Licensed To Ill

Juvenile.

Fight for Your Right is…ok. Never got the point of this band but they’re…ok.

Some bangers, mostly dated. Still a piece of history.

Rubbish

Too much of the frat boy vocals with not enough behind them. There's some good guitar work here and obviously Fight for Your Right is a banger, but I don't know, everything blends together on this one and frankly a lot of the vocal work is obnoxious.

I feel like I should like this album more that I do. Rap rock just doesnt do it for me. Too many guitar stabs and yelling.

I did NOT know the Beastie Boys were a hip hop band... I'm pleasantly surprised. I can't believe this was their first album. Fantastic beats, great energy, good vocals (though nothing too skilled per se, more so just very catchy). They bridged the gap between rock and hip hop so well. This one will definitely be making it on to my daily rotation.

I love percussion that sounds like someone's kicking down my door for 40 minutes. If I could have a fraction this album's energy in my day-to-day, then nothing could best me. The Beastie Boys' variety here is limited, but they do what they do best, and I can't argue with that - nor would I want to. Happy to have been introduced to Licensed To Ill.

Pas pour moi

Too underground, but still there are two songs that made it to my list of preffered songs. I like the simplicity of the bases. I like how the mixed the hip-hop together with rock samples.

Interesting to me that their later big hits had so many callbacks from this album.

Töntiga texter, men bra drag ändå!

- super high energy - funky beats - spannende Instrumentalisierung - muss man aber auch im mood für sein:D

Fun hip hop album but not for me anymore.

Very basic and the bars aren’t nearly as mic-droppingly awesome as their later works, but there’s no denying the influence this album had on hip hop. Whether it’s the rock-influence, the white boy new stylee, or the use of sampling, Licensed to Ill really was a game changer. 4/5

Not really my cup of tea but it's funny hearing all of the samples used in other songs

Well, well, well, if it isn’t Run-DMC’s young white avatars. This is half a Rick Rubin album and half a Weird Al parody of 80’s rap. This shouldn’t have been anything more than a novelty album but this is the world we live in I guess. I kind of hate that I like this but I can’t really help it. This is too fun not to like.

I was 14 when this album was released which is the optimal age for optimal enjoyment. This album was played what seemed like years, cars, house parties etc. Compared to the more complex "Paul's Boutique", these samples are straightforward, but the mashup of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" with Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" was done so well and with taste as not offend the original artists, unlike say Ice Ice baby. My 14 year old self gives a 5.

While a Beastie’s fan for literally every other record, I had to earnestly try to listen to this one with an open mind. I absolutely hated the douchy 80’s frat boy bro culture that co-opted this record and adopted Fight for Your Right as their anthem. I’ll give the Beasties credit for brilliant leading edge music and genius samples but I’m figuring Rubin is just as much the star of the show here. Upon revisiting this record with an open mind I find I still hate it. Bumping from 1 star to 2 only based on the music/samples.

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.

I am just not a fan of the Beastie Boys. This is the best of their albums for me, even if it is juvenile. But like the rest of their albums, after I get past the singles, I'm just not a huge fan of what's there. That said, there's enough singles on here to get a one star bump from my other Beastie album ratings.

Some really great hits on this one, though not everything ages that well. Looking forward to more Beasties showing up on here.

I tried twice but this was very grating

Respect for their boldness

Some great tunes on here, and some that are dated/unfortunate. Definitely some songs that I have and will continue to return to. One I didn’t get into in the past but I enjoyed this time was Slow Ride. It’s still a 3 because I don’t see myself going back to it and listening in full, but there are plenty of songs that were already in the rotation and now one more. So it’s a strong 3, close to a 4 but there’s a few stinkers on here that keep it in the 3 range.

Old school classic. Every song is nostalgic, as my brother had this cassette. Listening to it now, it seems dated, both musically and lyrically. They definitely got better with time, but this pushed the style to a wider audience, no doubt. This album holds a special place in the history of rap. My favorite song on here is No Sleep Till Brooklyn (or Brass Monkey, many memories to that one.) 3 stars on this. It isn't their best work.

License to Ill introduced the world to The Beastie Boys, while The Beastie Boys introduced rap to many of the rock kids and helped bring rap to a larger audience. Though primarily rap, you can hear metal and punk influences as well. A hedonistic favorite of drunken frat boys, License To Ill should not be defined by its wider audience. Def Jam helped add form and structure to rap, adding choruses, storylines, and instrumental breaks in a form that often was just a flow over a beat, à la Rapper's Paradise. Themes such as on "Girls" are dated and more narrow-minded than today's standards; even the Beastie Boys grew away from it. I convinced my dad to buy this album for me; not knowing anything about it, I believe it appealed to this Air Force veteran simply because it had a plane on the cover, even though the phrase EAT ME was hidden in reverse on the tail. I thought my album skipped jumping into "Hold It Now, Hit It", and I ruined the transition by trying to force the record to find the groove between songs, thereby creating a new one and fuzzing out the song for a full second. Years later when the CD came out, I found out that the tracklist is supposed to skip to "Hold It Now, Hit It" like that. I ruined a perfectly good LP. Oh well. Knowing many verses off this album was a secret handshake that paid dividends long after its release. Friends would pick one lonely Beastie to be, and we'd rap our parts in class, at recess, at bars, with roommates. Always seemed to be "Paul Revere" or "Posse In Effect." Got to shout out to the opening beat of "Rhymin & Stealin" going hard while they rapped from the viewpoint of modern pirates. The whole album is a fun party.

