Licensed To Ill

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.

The Beasties debuted so confidently and fully formed. This album has everything they'd be known for - their sense of humor, hybrid of rock and hip-hop, etc. I love this album so much

Banger after banger

Took me a long time to appreciate these guys, but they (and this album) have really grown on me. One of the most important albums of my generation for sure.

This album is great. Dope samples, sick beats, awesome rapping. Funnily enough the famous tracks were the ones I liked the least.

Amazing album

Great debut from a very influential band.

Excelente

Really a classic with lots of hits. "Girls", "Brass Monkey", "No Sleep Til Brooklyn", and "Paul Revere". I'm not a gigantic fan of the Beastie Boys but can't deny how great this album is. 8/10.

ALI BABBA AND THE FORTY THIEVES ALI BABBA AND THE FORTY THIEVES sheeesh there's so many good sing-along moments on this record. I've heard this album a ton of times and I am only now realizing that "Fight For Your Right" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" are consecutive tracks on an album. That's pretty amazing- both of these songs are so entrenched as legendary tracks that it only adds to their impressiveness that they are right after each other. "Brass Monkey" is such a fun upbeat song. I used to yell along to this song with my heavy metal friends. Same with "She's Crafty". There's many many things about these songs that make them great. You can really pull them apart into enjoyable layer after enjoyable layer. It's a perfect representation of good musicians doing their own thing and their own thing being gold. It's just so good. The beat / tempo change in "The New Style" around the 3 minute mark is serious mastery of expectations in music and how to misdirect a listener in the best way.

Wel there is only one Beastie Boys and this was the start. Loud, brash, funny and in your face it's suprisingly musical and well produced. What's not to like?

nice

Oh I know that I love this album. Yeah upon listening to it while on a stationary bike for 30 min, I still love this album.

Wow! What an album. 5 off the rip. Beastie and Rubin, GTFOH! T3B 1. No Sleep Till Brooklyn 2. Girls 3. Brass Monkey

Dope album

:))) ну скажите мне кто не слушал классику как всегда прекрасно даже если настроения нет

Solid

It's amazing how the Beastie Boys managed to encapsulate what being a horny young man is all about into a single album.

loved it, drive at the beginning of a verified storm its soo fun to listen like a hypeman for the oncoming shit storm

This album exudes tons of late adolescent male bravado, causing one's inner middle-aged schoolmarm to grimace disapprovingly from time to time. But I suppose that's its clear intention and charm. I sometimes amused myself imagining that it was Lenny and the Squigtones performing at the Pizza Bowl. It definitely seems very tongue-in-cheek sometimes. How could it not with callouts to Abe Vigoda and Phyllis Diller? (But I do kind of wish that "She's Crafty" were more about scrapbooking and macramé.) There is a near-perfect meld in here of hip hop and hard rock that others have tried without such catchy success. Not all the songs have a metal sound, but there is a metal attitude throughout that takes hip hop to a new place. This was a fun journey for the day.

I have enjoyed the musical stylings of Beastie Boys for a long time, but I was not very familiar with this album. As far as the sampling and production, I totally dig it. Many of the raps strike on the side of immature boys, but I reckon that is kind of who they were at the time of this release. I had lots of fun listening today!

Love this album 1 of my all time favorite party albums

A classic. Sure some of the themes haven't aged well and the Beasties have even apologized for them. But what a gem.

The genius of the lyrics from the boys and the genius of Rick Rubin’s producing combined to create the perfect storm of Licensed to Ill. When I first heard Fight For Your Right as a kid I thought they were a parody band, out to create music for the laughs, not to be taken seriously, like Weird Al. Now that I’m older and have gotten into them more, I can say with certainty, they are completely serious. Serious about making a mockery of rap and embedding parody into a real and, might I add, truly banger album. And it fucking works. Their parody was so serious their work has helped shape the genre of rap and hip-hop as we know it, and is one of the greatest rap albums of history. Their annoying voices are just part of the fun, and it’s something that would generally hurt any other band, while helping add to the icon-status of the boys. It deserves to be played at full volume and annoy all the neighbors, as they would want. My favorites: Rhymin and Stealin, Girls, Fight for Your Right, She’s Crafty, The New Style, Brass Monkey,

This was so much of my high school days.

Yes yes y'all! All timer...

