold it Now Hit It”.

Besides the obvious misogyny and other adolescent tropes that were “funny” in the early eighties, this record still holds up, to the point that I think it’s a seminal first record. And, like the Beatles before them, the Beastie Boys only got better from here. It’s astounding how every song on this record is so catchy in 2024.

Beasties are always funny to me. I wouldn't classify myself as a huge fan, but their albums always go hard and this one is fire outside of a couple songs towards the end.

5.0 + These knuckleheads put out one of the greatest party records of all time. I grew up with songs like "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (Too Party!)", and they're still fun and vibrant.

Far and away the best Beastie Boys album. There’s some songs on here that haven’t aged super well, but that can be said for many albums from past decades. I was obsessed with “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” when I was a kid, and it’s probably still my favorite song on the album. So good!

YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY!!!

So many classic hits on this one- "Fight for your Right", "Paul Revere", "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" are all ones I would hear blasting from dorm rooms in college (two decades after this album was released). Lyrics that would be juvenile or cringey from other artists just seem funny and charming coming from the Beastie Boys.

dang there are a lot of bangers on this album. We were prolific at this time.

These guys check so many boxes, and this album is filled with so many great songs.

👌🏻👌🏻🥰🥰🍺

Bangers on bangers. Brass Monkey is fun. Girls is also funny

This is the debut studio album of the American hip hop group Beastie Boys. Deemed as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, "Licensed to Ill" crushed record sales, and was wildly commercially and critically successful. Heavily syndicated, this tremendous album birthed such long-lasting hits including "She's Crafty," "Girls," "Fight for Your Right," "No Sleep till Brooklyn," "Paul Revere," and "Brass Monkey." On another note, it is highly advised the reader explore "Fight for Your Right Revisited" for a pop culture shock of epic proportions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evA-R9OS-Vo

Love it, raw and energetic

This album is a 5. ALL of their albums are 5’s. I own them alll. Psyched to listen to this one in the car with the whole fami

I am amazed that this album is from 1986. So many of these songs played a big part in the soundtrack of my high school and college years. It is my first time listening to the full album, but it is a pure classic.

I'm biased as i'm a huge BB fan.

Beastie Boys let the beat... mmm... drop! Yeaa this album is great. So many bangers and classics, and the lyrics are hilarious, like some sort of twisted origin story of how the three met and how cool they are. Considering the only other old school rap I've gotten here through Run-DMC, this is streets ahead.

Yep, pretty awesome.

A masterpiece of rap and rap rock and the immediate precursor to rapcore, License to Ill contains some of the Beasties best work. Staples of fratboy and party music abound here including, No Sleep till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, and the most famous of Beastie songs, Fight for Your Right. All were mainstays of MTV back when that mattered, especially the video for Fight for Your Right. Let's be honest, the Beasties made rap and hip hop cool for white people. Was that good? Perhaps. It did open up the genre to a wider audience, paved the way for many of the white rappers today, and creating the mainstream popularity for many Black artists. Could it be seen as cultural appropriation? Maybe but at the time it wasn't. No matter how you look at the Beasties, these rap rock songs are amazing and have helped popularize the rap genre to the point that it is still around and popular almost 40 years later. Without this album, rap may have devolved into a niche right now. If you want a more authentic OG rap/hip hop experience, listen to Public Enemy. If you want fun, chucklehead, party music, Licensed to Ill is just about as good as it gets.

Just phenomenal. I didn't really understand how good until later (too busy grumbling about how it wasn't "real" music unless it was a drums / bass / guitar / vocals - possibly keys at a push - combo)

so good

Yo

Groundbreaking. 5. RIP MCA.

genius

great

Great sounds!! Also didn't know they made Girls😭😭 its crazy to think this came out in 1986!!! Awesome debut☝️

This was a high school mainstay for me (this is in the early 2000s). My friend Alex had this on CD and always played it in his car when we went out for lunch. Tons of nostalgia for Girls and Brass Monkey

One of my favourites. Whole album is just fun as hell.

ANOTHER AMAZING ONE!!