One of my earlier core memories is being in Kindergarten, 1986-7, and a kid talking about the Beastie Boys and how their brother liked them, and me being confused and saying, "Do you mean the Beach Boys?" I was the oldest kid in my family, so I didn't have that boost that y'all kids with older siblings got. This album takes us back to the '80s, a time of porno mags, Spanish Fly and...Abe Vigoda? The Beastie Boys were in their early twenties when this came out, but all the themes and lyrics are very adolescent. You can hear the pimples. All the juvenile braggadociousness, talking about, "I had a gun 🫢😏" and listing all the people they shot...like, sit all the way down, your goofy ass could never! Or basically singing about wanting a girl to be their bangmaid in "Girls." But I won't front like I didn't enjoy this foolishness. I was (?) also immature, so nothing seemed amiss! I didn't need to dissect it, just let it entertain me. This is when rap (and society?) didn't take itself so seriously, for better or for worse. Yet the production was still on point and helped push things sonically in a good direction. I had a lot of fun listening to it today. 4.5

The early days of hip hop and an iconic album. I can't imagine that this stuff was easy to create with the limited technology at the time. You can just hear the Brooklyn on these tracks and the idea of trying to come up with creative, fun lyrics and sounds just for the hell of it and not necessarily for a paycheck or fame. This is when hip hop was fun. It blows my mind that it's possible that youngsters these days may not even recognize this album as being hop hop.

I'm seriously conflicted on this one. Beasties put a lot of distance between this album and who they are today. It's always "uhh, we didn't even write that song, Paul Revere..." or "I'm sorry, Don't Be a Faggot" was my idea for album title. But you gotta give them some credit for changing and that MCA quote ... "I'd rather be a hypocrite than the same person forever." The thing is this album is really fun, it's really good, the lyrics are something you'd expect some douchey high school kids who were on top of the world to say andn laugh about it. I HATE that attitude. I HATE that shit, but this album is so fun... except that Party song. https://katefustich.medium.com/the-beastie-boys-feminist-evolution-34d371071663

Better than “Paul’s Boutique,” slightly less issues with immaturity even though this was earlier. “Fight for Your Right” and “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” are classic and hold up, “Girls” and “Brass Monkey” are classic and cringey, “She’s Crafty” is somewhere in between. Not bad for the young boys, but I will again lament that what they deserve the most credit for is “To the 5 Boroughs,” and it is always overlooked.

The nostalgia is strong with this one. While I wasn't a huge BB fan back in the day, it was surprising to me how quickly the songs came back to me on this listening. Very catchy beats & rhymes. Some (too many?) questionable lyrics. A 3 if I heard it for the first time today, but it's getting an extra star for yesteryear.

Innovative silliness abound. The mix of rock music and hip hop was, and still holds up as, groundbreaking. It’s hard to take their youthful boasting serious though.

Classic. Beastie Boys have that screamy rap nature that worked on whiteboys all over this 80s/90s. I think it's decent, not exactly something I would love to listen to again.

Beastie Boys always slap

It actually took a modern interpretation of the beastie boys (joey valence and brae) for me to more deeply appreciate what the beastie boys do. Humor dates easily though, and I think a lot of it is just too far gone. 3.5/5

So good. Hit machine

4 out of 5. While not one of my favorite genres this one is possibly my favorite album in it.

There's some classics here but they're all corny to various degrees and just overall annoying. I hate the vocal style, annoying record.

Omg! Get fuckin real!! You gotta fight!you gotta be ill in’1

Amazing album that probably couldn't be made today with all the samples. Especially love the reversed 808 beats on Paul Revere.

I love the rythm and the instrumens used in this album, the vibes it transmits to me are simple so cool

This album is American in the worst possible way. The lyrics prove that Beastie Boys knew their main listenership was 14 year old boys with undiagnosed ADHD. I can imagine the first impractical joker to get a car rang the other impractical jokers to ask if they wanted to blast this album while driving round the block. This shaved at least 1 day off my life expectancy. …. I decided to google them to see what they looked like. Don’t do that please, it’s not worth it. Standout track: - Fight For Your Right (barely tolerable)

WHAT THE HEEEELLLL LE GÉNÉRATEUR M’ESPIONNE, WHAAAA Ok faque je checkais dans la collection de CD de mon père pis j’suis tombé sur un album sans pochette, donc je check le titre (vous voyez où ça s’en vas) PIS C’EST FUCKING LICENSED TO ILL!!!! C’EST QUOI LES ODDS?!!! GENRE 1 SUR 400 C’EST UN INTERVENTION DIVIN!!! Sinon, l’album est cool

3.5/5. Good, enjoyed this. Have to say I prefer Ill Communication, though.

One of the great hip hop albums

So fun - Reminscent of a lot of long drives. Good to hear the album in its entirety.

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

This is fun. Wondering about the health of their vocal chords either all that yelling though….

Modern classic, rapcore staple, amazing debut

didn’t really like it tbh , not my style and i felt they were just shouting and i didn’t resonate with the lyrics

Utter shite. Can't even be arsed to listen after the first 30 seconds

Funny, innovative, tasteful, timely and tasteless

Some more Beastie Boys. This album was packed with songs I had known prior but never knew they were from the BB. Songs like Brass Monkey I enjoyed before, but never put two and two together. Very pleasant and fun experience. Standouts: Rhymin & Stealin, She’s Crafty, Girls, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Brass Monkey.

Pretty beasty.

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!

KICK IT!!

A quite fun and lively genre of metal rock. Gives you a lot of energy when listening on a quiet winter day

I can only handle them in small doses. I think I’d like them more if they didn’t “yell” all the time.

This is just not my kind of music.

Macho swearing, misogyny, loud beats. Still fun.

The best possible use for Led Zeppelin’s music.

I didn't like it, but it was mostly inoffensive to me. The samples are neat, and I guess the energy is fun. I like "Girls" the best; the others kind of sounded the same to me. 2.5 stars.