I love me some Beastie Boys I'm honestly pretty sick of Fight For Your Right at this point, but its still a fun song. There's a guest guitar solo from Slayer's Kerry King, some sampling of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, amongst others. What's not to like? I was going to give this a 4 because I think they got better after this, but just thinking about how much enjoyment I get out of this album and their career as a whole I'm bumping it to a 5. That funky monkey! RIP MCA

Of course, Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication are better rap albums, but this album is still as entertaining as it was in the 80s, with over-the-top lyrics and rap/rock songs that are heavily influenced by Run DMC (which I hope are included in the list as well). Favourite song that even made the Dutch Top 40 at the time: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, a nice Motorhead reference and a Kerry King guitar solo (still expecting a Slayer album from the generator as well..). On a side note: Beasties Boys Book is one of the best books ever on the history of a band.

One of my all time favs although nostalgia certainly plays a huge part in that. Love all the samples and am constantly realizing more and more samples as I learn new music. One of the best debut albums of all time.

What a blast. So ahead of it’s time. Even if the rhymes are simple, the production just sounds completely unique.

вертушечки, йоу классный альбом, классно погуляла по райончику, почувствовав себя крутым чилипиздриком you gotta fight for your right to party

не смогу написать лучше, чем сашун голикова

Fucking loved it.

Ноу слип ту

There is not an album that represents my youth more than this one. This came out when I was in middle school, and was on repeat for a very long time. This was the first album where I really started getting into music, and not just listening to what my parents had on the radio. It was, and still is, a perfect listening experience for me.

Another tough one to rate. While this album doesn't hit the creative highs of later albums or show off the ambition the band is capable of, it is one of their most consistent albums.

Hell yea, this album just drips coolness. This thing is so jam-packed with references, samples, nods and easter eggs to music history, especially rock history, that I'm still hearing new things after dozens of listens. The constant record scratching and old school hip-hop flow do certainly date this album to a specific era. And the strained singing from the boys don't make it always palatable to the ear. Despite these shortcomings, the soul, energy and respect for musical history definitely make this album one that everybody must listen to, preferably many many times. Fav Tracks: Rhyming & Stealing, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFfrUmq2lww

classic album IMO

The pinnacle of stupid fun. I have so much love for this album at multiple stages in my life. I want an “infinity stars” button.

Have loved this album since my bus driver played it on cassette in 4th grade

Can't believe it's been 10 years since we lost MCA. This album was a favorite at sleepovers with my best friend in high school. Groundbreaking talent. Every so often, my husband's favorite radio station will play Brass Monkey. As soon as it's over, I keep going "Let it flow. Let yourself go. Slow and low. That is the tempo." I just can't help it.

The best rap album of all time. Enough said

Snotty dickheads grab hip-hop and stuff it in the locker. Though some of the rhymes may sound dated now and would even be disowned by the boys we should never forget - this was meant to be satirical. It still sounds fucking great. Best Tracks: The New Style; Fight For Your Right; Hold It, Now Hit It

Classic and ground breaking. Good music to boot. I've listened to this often since high school. Never gets old.

Great samples, beats, bars, and bangers. Could not ask for more out of an album

No sleep til….

Thanks, I needed that

iconic

One of my all time favorites, just so good.

You can tell they were having fun making this because the feeling rubs off on you.

Ttt

loved it, Slow ride - amazing

Very fun album. Insane number of hits. Hard to believe it came out in the mid-80s.

Punk rock, metal hip hop! I love this album. Lyrics are fun and tell a story. Love the Beasties. 5

The best

What an album!

awesome

Legal. Divertido.

Super fun, always a pleasure to bop to.

They evolved more after this, got more aware, but this album remains a classic.

Classic

So good. Total perfection!

Rulez

Loved it! Exactly what you expect but great nonetheless.

An all time classic. Some of it has aged badly and been disowned by the Beastie Boys, but it's almost all classics. Girls is terrible (though I did find it funny when I was 12) but every track after that could be a single. And most of the tracks before it. It gets 4 stars - only because Paul's Boutique, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty are all better albums by the same band. If it were any other group, it'd be 5! You know what, it is a 5 I'm supposed to be objective, aren't I.

Classic rap album

Very good

Love it.

Iconic album. Beastie boys are goats

This one doesn’t get love because of albums from Paul’s Boutique onward, but that’s unfortunate. Licensed to Ill kicks ass. It takes real skill to be that bratty.

Simply awesome. This is a must listen.

Can't decide between this or Paul's Boutique

Cómo no.

Epic

Awesome

Classic. Know it well. Love it.

Solid album all around. Best beastie boys album. Probably one of the few rappers/groups that provide humor in their songs. They come out hard and provide rap hits over and over but with rock stylings and rap punk beats. 8.8/10

berry good

Amazing debut album. So Many hits on here which for a first album is impressive. Totally unique sound at the time.

