Licensed To Ill

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1: No Sleep Til Brooklyn 2: Fight For Your Right 3: She’s Crafty

Very fun. Not their best work, but iconic.

I know how important the Beasties are to the industry and music in general, but this record is an example of why I've just never liked them. Paul's Boutique hits different, but Licensed To Ill just doesn't do it for me. Their voices are grating, the music is corny and I just don't get it. I respect what they've done for hip hop and the culture and those they've inspired along the way, but this one is just not for me. I'm giving it 3 stars because of it's place in history and it's not all bad, but this one just doesn't do it for me.

fine. A little abrasive.

I feel like this album exists just for the fun of it. That kinda seems like the vibe of a lot 80s rap and hip hop, contrasted to the politically-heavier hip hop and gangster rap that takes over when you get into the 90s. I guess it also makes some sense when considering that this album was made by 20ish year old kids from presumably affluent families. That also means there doesn't seem to be a lot of depth to the album. What you see is what you get. And what you get is kind of obnoxious sampling and instrumentation combined with often juvenile lyrics. Somehow, you also get something entertaining. I don't really love rap/hip hop, so the style here isn't really my favorite. It helps me some that they blended rock into the mix. I also find the Beastie Boys' delivery to be a bit of an acquired taste, probably worsened here because of the stylings from when it was made. But I can sit back and enjoy it well enough, especially tracks like Fight for Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn (which had more rock-like music compositions than most of the other songs). Is this a great album? Not in my estimation. But it's still a fun listen, and I was able to enjoy it for the most part. I'd probably be more likely to listen to a few songs on their own rather than the whole album again, though. Overall: 3.2/5

This one is hard for me - I absolutely love some tracks and find others just ok. I think I would end up with a 3.44.

This was a fun album to listen to even amidst the excessive name dropping.

3/5. My personal least favorite Beastie Boys album on the list. This is when they were at their most “Frat-Rap” which is a style that tends to get annoying pretty fast for me and that slight annoyance definitely seeps into a few of the deep cuts on here. That being said the hits on here are as big as they are for a reason, and they make the album worth it. but I still prefer the sample-heavy madness of Paul’s Boutique of the punk energy of Ill Communication over this album.

Powerful

You can hear the sparks of ingenuity which would be better reflected in later albums, and the production makes a great pastiche for us fans of dad rock. But it’s bogged down by its immaturity.

Not really my thing. I didn't hate it though.

Guys. Keep your voices down. The generic "hip-hop-wannabe" yelling wasn't quite done to death yet by 1986, but it was on its way out. There's not a single valid argument that it sounds better than singing (or nothing at all). The most passable instance is when there's a bit of a melody, as in the track Girls – definitely a punk influence here. Pretty cool. Is that the drum beat from When The Levee Breaks? Shamelessly ripped from (arguably) the best Led Zeppelin record for use on this nonsense of an album? Unfortunately, it's one of just two enjoyable parts of Rhymin & Stealin (the other one being the mixed-back guitar power chords). Everything else is just shouting, noise, and record-scratching. She's Crafty nicks another Zeppelin instrumental lick, this time part of the riff from The Ocean. Again, it's solid if you ignore the vocals. (Time To Get Ill steals the riff from Custard Pie too. You can't make this up.) Slow Ride is the exact same. Fun unconventional percussion (which teeters a little close to a trap beat, but ah well. You can't win them all) and Latin-type horn lines, but with monotonous vocals that do nothing but make the music slightly more difficult to enjoy. Brass Monkey is another similar case. It would be really cool if the group composed a proper, high-effort, high-fidelity sound based on that echoey sax. But instead it's just another shouting-fest that more or less fades into the background amidst the other songs. I've known No Sleep Till Brooklyn since my Guitar Hero days. (A strapping young lad I was.) It's tied with Fight For Your Right as the strongest song on the record. And it seems like most listeners agree with me. That is, that the songs with the most interesting melodies, harmonies, and textures are the strongest, and hence the most well-received. Why hip-hop artists generally refuse to take this to heart, I have no idea. In all honesty, though, this is much better than Ill Communication (which is also on the list). Maybe I underrated that one a bit – I gave it one star – but even so, this record contains noticeably more artistic merit and fun musical ideas. Fight For Your Right and No Sleep are excellent tracks that deserve every bit of traction they've received. Some of the deeper cuts are noticeably weaker, but less egregiously so than on the Beastie Boys' later albums. 3/5 Key tracks: She's Crafty, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Repetitive

ow, my ears. no sleep till brooklyn is alright.

This is good, but more of a precursor to what they would do later. I get that this made them famous, but they would go on to make much better albums.

Synes det er en god del catchy låter, gode basslinjer. Kanskje litt likt gjennomgående, men det er vel litt av tiden sin også. Utrolig å tenke på alt dette har inspirert.

I wish this had aged better than it has. Still a nostalgic listen, though.

not bad rap album with sometimes rock instrumentals

5 - AVERAGE

УННВ, если бы были американцами..

Check Your Head is their 5 star album. This is too corny, and I'm a Juggalo.

top 3 - Rhyming & Stealin, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn.

Highlights: - Rhymin & Stealin - Fight For Your Right - No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Decent album.

Songs got better towards to end. The first few seemed to have the same track

A nostalgic listen from the days when we used to, er, "collect" car badges. We were young and stupid and this was our music. No regrets.

Typical Beastie Boys. Nice listen.