The title “Licensed to Ill” still confuses me. It has always looked like Licensed to Three to my eyes, but this is their debut, so obviously that’s not the case. In my opinion, Paul’s Boutique is one of the highest highs of hip-hop’s early days. It showed a group who is better known for their energy showing off just how creative they could really be. Whether you like it or not, they are quite important when it comes to the history of the genre. And I think a lot of this has to do with their connection to Def Jam and Rick Rubin. This record was huge for Def Jam and Columbia, and was also conveniently the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard 200 chart. Ironic that it would be a bunch of white guys to do it first. This record definitely works as a debut. Because it shows off all of the rock and punk influenced aggression that these guys were going for from the beginning. And it relies much more heavily on that energy that I previously mentioned. Without it, I don’t how good this would be. The production on this isn’t nearly as impressive or consistent. This is mostly because sampling was still a very new thing, and this was released even before It Takes a Nation of Millions, where sampling rock was really legitimized. Conveniently that was another big Def Jam record produced by Rick Rubin. And I’m kind of glad this was the only album the Beasties Boys did with him. Because it’s clear he was holding their creativity back. The sampling and production is horrible though. I mean, starting with When the Levee Breaks is a statement for sure. Led Zeppelin were notoriously stubborn, and the only other person I know who got away with interpolating their music was Beyoncé. Girls is probably the best song I can use to describe why I don’t like this nearly as much. It’s charming and mildly funny, but juvenile and crass. And much of this album falls in line with those tropes. The best songs are without a doubt Fight for Your Right and No Sleep till Brooklyn. They are the most concrete fusions of rock and hip-hop to be found on this. This is a fun album from a solid and influential group. But I don’t think it does them very much justice, and it’s not the way I would want someone to be introduced to their music. Rating: 6/10

Some fun stuff, ultimately a bit shouty and juvenile

This album transports you to the 80's since the music has that 80's sound. For some reason I got Beastie Boys and Beach Boys messed up, clearly I'm not from that era. The album is a good hip-hop album but overall it felt like all of the songs were the same but at the same time it was their debut album so it makes sense. My favorite tracks were Girls and Slow Ride.

Men fighting for attention and degrading women. Good sound, awful lyrics. Lotta White Castle!

Love the energy, don't hate the Beastie Boys, but not quite my cup of tea. Hasn't aged super well to my ears. Some recognizable bangers on here though.

Ive had other beastie boys. 2 or 3? It's not my favorite listen, but it is different from my usual routine.

brass funky monkey

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

Fun!

Not as terrible as III Communication and Paul's Boutique. I wonder why anyone should listen to 3 albums of Beastie Boys before he/she dies. I don't get it.

Not great. Made the car journey feel longer. Hamilton reference?

Definitivamente un álbum muy divertido, pero manchado por temáticas en las letras que dan asco en muchas canciones. No sé si es genial o simplemente un robo de blancos al hip hop de los 80. Un sólido 3.

100% not for me

there's always something to be said when a white artist or group releases music in a traditionally black genre/style and the white artist is who finally brings that genre into mainstream media and acclaim. i saw a quote on their wikipedia that called the Beastie Boys "the Elvis of hip-hop" and from this listen, i think that's an accurate assessment, although not necessarily a bad thing in itself. it's clear from the way the album is produced and the intelligent sampling that they know what they were doing and were knowledgeable of black hip-hop artists that they were obviously influenced by, along with their own previous experience with punk and rock. could we call combining hip-hop aesthetics with punk and rock a sanitization of black hip-hop in the same way many are critical of early white rock n roll artists? i'm not sure, especially because rock is itself a traditionally black genre, even if it has been taken over in the wider cultural imagination by white men. in my mind, this kind of sound is more of a subset of the larger hip-hop genre as a whole, but i think i need to do more research into the Beastie Boys and refresh my memory on classic hip-hop before i make any definitive conclusions. not something i'd listen to in my own time probably, but interesting nonetheless!

The album grew on me as I went on. It initally felt a bit comical but after doing some research that was the roots of the Beastie Boys so that makes sense. Wasn't really for me this one tbh but I didn't think it was terrible.

Ummmmmm

Those white boys can rap!! 8/10

State of the art 1986 white boy hip hop - puerile, whiny, deliberately offensive, fully committed to the bit

If this album was released 10 years later, I would give it a 3. But because it was released in 86 and how it set the stage for hip-hop music going forward I have to give this a 4.

Ich mein die Songs klingen irgendwie alle gleich, aber der Style ist so einzigartig das ich das hier voll okay finde. Texte haben Humor und der Flow ist super, 4 Sterne

Auch, wenn unpopular opinion, ich finde die haben zwar interessante Stimmen, aber der Flow und alle zusammen, klingt einfach wie gröhlen auf ner Party. Einige Lieder sind cool, aber ich finds einfach häufig nicht schön und anstrengend zu hören. Songs der Playlist hinzugefügt: Keine

+++ girls, paul revere --- she’s crafty, slow ride one of my moms favorite albums at all time, and i love it just the same. girls sticks out the most to me, it was my FAVORITE as a kid, and as an adult its such an immense guilty pleasure. the whole album conjures memories from childhood for me, from walking to school listening to the whole album on my ipod shuffle, to making bag ice cream with my classmates screaming brass monkey, to my mom rapping the whole of paul revere on my eighth grade trip. even my least favs are absolutely fantastic. one of the best albums of all time imo. MMMM DROP.

Surely it is fun but also aged. Besides, some songs are a bit boring honestmy

Whitest rapping I’ve heard, not too bad mixing in some rock influences but probably wouldn’t listen again.

I like the Beastie Boys generally, but this isn’t my favourite album of theirs. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Licenced To Ill’ is a lot of fun, and there are some good moments here, but I just find their later albums more engaging.

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

Jag vaknade upp denna morgon och satte på dagens album som nu har blivit en vana jag blev mött Beastie Boys "Licensed To Ill" vilket tog mig ur sängen hastigt. Och det var främst för energin detta album avger, mitt morgon-jag och jag nu fortfarande vill hata det men det går bara inte. Detta album verkar inte ha något som förespråkar för den, jobbiga röst, sexistiskt, fratkultur och i många delar, amatöriskt. Mycket av detta är nog bara massor av lager ironi, men här var de inte långt över tjugo så det kan vara omogenhet. Dock jag gillar fortfarande detta album, och det är för hur man hör hur mycket dessa grabbar älskar musik, jag hör referenser och samples från musik jag älskar och man känner hur roligt de verkar ha det. Också man måste ge dem att det är otroligt många hits på detta album, mest för festande, och det har jag använt de till. Ett roligt album helt enkelt.