Sweet, wicked rhymes

There's not much to add with this album, it's an amazing album that made the hip-hop genre into something more vicious with their samples of hard rock and screeching vocals. It's certainly in the upper echelons of most influential hip hop albums of the 1980's

I really enjoyed this. Loved the use of samples, guitars and the energy of it.

Sí bien nunca me han llamado la atención sí es cierto que ha sido por no hacerles demasiado caso. Con este disco me revientan todos los esquemas y me vuelven fan total. Me parece una locura que hicieran esto en los ochenta. Temazos. Trepidante y rompedor. Genial.

Old School hip-hop met heel wat rock-invloeden. De nummers Girls, Fight For Your Right en No Sleep Till Brooklyn staan rug aan rug in dit album, en zijn alle 3 fantastisch, en aan persoonlijke herinneringen verbonden. Is dit een objectieve beoordeling? Misschien niet, maar toch 5/5 voor dit album!

Fuck yessss

classic - didnt know the original name was "Dont be a Faggot". glad they fixed that!!!

I've got nostalgia bias, but I love these guys. They're sort of one big satirical pisstake of hip-hop and rap-rock, but their energy and dedication is infectious, and they're always making me laugh. The way they enunciate their words really clearly makes it easy for me to get the jokes, and I can still appreciate their juvenile sense of humour since it's wrapped up in a sort of flowing rap group energy that doesn't really stop, it just jumps from one rapper to the next. These guys probably wrote most of these songs drunk, they rhyme the stupidest things and write very dumb lines, and they pad out lyrical space with lots of callbacks to other lines. However, they've got variety of rap and rock, and they've managed to keep this juvenile conceptual-callback sarcastic "my posse is the best" rap group style through their whole career, and I must say, it's grown on me. Only thing I'd mark them down for is that their beats aren't that well developed on this album, however, it was 1986 so I expect they were pioneers somewhat with their hip hop loops.

Phenomenal album! Played the hell out of this as a teenager!

Nunca le había puesto tanta atención a los beastie boys que chulada chingao

They don't have the right to be this good for a band that started as a joke

4.6* amazing album. lots of iconic songs on here and some nostalgic tracks! great album though overall!

No brainier.

yas! Zepppppp drums to start. love this album

Guys, I got to talk to Mike D on the phone once and he had to stop for a second to corral his kids out of the room because they were having a NERF war. Obviously, some of the hits here are silly and didn’t age so well but it’s still catchy as hell, fun, and I know most of the words without ever having even owned this record. If this is the only Beasties record on this list, I will burn this list to the ground.

Nett

It is ridiculously amazing. It is helpful to have the context that the absurdity is tongue-in-cheek , and makes the album a bit more timeless than just a frat-bro album from the 80's. The rhymin' and energy are pure fun.

Classic. Love it. Never gets old.

love love love

I mean, come on. This is too easy. Cuh-lassic. Although some of these hits are definitely outdated and the Boys have admitted to as much as well.

Time to get ILL

Outstanding and Ground Breaking!

You already KNOW I'm gonna give this 5 stars! Don't even need to listen to it (but I will). Absolute bangers all the way through. Definitely a bit of nostalgia playing a role, but eh. I love it!

This was fun. I forget how many hits this album generated (She's Crafty, Girls, FFYRTP, Brass Monkey, Paul Revere, and No Sleep til Brooklyn). Also, Aesop Rock gave a nod to Rhymin' and Stealin' in Rings. "Rhymin' and stealin' and bein' a clod. Distractions free to maraud."

Classic

BouBou kiss kiss

Dope

I really hope people realize this album is not supposed to be taken seriously. This is the Beastie Boys. It’s corny, the lyrics are ridiculous and over-the-top, and everything is deliberately excessive. But that’s also kind of the point. Licensed to Ill feels like one big joke about the obsession with excess that was all over the ’80s, and the Beastie Boys just crank it up as far as they possibly can. What surprised me is how entertaining the album stayed from start to finish. I thought I’d eventually get tired of the same style of rapping and those exaggerated vocal inflections, but somehow I never really did. The lyrics are funny, the samples are great, and I love all the record scratching throughout. There’s just something so classic about that sound. Yeah, the album is hokey as hell, and parts of it definitely sound dated now, but that almost adds to the charm. It knows exactly how ridiculous it is, and I had a lot more fun with it than I expected. Definitely a four out of five.

Good to do the housework to. Very motivational.

Great album

Fantastic debut album. Two of their biggest singles on here, and every other song works really well around them too. Great listen today.

This really founds just like the Beastie Boys on Futurama. It's well produced and there's good sampling. The song structures are cheesy but it these tracks are classic.