Classic

Easily the best gym album I've been suggested so far. Again, I had this tape when I was a kid and fucking loved it. It still slaps today. Three goofy white boy rappers shouldn't be this cool, but Beastie Boys definitely are. The most impressive thing on this album are the guitar riffs. Iron Maiden only wish they could shred like these fellas. Plus, the lyrics are hilarious (even if sometimes a little homophobic, but that's a sign of the times). "I seen her just the other day, Jackin' Mike D to my dismay." Brilliant. 😂 I love everything about this album. 👍👍

This album came out when I was 16. You couldn't escape the Fight for Your Right video. It was great stuff back then. Now it's a bit like 3 Jerry Lewis's yelling 'hey lady' for 45 minutes. Not their best but still worthy of inclusion on this list.

brass monkey, that funky monkey

I got this for Christmas when I was 13 and have loved it ever since. Great mix of rock, punk, and hip hop. Beasties are legends. Notable tracks include Rhymin & Stealin, Slow Ride, Girls, Fight for your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey.

A classic, that's what it is

This is one I've listened to 1001 times myself! Great album, beats. Gotta love the Beastie Boys!

I grew up with this album. Absolutely love it! Hits from front to back. Definitely my favorite Beastie Boys album.

Very sick album. I had heard the classics but not many of the songs on this album. Rhyming and Stealing was just awesome.

This takes me back to the younger days of my generation!

One of my fav listens so far. I like their later stuff more, it's more mature but this is still a great listen.

The energy, the absurd observations, wacky rhymes, irony, and sounds that make you feel hoppin. It may not be everybody’s thing but man, what a hip, rangy vibe. Loved it.

80s Hip-Hop

Hell yeah

Classic, so good

It'd be so easy to dwell on the juvenile, offensive lyrics - "the girls I like are underage" - and there really is no excusing their crass, misogynistic wordplay. It would be so easy to point out that the lyrics almost take a back seat to the infectious riffs, beats and set-ups. What becomes tricky is having to balance these two things. I mean, this album was great, but it is definitely not without flaws. If you are, like me, a white guy, it's probably quite difficult to detach yourself from the vicarious distaste for what's being said, but you know what? I can't imagine it's any different to being a black guy and detaching yourself from the distasteful narrative of Gagsta life when listening to Snoop or Easy E. So put it out of your mind and enjoy it in the spirit that it's intended - as something that's a whole heap of fun piled up into a little hillock of silly pastiche.

Me falta más base, cuidado para una escena de reparaciones

A solid 10. This album is awesome. Every song on the album is GREAT! My favorite so far.

Three of the most harmless guys from Brooklyn show the world a whole other side to hip-hop with this 5 star album produced and engineered masterfully by Rick Rubin. A classic!

Love the beasties boys. However this does have a lot of stuff that didn't are that well. Still love it though

Love it. Always a great album.

Awesome

Great music and lyrics - completely brought an original sound to the nature of rap at the time. With guest guitar spots like Kerry King from Slayer, they drove through like the existing market like a Mack truck.

Hey das sind die Beastie Boys - damals revolutionär für mich.

This is why Eminem should never have been a musician.

Epic hip-hop album

Love the beats, Slow and Low is my favorite.

Debut album, one of the most influential debut albums of all time. First rap album to hit the Billboard 500, and I think it may still be the top selling rap album of all time. When the Beastie Boys hit the radio in 86-87, they changed music. Fight for Your Right to Party is a GenX anthem. Five enthusiastic stars.

The OG Brooklyn/Manhattan trio. Classic

Yeah!

Knew the entire album!