Not great

Iconic stuff but with todays ears I find the production tiring

LP

Was looking forward to this. This is good, but not as good as Paul's Boutique, in my opinion. Still very good.

Them white boys crushed that 80s rap

They had a pocket, that's for sure. Iconic from so many angles. Super fun snapshot of NY in this era. Not my thing, but no matter what I could say about this album there's an underlying jealousy, I wish this was a Beastie Boy. 3.5

I respect that they were hugely successful and influential, but they never did anything for me.

I feel like the Beastie Boys made this as a satire but people actually liked it and then they were sort of stuck. As satire, this is brilliant. As music I would want to listen to, maybe not so brilliant. The funny thing to me is that you can see a lot of artists that used this album as an inspiration for their own work not knowing that this was pretty much poking fun at the genre. Shaping the genre with a mostly-satirical album is actually pretty funny in itself. Maybe they recorded this with a 'if you think it's satire then that's what it is but if you actually like it then we're serious' kind of mentality. I think that's actually pretty likely. I like this better than Paul's Boutique but not as much as Ill Communication so that puts it squarely at 3/5

Quite familiar with the big hits from this album. And can rememboer this album when it first came out and also the ill fated concert in Liverpool 1987. I can recall being updated later that evening by an endless stream of eye witness accounts of dimishing incredulity. Must admit not a big fan of this shouty rap music but by all accounts they did not take themselves too seriously, unfortunately not recipricoted by Liverpool audience in '87! Have always found that the unintended consequence of the type of music was it bring mimicked by TV frat boys on US campuses. Although, as always, there are some out there who really like this type of thing and I can't knock 'em. Resplendent in their turned back base ball cap and pent up middle class, white boy, suburban angst...their fans that is. Produced by Rick Rubin and decent samples of Led Zep and Sabbath makes it 3 stars from me

It's the New Style (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) No Sleep Till Brooklyn Paul Revere Hold It Now, Hit It Brass Monkey

They have better albums but this was nice too

3 white guys yelling into the mic to make a blend of hip hop/rock music is a recipe for disaster. But nope, this album fuckin slaps.

Much preferred to Paul's Boutique. No sleep 'til Brooklyn!

The beats are pretty simple, add a kick and symbol and throw a guitar riff over it. The first half doesn't hold up to me but the second half redeems the album. Overall a fun album with some good singles. Repeats: fight for your right, no sleep till Brooklyn Skips: the new style, hold it now hit it

Ενα αλμπουμ με ωραια παραγωγη αλλα καπως κριντζ / κουραστικα βοκαλς!? Δεν μπορω να φανταστω καποιον φαν του αλμπουμ περα απο οσους νοσταλγουν επειδη οταν βγηκε ηταν εφηβοι ή αυτους οι οποιοι ειναι ασχετοι απο χιπ χοπ. Οκ 2 3 κομματια ξεχωρισαν οπως πχ το sample του Carousel ή τα 2 μεγαλυτερα hits του αλμπουμ αλλα σιγουρα δεν μου προσφερει κατι αλλο. Rating: B-

They sure do talk about shooting people a lot. Despite them…definitely never shooting anyone. Hey why wasn’t there outrage about this and instead only when gangster rappers did it. You’re allowed to say this has aged really badly folks. The Boys get better with age. This is so obnoxious in a way that absolutely would have hooked the kids. This is the 80s Limp Bizkit and most of you are too scared to admit that. Also it’s been a while, time to break out the “This classic artist just admitted to being a pedophile” penalty! I get it’s PROBABLY (hopefully) meant to call out Jimmy Page. But like. That’s the grounds for comparison. He doesn’t say I’m like Jimmy Page EXCEPT I like girls of age, no no, he says that’s a point of comparison. You lose a star. Hey look you can compare that to Kid Rock! It’s almost like it’s THE SAME THING YOU'RE ALL SO DUMB. Fuck you 1 star. No Sleep is good all the rest sucks. I gave Ill Communication 4 stars, this is fucking embarrassing. It sounds like shit.

Such a fun album, turn the treble down; it seems like it was made for cassette tapes

This album is a lot of fun to listen to, and some of the tracks definitely had me rocking out. I'm not going to add it to my Tidal library, but I would happily listen to it again... Therefore, four stars.

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.

Too out there and juvenile, but I guess it was a good shtick at the time, thus 2 stars.

• 4/5 • Hardly high art, but fun throughout

This will be my second Beastie Boys album to review, after Ill Communication, which I rated three stars. I think I might have listened to this album at some point, as it's in my Spotify library, but I can't be sure about that. However, it's definitely the Beastie Boys album with the most songs that I'm familiar with. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about this album as a whole, but it looks like it's time to fight for my right to party on this Friday! I thought this album was really good. It definitely has a different sound and feel to it than Ill Communication, and frankly this album is a lot more fun. This album has a very stripped down, 'do-it-yourself' feel to it, and I think it works really well. The fact that all three of the guys rap over the course of the songs is really unique, but that structure tends to grate on me after a while, as if the songs are completely boxed in by the pace of this three-tiered attack at the lyrics. But when it's not grating, it's excellent, like on "Fight For Your Right," which is easily the best song on the album. "Fight For Your Right" is an absolute blast, with the instantly recognizable "yeah!" that belts out before the equally instantly recognizable guitar kicks in. This song captures that feeling of being a teenager in pre-9/11 America so well, capturing the feelings of teenage life from the mid-eighties to the late nineties. I really like "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" too. The guitar playing and drums are great, and they compliment the rapping really well. As far as the more stripped down songs go, "Paul Revere" would have to be my favorite. The rapping, while juvenile, is really fun and goofy, and the line "I did it like this, I did it like that, I did it with a wiffle ball bat" will live in my head until the day I die. As far as the other well known songs on this album go, "Brass Monkey" is good, but "Girls" certainly didn't age well, but kudos to the guys for addressing the songs in their early catalog that had some pretty misogynistic lyrics. As for the rest of the album, I like the sample usage throughout the album, especially on "Slow Ride" and "Time To Get Ill." My biggest critique of this album is that it tends to be held back by its own structure of having all three guys rap interchangeably, and some of the more stripped down songs feel a little less inspired than some of the more energetic tracks. Still, this album is massively influential and huge part of music history, and while it's not my favorite thing to listen to, it certainly earns a place on this list.