I haven't listened to this the whole way through in a long time and it's funny hearing the sampled rock tracks that you forget are in it. The production is great, and the beat creation must've been a good laugh as well. It's crazy to imagine using these huge samples on a debut album, but I guess that's part of the charm. I wouldn't call this "prime" Beastie Boys, it's almost proto Beastie Boys, before they really figured themselves out. They really stick to the one or two lines each method in each track, there are barely any verses other than in Paul Revere naturally, that are just one of them going at it. Some of the lyrics are dated and a few are downright gross, but the majority of it is just a bunch of new york guys talking shit, and it's good in that way. The Beastie Boys have never been the best rappers but they have a distinct and entertaining style and you can hear it from the beginning right here. This is is a fun album, though it does trail off towards the end. I'm glad they evolved from this but it's still a good debut. Nearly half of it are hit singles in their own right and the other tracks are almost there, just missing a great sample or hook.

a full listen through is a must.

Forgot how many of these songs were buried in my brain. Three mentions of White Castle, name-checking Phyllis Diller and sampling Led Zeppelin; this is unique and good to the last drrrrrrrrop.

Lets go!!!

Fun album. Didn’t know they were from the mid-80s!

Bad good

Legend of an album for sure, but you are voluntarily having men shout in your ear for an hour about partying and hot girls.

хороший альбом

I think this is a good album, and it was one of the first to really blend rap and rock. There are some all-time great tracks on here, but there are also a few misses that are more bland than good. Overall, I think this absolutely belongs on the list because of how influential it was. The Beastie Boys showed that hip-hop could borrow heavily from rock without losing what made it hip-hop, helping pave the way for the rap-rock and alternative crossover that became much more common in the years that followed.

Gear: Hifiman HE6se v2 SE Artwork: 🇺🇸✈️🎨 Production: 🎧🌋🌟 Music: ✊⚖️🥳 Rating: 🕶️🕶️🕶️🕶️/5

Impressionnant le nombre de flows actuels que je retrouve dans l’album, en plus d’un peu de rap rock

Own it (CD) - This album begins with a sample of one of the most iconic drum tracks ever laid down: "When the Levy Breaks" - and punctuates with a Black Sabbath guitar riff. The rhymes laid down over these beats, with the signature Def Jam scratches and hits...these guys arrived fully formed. The end of Side 1 - "Girls" and "Fight for Your Right" followed by the killer run of tracks on Side 2 - "No Sleep...", "Paul Revere", "Hold it Now...", "Brass Monkey" - just genius production. I remember hearing "Girls" as a kid at the neighbor's house and thinking it was hilarious. I love the aggression in "Fight..." and "No Sleep..." and the contrast in the sparse production of "Paul Revere" and "Brass Monkey" - that backwards effect in PR - so cool. Overall, just fun and listenable start to finish - 4/5

Never actually sat and listened to a full Beastie Boys album. Great fun, iconic, actually good lyrics for 80s hip hop so can't complain. Can hear the influence they've had on a lot of shit since then, it's the boyyssss

The mixing on this album is very good for a album released in 1986 some of my favorite tracks are "Fight for Your Right (To Party)", "Slow Ride", and "Posse Effect" they were all good with cool beats and good lyricism and flow. I like the use of very basic drums in some songs like "Hold it, Now Hit it!" they take those basic drum parts and make a complex beat with a lot of mix in there too to add a funky type beat. "Brass Monkey" is also a very fun listen. One of my only issues is that there is a lot of songs most of them being 3-4 min which makes the album feel a little slow to get through but overall a very fun listen. (8/10)

So many bangers, dude.

surprisingly enjoyable huh

Not a huge rap fan and had never listened to this entire album. I was pleasantly syrprised with how much I enjoyed it.

On one hand, it's far from my favourite by them, on the other, I am of an age where I can rhyme along with a very large percentage of it. Whatever it was and however badly it has aged, it's had massive reach.

Immature and dumb, but they have thoroughly atoned. I like how it shows their punk and class-clown roots, with flashes of their future brilliance.