Back in the day, I already knew "Girls" was probably one of the most stupid songs ever penned in the history of music. And it still is today, by all counts. Enough to make the album it's from "essential", in an ironic sort of way??? Well, dumb, tongue-in-cheek (?) fratboy humour notwithstanding, this record is a treat for the ears of anyone interested in hip hop history, both for its music and its wordplay--as "juvenile" as this worplay is sometimes. Or maybe *because* the lyrics are so juvenile somehow... Teenage angst and young adult lust can provide so much sheer energy to an artist, and this in any genre. You'd have to be an old cranky, cantakerous bore NOT to feel that while listening to the album. Of course, being a middle-aged dude in 2023, I also have to be cautious about the ways nostalgia can meddle with your better judgment. So, before listening to this record, I prepped myself to be harsh and uncompromising whenever I would feel like the Beastie Boys were plain ridiculous, just as they were for "Girls". Revisiting *Licensed To Ill*, I indeed expected it to feel so dated and hackneyed to be borderline unlistenable. But on the contrary, this debut still manages to sound fresh somehow, even decades after its release. Most of the little sonic details Rick Rubin provided for the samples and beats are endearing, and the hard rock-inspired hits are the stuff of legend, obviously. There's that iconic drum part sampled from Led Zeppelin in the very first seconds of the album. And the one-two punch of "Fight For Your Right To Party" followed by "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" right in the middle of the record is an unforgettable moment in the history of popular music. It's one that the charts of 1986 didn't miss, by the way. Not that the charts are always right... But for an up-and-coming style such as eighties hip hop, you have to take into account such watershed moments. Oh, there's one last elephant in the room we need to address here. Being three white jews originally playing in a Brooklyn hardcore-punk outfit, the Beastie Boys couldn't be *automatically* exempt from accusations of "cultural appropriation" when they used rap to hit those same charts. But their example is actually a great one to prove that exaggerated stances on such issues should be taken with a grain of salt. We're dealing with a grey area here, of course, but I'd say it's mostly light grey. a) MCA, Adrock and Mike D popularized hip hop for young white audiences at the time, and so helped countless black artists make a living afterwards (far more than Elvis's success helped black rockers sell records). b) On a purely "artistic" viewpoint, Rick Rubin and the Beasties did not only steal from African American culture, they also gave back their own ideas to it. "Slow And Low" is a groundbreaking cut, for instance--foretelling the many ways in which the bpms in rap instrumentals would slow down for many hits in said genre in the years to come. To put it in a nutshell, *Licensed To Ill* is not a "perfect" album by any means, yet it's still a cultural milestone. The Beastie Boys would actually release a true hip hop masterpiece with *Paul's Boutique* a few years later, plus two more albums set in a full-blown crossover mode that are for the ages as well (*Check Your Head* and *Ill Communications*). Even *Hello Nasty* is probably a superior effort than this debut. Yet without the latter, music history could have turned out radically different than the way it did. And that's enough to make *Licensed To Ill* an "essential" addition to this list. 4.5/5 for the purposes of said list (rounded up to 5). Which translates to a 9.5/10 grade for more general purposes. Number of albums left to review: 353 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 295 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 155 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 206

I will always love them and this is a classic!!!

Classic old school album, can listen to this over and over !

I dismissed this when it came out because it was "rap", but I have gotten into how good the Boys were in following years. Great album!

This is one of my favorite rap albums. I had this album when I was probably too young to have this album and will always love it.

Iconic and goated album. Another easy 5.

Yeaaaah

Is it the greatest album of all time? No. It's got some dated beats and simple lyrics, but it's fun as hell and features hit after hit. A personal favorite from way before I started this, and an easy 5/5.

love it

I wasn't really into TBB back in the day but over the years. I've really grown to like them. This album is pretty fucking dope!

Love it. Very fun album

So fun. The hooks are top notch, great to rap/yell along with the chorus. The beats are funky. Love it.

Great album overall with some fantastic hits.

4.5/5 Wtf this is fire? Best track: Rhymin' and Stealin'

So original!

Amazing album. All that there needs to be said.

Classic bboys

i mean, these dudes were the shit

“Some voices got treble, some voices got bass/ we got the kind of voices that are in your face.” The Beastie Boys are one of those rare bands that seem to be their own genre. Though they straddle the line between hip hop and punk, what’s true is that no one else sounds like the Beastie Boys. At least not without sounding like they’re “doing” the Beastie Boys. The production is sparse, leaving plenty of room for their particular brand of rap. And they really sound like the no-goodniks they claim they are. This album is immediate, goofy, defiant, and makes you want to smash a beer bottle over your head and rip your shirt off while howling at the moon.