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?)

While having basically all of the Boys' biggest hits, I do have to admit that a good number of the other tracks do feel a bit too similar with their beats most likely being the culprit. But it's still a decent listen, nonetheless, so it's getting 3.5 bumped up to 4.

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.

Easily my favourite Beastie Boys

I'm not a huge fan, but for what it was it was fine.

nem mondom hogy minden nap ezt fogom hallgatni mostantol, de ez kiváló volt!

The album cover of the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill is a striking image that perfectly encapsulates the band's rebellious spirit. Featuring a Boeing 727 with the tail number '3MTA3'—which reads "EATME" in reverse—the design cleverly plays with themes of excess and humor. The starkness of the cover, dominated by the aircraft against a simple background, reflects a raw energy that aligns with their music. However, while it is iconic and memorable, it lacks the intricate detail and artistic depth that some other album covers possess. Overall, it’s a solid representation of the band’s ethos, earning a four-star rating for its creativity and cultural impact. Album artworks rated: 3/1001 Music's alright, too.

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

Really not my thing

hier kan ik echt he le maal niks mee

Nije mi dobro ko kasniji ali je i dalje antologija.

a work of absolute genius

A great starter album but just doesn’t hold up to some of their other albums.

This was pretty hard work to listen to. It was mostly just junky noise. It did get slightly (and I mean slightly) better towards the end of the album. Best tracks: Fight for your right Awful bin-worthy tracks: The rest of them

Lightning in a bottle - RATM meets Wu Tang Clan. This experience can't be faked

Iconic for a reason.

Dla mnie 4/5. Klimat lat 80', rap na mocnych gitarowych brzmieniach, kilka piosenek wartych zapisania, reszta przyzwoita.

Nice one. Hip hop with heavy rock samples..

Classic

Not my kind of music. Some of the lyrics were funny though!

Exceptional album

Sounded like a bunch of nerds rapping in their garage, I don't mean that in a bad way though

I can't say I'm a huge BB fan. Their flow feels rough and harsh. There were a couple bangers on her like Fight for Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. But other then that. I wasn't impressed

General impression: half charming, half annoying Detailed review: Honestly, I think my general impression sums it up. I’m looking forward to another Beastie Boys album or two because overall I do find them appealing, but damn are half of their songs just obnoxious. Deeper thoughts (context): no deeper than the music Score: 3 Number of albums left to review: 939 Number of albums from the list I’d consider “must-listens”: 36 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 26 (including this one)

License to Ill is such a fun album. Front to back just a joy.

7/10 still meshing sounds but the next album is where that will be most successful

well these beastie BOYYYYZZZZ show more dynamic RANGE on their first AL-BUM isn't that STRANGE I still don't ENJOY IT the way that they YELL so another TWO STARS and I'll see you in HELL music: hated. (⌐■_■)

Yeah yeah fine I get it now, I kinda like the Beasties now.

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

YOUR MOM BUSTED IN AND SAID "wHaT's ThAt NoIsE?!" AWWWWW, MOM, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS IT'S THE BEA! STIE! BOYS!

I found it difficult to rate this album. On the one hand, this is a classic, features iconic songs, pushed the boundaries of the genre and has brought us this unique Bestie Boys sound and energy. On the other hand, I don't really like the sound and the energy annoys me. Ancient school Hip-Hop beats and rhythmic speaking that I wouldn't call rap (maybe because rap wasn't a thing yet). 3.5/5

Ok, yeah, I get it now. This CD is incredibly fun. I've heard all the singles before. But hearing it now as a cohesive whole (a couple times) I totally get it. Its loud, dumb, and super-fun. Like, super-fun. Also super-dumb. Parts of "Girls" are pretty blatantly misogynistic, and the CD overall is incredibly juvenile in terms of themes ("Fight For Your Right" is clearly written from the perspective of a kid living with his parents). But I could rock out to this all day. They sound like they're having a really fun time, sampling Led Zep riffs and complaining about their moms.

Hip hop is the US trash, garbage and rubish. A piece of shit. And culture irrelevant.

Iconic. A bit harsh, but fun, too.

I'm not gonna listen to it I heard it before it's not that good

20/11/24 Some parts were boring, but for the most part, I enjoyed this album.

4.5/5. These three white boys from Brooklyn are so much fun.

not my personal vibe but there’s a couple good songs.

Fav: Fight For Your Right Least Fav: Girls Very disappointed with this one, nowhere near as good as my previous Beastie Boys album. Songs like ‘Girls’ left me in disbelief that people thought that it was good enough to include on the album. Fight For Your Right is a great song but the gap in quality between that and the rest of the album is huge

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.

So bad, really annoying

recognized some samples, classic rock-rap fusion, "LETSGOO" kind of vibe top tracks: the new style, no sleep til brooklyn, fight for your right

Yummy blend of rap, rock, and punk. Some elite samples on this. Goofy in places but in a good way. Great flow between the three of them

Rhymin & Stealin' 4.3 The New Style 3.3 She's Crafty 4 Posse in Effect 3 Slow Ride 3.2 Girls 3.5 Fight for Your Right 4 No Sleep till Brooklyn 4.4 Paul Revere 4 Hold It Now, Hit It 3.1 Brass Monkey 3 Slow and Low 3.1 Time to Get Ill 3.3 Score: 3.553846154

Christ

This was the first time I listened to this album in one sitting front-to-back. Thoroughly enjoyable and groundbreaking for it's time, this Beastie Boys album is fun and playful and completely nostalgic.