This album has some pretty solid bangers back to back towards the middle. Some of the edge tracks the flows and stories get a bit stale, but I really liked this over all. 4/5

continuing to enjoy the beastie boys which may be my biggest surprise from this whole process

Aaaah schwierig. Hab ich sogar als CD im Schrank, ist auch die Platte der Beasties, die ich mir am besten am Stück geben kann. Hier sind für mich mit "The New Style" und "Hold It Now, Hit It" zwei 10/10-Rap-Classics dabei, mit "Paul Revere" auch noch ein schöner Storyteller. Gleichzeitig probiert die Platte noch so viel mehr, wofür man ihnen Respekt zollen muss. Die Idee, Led Zeppelins "When the Levee Breaks"-Drums mit den Riffs von Sabbaths "Sweet Leaf" zu kombinieren und darauf zu rappen, war damals sicherlich bahnbrechend. Heutzutage klingt das Ergebnis eher dürftig. "Fight for Your Right" und "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" haben zwar ebenfalls etwas Staub angesetzt, klingen aber als Novelty-Hits immer noch witzig (der arme Kerry King, der die Gitarrensoli spielen musste, hat es leider gar nicht gefühlt). "Girls" ist so ein Song, bei dem ich mich jedes Mal von Neuem frage, ob der jetzt genial oder total beschissen ist. "Brass Monkey" nimmt viel von dem späteren Miami Bass-Style vorweg, den ich mit Das Bo und Frauenarzt assoziiere. Die Texte sind großteils Quatsch und hier und da vielleicht auch etwas problematisch, aber trotzdem steckt mehr Rap-Skill drin, als man den Beasties oft zustehen möchte. Spätere Alben sind musikalisch sicherlich noch anspruchsvoller und deutlich variabler, aber so einen Hit-Dichte wie hier hatten sie nie wieder. Und wenn man sieht, wie viele Rap-OGs und sonstige Stars des Genres Songs von diesen 3 weißen Dudes als NYC gesamplet haben, dann kann man den Einfluss nicht mehr kleinreden. Aber mit 3 Ausfällen muss ich dann doch zwangsläufig einen Stern abziehen.

Geiles Ding. Ich kann nachvollziehen, warum das für einige ein Meilenstein ist. Es macht auch einfach Spaß. Einen Punkt Abzug dafür, dass sich gefühlt zu viele Lieder in ihrer Struktur zu stark ähneln. Wären das noch mehr, würde das Album für mich stark abfallen.

Coupla tracks are cringeworthy, but there are easily 8 or 9 tracks that hold up still. The musical production and performance quality are great. The rap style and content will thankfully get better in follow up records, but the seed is planted and growing even here.

Friday, 21 August, 2026 A legendary album made by sophomoric fools. This is the soundtrack of my youth.

Потрясающий альбом, который, вероятно, сегодня невозможно было бы создать из-за обилия сэмплов. Классика рэп-кора. Кстати, ощущение от прослушивания: такое чувство, что на меня кричала куча детей в течение 40 минут. И да, теперь весьма понятно, откуда сперли "ХХХИРНР". Отдельный респект за Girls. Заказан СD. Beastie Boys "Licence to ill", 1986, 9/10

I don't know what to rate this thing. There is obviously a lot of good stuff here and then there's some frat rap nonsense that I'm not real fond of. Is Brass Monkey good or has it just been locked in my head for 40 years? This is my least favorite of the early Beastie records. 3.5/5

8/10 Album so good it made me retroactively rethink the last Beastie Boys album

Juvenile. Ridiculous. Rusty. Stupid. This album is a work of art and its significance is profound. I love this album, I love what it stands for it rap and I love how it contrasts the rest of the Beastie Boys catalogue. Hilarious lyricism, really creative beats, just so much fun.

By the Beastie Boys own admission, some of the lyrics here do not age well but there is also a lot of fun youthful energy. 3.5/5

Some iconic tracks but not everything lands for me

Hell yeah.

Somewhat cheesy by today's standards but revolutionary for hiphop

I've listened to this album many, many times. It came out when I was in high school. One of my friends had just gotten a car and his driver's license and I think we listened to this on cassette tape in his car on the way to and from school almost every day for a good chunk of 1986 and 1987. Listening to it today, it's definitely not as good as some of the later Beastie Boys stuff. But this album was groundbreaking. It brought rock and hip hop and rap all together for the first time. It was cheesy, but it was fun. And I still know almost all the words. Great Saturday morning listen for me!

I like my sugar with coffee and cream. This is the cream of the crop of rhe Beastie Boys catalog. I love this album.

KICK IT!

Going through the beginning it feels repetitive, then there is a string of absolute bangers in the middle starting with girls and ending with brass monkey.

Favorite Song: No Sleep Till Brooklyn Least Favorite Song: Paul Revere Enjoyment: 8 Replayability: 6 Cohesion: 6 Flow / Pacing: 7 Artistic Merit: 8 Weighted Score: 7.1

Rocking fun. I love how obnoxious the Beasties sound. Must have really scared some of the squares. The beats slam. The big songs are all-time bangers.