Legendary album. 'Nuff said.

One of the best albums of the 80s. Beastie Boys were masters of blending rock & rap with a punk sensibility. A high energy & nostalgic listen - easy 5 stars.

Dan was so happy.

Обожаю истсайд за эмовайоленс и Beastie Boys

WE LOVE U SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BEASTIE BOYS! currently on track 2 and i am actually going to listen to the whole album in the spirit of the thing and also bc it fucking slaps but like. 5 stars immediately be serious

fun fun FUN!!!!!!! bts should totally plagiarize this album. 3J need a no sleep till brooklyn or rhymin & stealin type of song. speaking of rhymin & stealin, now that’s how you open an album!

Hardest playlist I’ve heard, and on the first day of this generator.

Samples are A+ Rhyme a verse with Abe Vigoda Appropriation, misogyny and/or satire? Time points to the latter, but am I just blinded by nostalgia?

Classics that get your blood pumping and makes you want to be angry at someone

Star ratings suck

Mostro

A forceful and assured debut that out rocks it's source material.

Classic. Yes it's dated. Yes it gets a 5.

My judgement is skewed on this one due to nostalgia. Banger. 100 out of 10. I listen to it from start to finish probably twice a year? It's just good, dumb fun. I enjoy music that's story telling, and all of these are telling stories about party life and being young shitheads, unapologetically.

This really brought me back in good ways and bad to what I loved and hated about 80s rap and hip hop. Still it’s a funny, knowingly juvenile and clever album with an ingenious mix of genre sampling.

Perfection.

This one holds a special place in my heart. This is the first cassette I bought with my own money. 5 stars, no notes

I like all the led zeppelin sounds they used

simply amazing

Licensed to Ill is great mix of rap and punkrock with an entertaining sense of humor. Their introduction in their music video Fight For Your Right sums up the band pretty well: Screaming like lunatics while smacking a dildo against their head. Ad Rock's high nasally voice always makes me laugh with whatever incredibly juvenile lyrics they are rapping about. Rhyming and Stealing is a great opening track with a fusion of their styles. Girls still feels surprising modern despite being almost 40 years old. The music videos for Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn are up there with the best. More music videos need pie fights and giant bags with dollar signs.

Licensed to Ill is great mix of rap and punkrock with an entertaining sense of humor. Their introduction in their music video Fight For Your Right sums up the band pretty well: Screaming like lunatics while smacking a dildo against their head. Ad Rock's high nasally voice always makes me laugh with whatever incredibly juvenile lyrics they are rapping about. Rhyming and Stealing is a great opening track with a fusion of their styles. Girls still feels surprising modern despite being almost 40 years old. The music videos for Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn are up there with the best. More music videos need pie fights and giant bags with dollar signs.

Timanttia alusta loppuun.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Rhymin and stealin, Slow ride, Girls, Fight for your right, No sleep till Brooklyn, Paul revere, Time to get ill

This album was a part of my 20's Brass Monkey is the nastiest tasting drink.

Awesome album. I can listen to this straight through and on repeat.

Always 5 stars.

Classic album!

Hard to separate the nostalgic value with the musical value on this one but this was a ton of fun all the way through. Very inventive rhymes and mixing of rock and rap. A really good time if you don't take the lyrics too seriously.

extravagant, rebellious, funny, fresh

One of my favourite albums by my favourite group

This is the second studio album by Beastie Boys that I've reviewed on this album generator. Right out of the gate, Rhymin & Stealin samples Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf as well as Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks. The ability to mix heavy metal with hip hop beats and lyrics shows insane talent!! Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn are both absolute bangers! This album is so legendary! Overall, a fantastic album today. I will absolutely listen again. Favourite songs: Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Rhymin & Stealin, She's Crafty, Posse in Effect, Slow Ride, "Hold It Now, Hit It", Slow and Low, Time to Get Ill Least favourite songs: The New Style, Brass Monkey 5/5

thumbs up

A classic! Man did I love this album when I was in high school. Now I appreciate their sampling and style