The heavy misogynist and frat boy vibe is a bit over the top, but was welcomed by many back in the day. Still a nostalgic and fun romp through what was rap back then.

Such energy. Continues my concept that multiple people rapping with and over each other is better than single rappers.

I like the Beasties. If I were able to gather all my favorites of their songs, I could probably come up with a couple 5* albums. But given that we're doing a different project, I'm going to give this one 3.5* rounded up to 4*.

They are weird and can’t stop saying White Castle.

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

ridiculous. yet a classic

rap with decent tunes and guitar

not my taste

I get why people who like it like it but I was embarrassed to be listening to it.

Seminal album in more ways than one. Never gets old for me.

The original. Only 4 stars since because Paul's Boutique is a 5.

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

Sorry to be a party pooper. Other than the two big hits it's pretty annoying. Also here in the UK it is hard not to think of Morris and the Minors.

Kick it

Mistook this for the Beach Boys at first. That confusion didn't last very long.

Starting an album with a "When the Levee breaks" sample is a good idea. Sampling another Led Zeppelin song 2 songs later is less of a good idea. What a 13 year old with a computer would think to do. "Girls" is a war crime. Notable that "Fight for your right" is a straight ahead rock song and not like the rest of the album (more like Twisted Sister than a rap group). "Brass Monkey" works the best because it's a cool beat and they do enough with their raps to give you something a little unexpected. A few of the samples/beats are cool...ultimately it's hard to really get into any song because they are so limited rapping that any track gets repetitive within 40 seconds. Not a fair comparison but early 90s rappers would destroy a verse "Ryhmin & Stealin"...doesn't feel like the same universe

I don't know why I thought The Beastie Boys were The Beach Boys. Wish I listened to the Beach Boys instead though

after listening today for the first time in a few years I can say that it holds up fairly well. It’s definitely dated but it still sounds great. https://open.substack.com/pub/richcain/p/project-1001-license-to-ill-by-the?r=4ztyq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Musica "Owow" media memera. Me parece más auténtica que "To Pimp A Butterfly" de Lamar (que acabo de escuchar, pero se nota que tiene menor nivel de producción (lógico porque se produjo 30 años antes). Es divertido el lado memero al principio pero se torna repetitivo bastante rápido.

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.

Some good stuff but feels like the beta version of Beastie Boys. Generally a fan but also wonder if they’re better in small doses. Maybe not suited for the full listen through.

I’ve learned through this exercise that that there is an art to sampling. When done right it can create a whole new art form, enhancing not just the new song but recontextualizing and updating the old. When I heard the ‘ocean’ riff in ‘she’s crafty’ I felt like I’d just seen a retarded 8 year old draw a dick on the Mona Lisa. And then the crowd all clapped and said congratulations, good job buddy. This is pablum. This is the decline of western civilization. This is music for pedophiles in disguise as 40 year old sneakerheads. I know I’m prone to hyperbole but this album is the most inane, infantile bullshit I’ve ever heard in my entire fucking life.

Lots of hits, that said, I feel like im not part of the generation that truly appreciates the beatie boys. To me, their sound has been mocked too often and the vocals/rapping was over the top. I do appreciate the sample selection and a few songs. You gotta Fight for your right to party is an all timer.

I could maybe do one of these tracks - Fight for Your Right or No Sleep - on a playlist as a fun throw back. A whole album of this shit is honestly so much worse than I expected. Anything redeeming I would have to say about it is offset by how mad I am I listened to this whole thing.

I don’t know exactly what it is about the Beastie Boys, but it’s rare that their music doesn’t me smile. I can see why some might not like them - I’m not one of those people, though. This album pretty well exemplifies what I like about them: pure, dumb, bombastic fun. 3.5 rounded up

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

Some bangers on this album, like 'Girls' and 'Fight for Your Right,' but otherwise this just isn't my jam.

great album with a blend of hip hop and rock

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

Chad

Alfa

Oh I did actually listen to this one but forgot to rate it. The beastie boys are actually so good - far better than what I thought. All the tracks were good but No Sleep till Brooklyn can never not be my favourite

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

Man, that “Girls” song was vile.

1001 хочет, чтобы я стал экспертом по Beastie Boys за пару недель. Это самый слабый из альбомов, что я у них слышал. Да, это типа дебют, первый белый хип-хоп в принципе, но в моем видении этого просто не может быть достаточно. Рифмы/целые песни порой ну настолько кринжовые, что трудно поверить. Лучшая песня - Rhymin & Stealin.

This album is my childhood

Love the rock elements. Funky in parts. Really liked the instrumentation and delivery in general, just not most of the lyrics. Some made me not want to listen to certain tracks again. Highlights: Fight For Your Right No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Kinda reminds me of The Clash. I like the album cover. Rhymin & Stealin is familiar- didn't realise they did No Sleep Til Brooklyn. Slow Ride samples Low Rider apparently? Ahh, and I know Girls too - it sounds like that Boyfriend (Tyler Cassidy) meme song? BRASS MONKEY Slow and low is the favourite I think.

They sure yell a lot. Probably why I liked it so much as an 8 year old.

I like the attitude but all the songs sound the same.