Важный альбом, который ввел хип хоп в мейнстрим. Звучание до сих пор модное

Really fun album with creative beats and infectious hooks. They really invented white boy flow

I’m not a big fan of hip hop, but the Beastie Boys are legendary. Mad respect. Great album.

A stone-cold, straight from my youth classic and, although the lyrics haven’t exactly aged well, here are my top 5 lines from the album: 5. You're a fake wearin' sucker whose gold got rusted, Cheaper than a hot dog with no mustard 4.. Her pants are tight and that’s okay. 3. I got a girl in the castle, one in the pagoda, you know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda. 2. I did it like this, I did like that, I did it with a wiffle ball bat. 1. Girls with boyfriends are the kind I like, I’ll steal your honey like I stole your bike.

Classic. Grew up listening to these songs on the local alternative radio station and bought this on CD at a yard sale. Great album.

Haven’t listened to this in ages. Still an awesome album.

REALLY COOL ALBUM acid rock mixed with hip hop really cool sound gotta love the beastie boys however they are kinda sus on some tracks so idk.

4/5 if it wasn’t for the bangers prolly wldnt b a 4

Fun album. Definitely the sound and lyrics get a bit repetitive but I like the energy

It sounds like a group of yankees grabbed the microphone at a houseparty... and it's brilliant. Some people say it aged badly, I disagree. I think it's hiarious and it's meant to be. I would describe it as THE ultimate hip hop party album. The choice of samples is a lot more thoughtful than at first listen. In terms of highlights, there are many but Rhymin' & Stealin', Fight for your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Brass Monkey.

01) Rhymin & Stealin - 7,5 02) The New Style - 7,5 03) She's Crafty - 7,5 04) Posse in Effect - 7,0 05) Slow Ride - 7,5 06) Girls - 7,5 07) Fight for Your Right - 10,0 08) No Sleep till Brooklyn - 9,0 09) Paul Revere - 8,0 10) Hold It Now, Hit It - 7,0 11) Brass Monkey - 7,5 12) Slow and Low - 7,5 13) Time to Get Ill - 7,0 TOTAL: 7,73 (77/100) Current ranking: 334/970

Like. Classic

These are some of the only white guys besides Eminem who can do Hip-Hop justice. The ability to give reverence to a genre while not being of that culture is tough, while also making songs that can be very humorous. They strike the balance perfectly. They really fit into a style I call scumbag music. After 40 minutes, it has started to all sound somewhat similar though.

Highlights: Rhymin & Stealin, The New Style, She's Crafty, Slow Ride, Girls, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Hold It Now Hit It, Brass Monkey, Slow and Low White people classic. I love it for the same reasons I liked Run-DMC's Raising Hell. They are very similar, but the Beasties have this "jock" vibe to them. However somehow they don't come of as too cringe or too dumb. The record was a fun listen and I love it, but I don't value it as much as some of their later ones.

77/100. Licensed to Ill is the debut album by the Beastie Boys, an iconic record that helped pioneer the fusion of rap and rock. It features some major classics and undeniably left a lasting impact on music. However, for me, this album was more enjoyable in my youth, and over time, it feels a bit less impactful. Still, it remains a fun and influential record that helped shape the genre.

It’s too immature and raucous for 9am so I wasn’t in the mood but the hits are undeniable

I think Beastie Boys did a great job with this album, straight up. They definitely did well at catching all the provocativeness and rebelliousness and snotty attitudes. I think it's still really well done even though it was just a product of it's time. This is a good example of the mid-school hip-hop music, it has thumping beats that just completely you rock you. Also around this time sampling was getting quite popular in hip-hop. Like a quick usage of the Clash's "I Fought the Law" in "Rhymin & Stealin." That song's main sample is the drums from Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" which is why itbeat sounded so familiar when I was listening to their fourth album. I also heard quite a few things in "Hold It Now, Hit It" that N.W.A. sampled on Straight Outta Compton, like M.C.A.'s line "Beer drinkin', breath stinkin', sniffin' glue" (okay actually Eazy-E's solo stuff, not N.W.A. - close enough.) Though I do understand why the Beastie Boys had a dislike for the album eventually and if they did play any songs off it live, they'd usually play with altered lyrics. It is fairly misogynistic, and the original album title was within character of the albums themes albeit very homophobic. This is my second listening to this. I think Beastie Boy's albums are very rewarding with re-listens they just have so many great lines littered throughout. Even though the lines they're cheesy as all hell, but that's part of the reason of why it's so good, because it's on the nose. I enjoyed this a lot more than my first listen, I definitely have to re-listen to Paul's Boutique (which is an album I got near the start of my listening journey.) I definitely recommend this. To like this album I think one has to embrace that It's cheesy, only then can a person be free to like the album and to not whatsoever take it seriously. p.s. "Paul Revere" is up there with being one of my favourite hip-hop songs. Highlight "Rhymin & Stealin", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Paul Revere"

Oh...so thats where N.W.A took from

I love it, so much fun

i love the beastie boys!!! don't uh. don't listen to the lyrics too closely.