So nice I listened to it twice

Rhymin & Stealin- 4.8/5 The New Style- 5/5 She's Crafty- 4.6/5 Posse in Effect- 4.9/5 Slow Ride- 5/5 Girls- 5/5 Fight for Your Right- 5/5 No Sleep Till Brooklyn- 5/5 Paul Revere- 4.8/5 Hold It Now, Hit It- 4.9/5 Brass Monkey- 5/5 Slow and Low- 4.9/5 Time to Get Ill- 4.7/5 Total- 4.9/5

Out of the 112 albums I've rated so far, this is by far the one I'm most familiar with. It was the perfect album 12-13 year old me could relate to. An immature, silly, rap mixed with hard rock was right up my alley at the time. Now, some of the lyrics probably haven't aged well for some people. "The girlies I like are under age" and "Girls, to do the dishes and clean up my room" come to mind. With that, all the White Castle references (I think I counted four), and all the other silliness in this thing, I still love it. My favorite rap is when the members of the group trade off verses, and the Beastie Boys do that on every track. The only song I even slightly dislike it "Slow and Low," and even that one isn't bad. Best track: Paul Revere

Fuck yeah. Favorite track: Brass Monkey

Favourite tracks: slow and low; fight for your right; no sleep til Brooklyn; rhymin and stealin; brass monkey

4.5 stars. Brash debut from the Jewish trio from the Bronx is a lot of fun. The six track run in the middle of the album starting with "Girls" encapsulates what this group is all about. Combining creative beats and wide-ranging samples with rapping and yelling hedonistic and sophomoric lyrics brings the listener into a head-bobbing entertaining new world of hip-hop.

lets go, caught back up and a dope album to kick off the new week. never was a huge beastie boys fan, i think the grungy* boombap sound kinda got corny after a while but i am 1000% open to having my mind changed. #letsgetit woah the beat switch on \"the new style\" is crazy, to hear that style of hiphop beat on a record from the mid 80s was WILD. yeah, rick rubin is the goat, if it weren't for his amazing production this record wouldn't have been anywhere as successful. girls is such a classic. so goofy, so good the gogo drums on Shes crafty is tuffff I wonder what peder would rate this album art *so after listening i don't think grungy is the best word, its just like white guy angst. very fraternal, beastie boys would've been nelk boys

badass.

god i have no idea how this was as successful as it was. it sounds HARSH

A classic.

Quintessential Beastie Boys. Certified all time banger.

Beastie Boys are one of my favorite bands of all time and this was the first album I ever bought on CD. I have a lot of history with this record and a lot of great memories wrapped up with it. With that said, I don't revisit this often. There are some great tracks here but they cannot hold up to the masterpieces that the Boys would release in the following years. So today I will listen to Hot Sauce Committee as I haven't spent much time with that one.

bro how do i miss this

Very similar backbeats but all classics I've listened too. Highly enjoyed brass monkey, that funky monkey, girls, fight for your right and no sleep till Brooklyn. Overall a solid album.

This album is outstanding! Lyrically might be a little rough but the beats are on point and the skills on the mic are there, even if I would be ok never hearing the singles again this is still an easy 5/5

My boys ❤️ mmm… drop!

Not as good as earlier efforts, but still pretty awesome.

With this extraordinary debut, The Beastie Boys didn't only takes "garbage" music of black people's street culture to get it married with party rock sounding of white people by serious attempt to set up a musical revolution, but also built a bridge between black people & white people by getting them laugh and dance and rock so hard yet highly funky through 3 distinct funny deliveries of humors. Fav Track: Fight for Your Right

This record is fun AF. I know it is a bit cheesy by today standards but it’s playful and unpretentious. Great album.

Best album ever

Great album. The tunes are good and rocking and there is a fun sense of humor to it.

Best Beastie Boys album!

This is a landmark album based solely on the sound and it is three white guys rapping for Def Jam. "License to Ill" was something completely different in the world of rap and while I have outgrown some of this frat-rap style (as did they) the number of samples and seemingly creating songs based on those samples creates a place for this album in this book.

Very good. I’m really impressed by the variety of music they sampled and produced. 9/10

Rap rock. Está muy bien. Venga, vinilo.