It's not the most consistent album in the world, its got some kinda whatever songs but its also got some absolute bangers and really display the infectious chemistry of these three doofuses in the shape of just fun old hip hop. There's potential for better here and Paul's Boutique immediately shows how they eventually went onto bigger and better things (as well the few things I heard off the 90s stuff)

More screaming than singing.

i just like when boys are weird and have weird singing voices

2/5

3.5 pretty good

Hell na

rhymin and stealin- 6. best part is when they chant alibaba new style- 4. didnt have to be 4 minutes shes crafty- 6 or 7 posse in effect- 4 slow ride- 4. they got thrown out of white castle... girls- 6 fight for your right- 6 or 7. plays in my head when i dont wanna go to school no sleep til brooklyn- 6 paul revere- 7 hold it now, hit it- 5 brass monkey- 7 slow and low- 5 time to get ill- 4 or 5

it’s good but it has a lot of songs that just don’t sound good in my opinion, it has the potential to be absolutely amazing but a lot of songs let it down, rhymin and stealin is one of my favourite songs

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

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)

Ugh, this is a hard one. At times during this album I found myself nodding my head, but then about halfway through groaned to myself as the next song came on, "not another one." I think the Beastie Boys are best in small doses otherwise the rapping gets annoying pretty quickly. Fight For Your Right an obvious banger though. 4.5/10 (2.25/5)

An enjoyable listen but the beasties can really grate on my ears after a while

One of the best

I like hip hop. This is alright I guess. Feels disjointed and like they haven't found their sound - makes sense since this is their debut album.

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

Genuinely hard to listen through. Sloppy production, lyrics that come across as juvenile and outdated, and a vocalist that is nasal and grating. Newsflash: for something to be a good parody, you need to be able to tell if it's a parody. This feels like it was written in earnest and then they tried to say 'we were just joking!' once they received backlash. I was cringing out of my skin listening through this. Really severely hated it. Music for middle school boys.

The second this album begins, you know you're off. To something special

It's difficult to rate this album fairly, knowing that there were so many better albums yet to come. There's some standout tracks that have lasted the test of time, and others that are just not great. I eagerly bought this album when it first came out, but it ended up getting relatively little play, to the point where I couldn't even remember half of the first side. When I first listened to this I was much more interested in the rock part. I think I only had any interest due to the Slayer links (Rick Rubin and Kerry King). In hindsight, it's also a great hip-hop album in it's own right. I'm going with 4 stars.

Fascinating the way they build up this record, it got old in a good way. Hip hop must listen. And not just hip-hop, they created a good mix between jazz/rock and electric production that helped the way also nowadays rap is made.

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.

Some great tracks but I much prefer Paul's Boutique.

2 harde nummers

Rap rock. Está muy bien. Venga, vinilo.

Hip-hop. Un poco rollo.

Not a big fan of this, but it is ok 3/5

I cannot remember when I last listened to this album, too long obviously. The Beastie's style was just raw, punk and fun. Solid album that still stands up today. Stand out tracks: - Rhymin and stealin - Girls - Fight for your right - No sleep to Brooklyn - Hold it now, Hit it - Slow and Low - Time to get ill

Might've been groundbreaking when it came out. And surely it has influenced a lot of artists and musical styles (notably rap-rock). But to the modern ears, it just sounds typical old school rap that has been so overused and even mocked in the 90s pop culture. But you can't deny the exuberance of youthful irreverence, libido and just raw energy these Manhattan punks display. I liked the tracks that rock- Rhymin' and Stealin', Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn. But rest of them where just uninteresting.

I remember when this came out; nothing had ever sounded like this before. I appreciate the black origins of hip-hop and the samples they used, based on music that inspired them to become musicians themselves. White kids growing up listening to Led Zeppelin and CCR obviously had different musical interests early on, but converged with hip-hop, bringing their own flavor to an emerging genre, while still using similarly-styled lyrics/cadence/flow. This might be the first album on this list I recognize as a true "essential." I hope to hear some of the earliest hip-hop albums on this list too. Also, name another album with more singles than this one.

The Beastie Boys remain the worst part about Beastie Boys albums. The production carries.

"Girls" is kind of a disaster, but I think Licensed to Ill gets kind of an unfair reputation as being like, obscenely puerile or juvenile. Most of the songs hold up shockingly well, considering they were written and performed by three guys who couldn't even buy their own alcohol when the album was being recorded.

It worked... I am ill

It’s a fun album

“Fight for your Right” ist eine Ansage und ein Megatitel. Der Rest des Album ist mittlerer bis mäßiger Schrei Rap, weshalb sich eine Wiederhören nicht aufdrängt.

67

I was excited to listen to this, but I enjoyed it less than I thought I would. It’s still a fun listen, but a full album was enough for me. The sound of that era is dated at this point, and nostalgia only takes me so far. Not great, but not bad either.

This was a great album. First time listening to it form front to back

- There is an early episode of Futurama where the Beastie Boys guest star and it is revealed that Fry loves them. Fry is also frequently shown to have the depth of a puddle. Just saying that it tracks. - The backings deserve 95% of the credit. Going by just the Boys' vocal sound, this would probably be a 2 star, despite their fun interactions and overlaps. They are still young and raw here, though that never really goes away. - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" is the standout. - Amazing how much Brass Monkey is mentioned outside of "Brass Monkey." It is like their muse.

I was sceptical about this one. the first track seemed to confirm that but then I soldiered on and wow, this album kept getting better and growing on me. In the last track there's even a Sample of CCR that I recognised, a particular bass riff. This has been a discovery. Not an everyday listen for me so putting it at a healthy 3.42*

4 - knew and liked the famous songs. The unfinished production wasn’t my thing but it was obviously super creative and the start of a genre

the beastie boys are a guilty pleasure for me. “hold it now hit it” is my fave off this album

3.5

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.

Listening to this album made me realize i need to listen to more Beastie Boys. The samples from Zeppelin and Black Sabbath in the first song sucked me in from the get go. The whole album just flows from one track to the next. So. Much. Fun.

Two Banger "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" plus some more solid tracks add up to a nice rockish🤘🎸 hip-hop album in best Run D.M.C. style. Hard for me to decide between three and four stars. 3,5

In the world of rap it's so refreshing to hear something that's not all profanities, anger, violence and misogyny. Rap is not my thing but I still enjoyed this album despite it starting to sound the same after a while. 3.5/5

I liked some of it but I'm not really into all the machismo

A-puoli on SICKKK. Mitä b-puolelle sitten tapahtuu, miksi se on pelkkää filleriä?