First real Introduction to the group, a good beat and background. It flowed well, I don’t really like the grunge of the music, a bit abrasive but overall, good album for those who like it.

kinda crazy knowing this came out 40 years ago and its still so unique and hype. pretty revolutionary. so many led zeppelin homages in it too!

It's a really fun album, but I don't think it has held up quite as well as some of their later albums did. Of course, this is kind of them sorting out who they were going to be. It's juvenile, a lot of the songs do kind of sound the same, but they are having a blast. It's best when they break out the guitars (Fight for Your Right, No Sleep 'TIl Brooklyn).

Rollicking, rapping romp! The juvenile bravado comes across a little cringey now, but the comic delivery and pinpoint interplay rivals Run-DMC, with three voices rather than two. The Led Zeppelin samples in Rhymin & Stealin (When the Levee Breaks) and She's Crafty (The Ocean) are nice.

Some absolute bangers but also a few id be skipping pasty on the next listen

This might be the first time I listened to this one straight thru. Obvs heard some of these tunes many, many, countless many times. To their detriment! Good number of them others tho, never get old. Great album

Made me want to go out and vandalise a VW for it's badge!! Feels like a parody album! The samples are great. Humerous, puerile lyrics, which by all accounts, are meant to lampoon frat boys. All in all, good fun!!

No beating around the bush - every Beastie Boys albums is the same, so you only need to hear one auch is their repetitive nature. Indeed, you only need to hear 3-4 songs from this and you'll have consumed to entirety of what the band has to offer. Pick the best 3-4 songs and you'll have fun.

go white boys go

Speaking of fellas who changed the game. Rules but I cannot listen to an entire Beasties album, the yelling (especially Mike D) gets very grating. Dated sure, but they grew with the times.

This is my second album by the Beastie Boys. I think I enjoyed this one more than "Paul's Boutique", which was already good. Very good album (though I'm definitely not a hip-hop expert). Songs I enjoyed: "Rhymin & Stealin", "The New Style", "She's Crafty", "Fight for your right" (together with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" my favourites), or "Paul Revere". This is between 4 and 5 stars for me.

They packed the album full of hits; made me want to meet that funky monkey.

This was really good

Michael Scott qui rap avec Dwight, mais avec plus de flow, ça s’écoute très très bien cependant, ça met la pêche mais un peu trop situationel à mon goût

Even after 40 years this album still slaps. Rubins production across the whole album is phenomenal. I've always loved the guitar work on Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Til Brooklyn but I only learnt today that its Kerry King on the guitars. Crazy. Overall and absolute classic and one I'll keep coming back too. 4.25* rounded down to 4*

It’s a little silly a juvenile and they get so much better with every subsequent release, but I love this album. It’s a ton of fun.

(Light 8/10) Highly influential and important piece of hip hop history. Not my favorite from them but it's got plenty of bops.

Hmm dr-ooopppp

Fantastic, beasties never did a bad thing

C'est sympa en vrai

good but got a bit samey

Surprised how much of this I knew. Some great stuff.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIll

Very up my style, might listen to it again during the next couple of weeks and definitely want to give their other albums a try!

Sick album

I think the Beastie Boys are a guilty pleasure of mine. Fight for Your Right was a top 10 song for me in high school. So singular in sound, I didn't need to see the album or artist to know this was the Beastie Boys. Hit after iconic hit on this album. So radical, I wish I was a teen in the 80s when this was released. Does this hold up to hip hop now? Not totally, but it's fun lyrics, rhythmic rhymes, and simple straightforward beats. What's not to love?

Slick lyrics and good instrumentals Alot of songs of today sampled these songs I ain't know

This is a great example of early hip-hop, when sampling started. It’s childish (adolescent-y?) but very good

"NO, SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN" Iconic

Good memories

Overall probably my least favorite Beastie Boys album. Can’t stand Foght for your right. So cringy.

Cool. Sounds like Odelay.

Больше нравится Ill Communication. Но и этот неплох.

So inventive and interesting. But don’t need to listen that often but wild to do a deep dive once

I LOVE it this is what a bunch of rats would sound like if they could make an album

A really good debut from the Beastie Boys. Doesn’t hold up as well as Paul’s Boutique but still a solid album.

A lot of fun

Þrusugóð!

Hugsaði í byrjun: "ahh, er ég að fara að gefa Beastie Boys bara þrjár stjörnur?" En svo þegar Girls byrjaði þá kom banger eftir banger. Ekki alveg fimm stjörnu plata samt.

Fun, fun, fun. These boys had a great run, sad the way it ended. Have this on vinyl - haven't listened to it in a long time and streamed this, but glad for the re-listen. Some of their subsequent releases are more imaginative than this, so not quite a 5-star rating, but glad it's here.

Good old fashioned, classic American fun. Not always my go-to genre, but so many of these were super nostalgiac and I was in the proper mood for it today.

Although I recognize the influence and the whole aura surrounding this album - and I love the Beastie Boys’ later work! - I don’t think this album has aged very well! Or maybe it’s just me who’s definitely getting older. A 4 for the genius, caustic humor, and influence of the time, but today, listening to it brought back memories - not all of them good. My favorite track was never “Fight for Your Right (To Party)”; I prefer “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” Special mention also goes to “Paul Revere.” And that’s it. Next ;-)

Love the energy

I already covered the other two Beastie Boys records officially in the books, so going back to Licensed to Ill, it really feels like their first full-length hip hop effort after pivoting from hardcore punk. The best way to view Licensed to Ill is as a frat party record. Three dudes from New York City goofing around as they rhymed over beats and guitars, live and sampled; it's as simple as that. Sure, the beats and sampling on this record aren't as creative or imaginative as they would be on later records, and some of the lyrics haven't aged well, particularly the joke lines on "Girls". But I can't deny that the vocal chemistry between Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock was defined well here, and that some genuinely fun tracks on here still hold up like "She's Crafty", "Paul Revere", "Hold It Now, Hold It", "Brass Monkey", and especially "No Sleep till Brooklyn" with that cool guitar solo from Slayer's Kerry King. Overall, I consider Licensed to Ill to be a solid debut. The Beastie Boys would continue to grow and develop their sound, but at least this record showcased their potential.

I understand why some don't like it, but I do. This is FUN. Sampling low rider, Zeppelin, Sabbath, and so much more in 1986 is sick. This is a debut in the adolescence of Hip Hop that is perfect. Girls keeps it from being a 5

3.5 favs: she's crafty, girls, fight for your right

250526 20:55 3.5

Real old school.. leans a little too far towards novelty to five for me but still good

I had such a blast

So fun

The Beastie Boys have some serious angsty teenage white boy energy, but hey I was one of those once. I definitely recognized more songs on here than I'd like to admit. "Girls" is one of those I haven't heard in ages. I remember being in the car with my childhood best friend on our way to a dual-family weekend trip to the beach when "Brass Monkey" came on and we lost our shit we thought it was so funny. God, does this mean I'm compelled to admit I liked the album and it deserves a good rating???

even though Im not into rap, the rap rock genre is amazing! I love the flow of it, the heavy hiphop beats and just the overall energy. the rock is more of an acdc type. not all of the songs are raprock, though. the most notable are rhythimn'n'stealin, fight for your right and no sleep till brooklyn

Lots of good memories about this one. A very good album.

Exceedingly stupid from start to finish. The relentless idiocy about guns, girls and booze but coming across like wannabe braggarts is so deliberately stupid that I wonder about how scandalous it was all viewed as back then. Maybe the live shows tipped it over into becoming what they were laughing at. Also love the slight obsession with Mr Ed.

Surprisingly great crunchy guitars!

Way ahead of its time in terms of sampling and attitude. Knew a lot of the songs off this record independently for better or for worse but never realized they were all crammed onto one album. Front to back is a great listen but any more beastie boys in one sitting would be too much I think.

nothing about this album is objectively good - i love it

Sorry to the haters, I love this album. My brother and I tortured my mother with it. We made her play it when she drove us to school. She really, really hated it the way I hated Bob Dylan. So it was used as leverage. The girl is crafty. 4 Boolean: yes yes y’all

This album is so fucking funny man

I never really cared much about the beastie boys until I saw a video of them doing whatever the hell they were doing on American Bandstand and that really endeared them to me. I can respect opening your debut album with a pirate themed rap. Just don't ask these guys what rhymes with "page". I didn't like the percussion in Posse in Effect, but I think it might’ve been an issue with my headphones. I like how they foreshadow Brass Monkey in at least 2 songs. I just can't hate juvenile frat boy rap/rock no matter how stupid it is.