Vähän vaikea päästä sisään, mutta myös vaikea olla pääsemättä. Bändillä on idea, ja se toimii - ainakin henkilölle, jonka kotimaassa soittaa Sliipparit ja Eläkeläiset. Loppua kohti materiaali ehkä hiukan hupenee. Silti kuulemisen arvoinen.

Молодые белые люди, которые играли хардкор-панк, решили переобуться и начали ебашить рэп. Звучит как будто сегодня, но это было 40 лет назад и впервые. Хотя нет, но там не считается. Полный дебилизма тексты, мощные биты, а для того времени вообще ебейшие. Гитары, реги и всё такое, еще бит есть в обратную сторону или как это там называется, крч, классно. В конце всё же устаешь, но всё равно ебать какой хороший альбом.

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

Kind of fun and silly, but lyrics were most degrading

So thats what that gumball song was tryna imitate

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.

Well, this one was not really for me... I think. I tried to like it, I really did – hell, this is the album that gave us Fight For Your Right, how could I not like it? Unfortunately, the only songs I see myself ever listening to again (apart from Fight For Your Right, obviously) are Rhymin & Stealin (found it to be a great opener track) and Slow Ride (mainly because it samples Low Rider, one of my all-time favourite songs and apparently a staple in songwriting with samples). Other than that, I found it to be too noisy, even though I am anything but a person that would complain about something being "too noisy", as proven by the fact that I have a soft spot for industrial metal and power noise (don't ask me why I like the latter, I honestly have no idea. But I do). 2.2/5, I get what they were going for but it fell flat for me. Bonus points for the songs I mentioned.

It's definitely dated in terms of sound, rhymes and the like, but its a fun record. Hip Hop moved far away from this sound in very little time, but it remains influential, as it should.

Classic

Not sure if it was entirely for me. Had a couple fun songs. It all sounded pretty brash and punk which I guess are not for me right now. Would throw it on for a cookout or bbq

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

It’s hard to say, the songs honestly feel like jokes a little bit because I’ve heard so many parodies of this type of rap. It is actually pretty fun though, and has No Sleep til Brooklyn and Girls and a couple other familiar songs

Brainrot in an album. Just don’t understand the hype at all. Having said that there’s a couple of catchy tunes that bring it up to 2 Stars. Fundamentally I wouldn’t listen again.

4.5/10. The instrumentation in a lot of the tracks is really great. However, good Lord, those vocals are giving me a bloody headache. They sound whiny, and are making it extremely difficult to enjoy the album. I hear a lot of rock influences. I think that it would have been great if they would have performed their vocals in a different manner. Perhaps actual metal screaming, rather than whiny shouting would have lifted this album up to a 9/10. Perhaps if I listen to the Beastie Boys more, I will acquire a taste for the vocals, and begin loving this album. For example, Dave Mustaine's vocals are an acquired taste which I have acquired, and I LOVE Megadeth. I would like to note that No Sleep Till Brooklyn is a standout track for me, personally. :)

Great track flow but very juvenile

3.5 rounded up The hits are good, everything else was kinda more of the same (in a bad way)

Angsty, energetic, makes me feel out of breath after a whole album. Lot's of iconic tunes that seem to have a staying power others in the genre just didn't achieve.

Not my fave, but classic

Beastie Boys are very influential and are still considered one of the best hip-hop groups of all time. On the New Style, wtf did he sayyyyyy "like Jimmy Paige, the girlies that I like are underaged...". The beastie boys' drum kits are so funny, it's just so late 80s hip-hop. hahaha these guys are wild, they almost called this album "Dont be a Fa**ot" lmfao what the

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.

Basic beats and lyrics. Seems pretty simple now, but I guess it was almost 40 years ago!

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+

1st track riff sounds like Black Sabbath Sweat Leaf 3rd track Led Zepp The Ocean Samples Pretty fun

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

Every song sounded so alike I didn't realize it was a next one.

Boring with nit great lyrics or sounds

So the well-known hits are still fun, but I would never want to listen to a Beastie Boys album front to back ever again, holy shit that accent is annoying.

Honestly one of the best of all time. Makes me feel like I’m in high school

They got better but white boy rap produces an effective memorable rap album. Kick it!

As with the second Beastie Boys album this pleasantly surprised. Never have been a massive fan of the Beastie Boys but this is a classic. From start to finish it’s pure hype. Amazing samples, great lyrics and just plain fun. I can see why the second album was so controversial as it is a pretty massive shift from this.

Silly and funny, like Beavis and Butthead, but in the most jejeune sort of way, no? The big, fat Zeppelin hooks are big, fat and mostly fun, and the cleverness is clever but it hasn't exactly held up, now has it? What teenage boy humor ever does? Plus points for the best name drops (Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Abe Vigoda) and for not taking themselves too seriously. Minus points off for being awfully derivative and for the broad-as-possible, utterly unsubtle Rubinesque production.

An iconic album with some solid hits, but otherwise pretty sparse tracks. It reminds me of a folk singer with just a guitar. They have a single beat and their vocals. Maybe not only one beat, but the track sounds fairly bare. All in all, though, a great first outing for the group. Lyrics were enjoyably cheeky, production was solid (young Rick did not disappoint), and they have a pretty unique style that helps them stand out—among other things . . . 4/5

this album was pretty cool. the beastie boys are one of those bands that i have always been aware of but never actually taken the time to listen to them. they weren’t what i expected for some reason. i enjoyed the tracks for the most part, including the hits - “fight for your right”, “no sleep til brooklyn” etc. i did find it got slightly repetitive towards the last few songs, but other than that, a pretty solid record.

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

Great album. Great beats.

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.

I think this album might be an acquired taste, good thing I like the Beastie Boys

4.5

makes you feel like RAHHHHHHH 🦅🕺🏻💥🦅💥📼 George Lopez theme mentioned (Slow Ride). Paul Revere got a similar flow to Fresh Prince lmaooo. Manic? Frenetic perhaps?

Such a great listening experience

Classic album. Being their first album, they came out strong with this one.

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

I just couldn't listen.

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