Not bad but not my style. Repetitive in all songs.funny

I really liked it, lots of different sounds, great instrumentals (drums + piano), amazing flow, lyrics about the evils of fame and about his early life. Favorites were Wesley’s theory, these walls, king kunta, how much a dollar cost, the blacker the berry

This is a very creative and groundbreaking album without a doubt. I’ve still always viewed the Beastie Boys as pretty dated. They also lack the coolness that makes me love hip hop. The yelping singing/rapping is energetic, but definitely annoys me sometimes. I understand the satire and sarcasm of it all, but I prefer their more rock leaning tracks.

Too much boys for one sitting. Nothing but respect for them and I wouldn’t mind listening to one of these songs if I’m at a party or something but yeesh all of them in a row is grating. I’ve heard great things about Paul’s boutique so hopefully I like that one better!

Too juvenile (sometimes childish) humour and a few not great verses, but it has also crafty samples and good production. The first track, "Rhymin & Stealin", sounds like a manifesto. 3.75/5

A lot of nostalgia with this album. Interesting to listen to it after listening to “ill communication”, the production on this album it’s much more raw. Fun listen!

There's a few songs I like, but they never really been my style

Fun but songs are a hit or a miss for me. The most popular tracks - Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn are the best

I love the Beastie Boys. It's a weird, magical thing that they ever got big. I mean, imagine these dudes walking around in matching tracksuits in 1985 and thinking THEY'D be legends in rap music. It's bizzare. I've noted previously that a lot of 80s hip hop, especially early- to mid-80s, sounds very dated, slow, and corny. Much of this album falls into that bucket, with a few cuts that hold up remarkably well. I'm thinking in particular of "Rhymin' & Stealin'" "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" "Hold It Now, Hit" and "Brass Monkey." The formula for most of their rap work that follows is here in terms of song structure, flows, crazy-heavy samples, etc. Much of that is enjoyable, and they would continue to build on it every album thereafter. Still, it sounds tinny and whack when compared to contemporary hip hop or golden age 90s stuff. It sort of requires grading on a curve in some way. Where it really suffers is the topics. Much has been written--far better than I could--on their evolution from the clowish, misogynistic, frat-rap party boys they were to the Tibetan Freedom, Kathleen Hanna-marrying feminists they'd become. It's just crazy how stupid this record is. There's absolutely nothing credible about three Jewish prep school kids talking about toting guns while, um, also breaking into lockers to smash a nerd's glasses. Some of these dumb lines are clever, but goddamn are they dumb. This holds up better than it should, but I wonder if that's me being too generous to them. They're great, and I understand why this was big at the time, but this is their worst album, by a mile. Has its moments, but graded on its own merits, it pales to the four albums that immediately followed.

sadly this album didn’t suit my taste at all but I quite enjoyed two songs. I didn’t hate it that’s why I was about to give it a 2/5 but for the sake of those songs I increased it to be a 3/5

Bueno rap así ok me aburro un poco pero escuchable dan un poco d penilla. Suenan tdasigual

This was a good listen. I wasn’t sure if I’d be over it by the end, but I actually wouldn’t have minded spinning it again if I had time. Just a bunch of fun non-serious rhymes and beats to bop to.

Foundational Beasties--but I think I prefer the later stuff tbh

I want to really like it but there are some songs that really fall flat

Hyvin soitettu ja aikanaan todella merkityksellistä, mutta nyt vuosikymmenien jälkeen, ei enää samalla tavalla pysty arvostamaan, kun vaikutukset on vieläkin kuultavissa nykymusiikissa.

Oli tämä parempi kuin se edellinen Beastie Boys. Muutama ihan semmoinenkin biisi mitä voisi uudempaankin kertaan kuunnella.

It was good, however, it did not age well. I enjoyed several of the songs on the album, and had heard many of them before.

Entiendo el valor del album, pero sigue sin llegarme. Siento que envejeció mal. 6/10

A good diferente

One big joke that didn’t age particularly well. Fun along the way and captures the mood - feels like a soundtrack album for 80s New York

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater vibes. Fave track: No Sleep Till Brooklyn

It’s rock rap so yeah. Idk. 3/5

A classic but the lyrics....

favorites: track three: she’s crafty, track five: slow ride, track six: girls, track eight: no sleep till brooklyn

N/a

Legal

My recollection of this album was that it paled to the rest of their work, no urgency, and too reliant on an in-joke of frat boy rap that went too far. The rhymes are definitely bad, rough, and utterly tasteless in their time. The BEATS though - Rick Rubin saying “yeah these little Brooklyn twerps who used to be punks should have the thunder of John Bonham and the hellwinds of ‘Sweet Leaf’ over the opening track” and NAILED it. Every beat sounds so good, so urgent, so intense that the only sound to rival it would be their Def Jam labelmate Terminator X. It’s a real mixed bag, it’s not a great record, and it doesn’t need to be on the list but if you wanna nice sonic blast you’d be hard pressed to find worse.

3.5 out of five! Some great songs and i like the track production, im just not the biggest fan of their voices

1/2/26. Fun. 6.5/10

My third favourite Beastie Boys album and yet still a high 3. Just a bit less consistent. Still some great moments

Without looking you can tell this is Beasties Boys’ debut because the blend of hip hop and rock is not as refined as what comes later. They are still building their rapping abilities and their music doesn’t sprawl and stretch into the different sub-genres (i.e. hardcore punk) that make later records such a delight. Having said that, the track list is home to plenty of treats, especially in the middle of the record. The barbershop quartet-esque Girls is absolutely brilliant and seems to come from nowhere, a nice contrast with the energetic breakout hit single that follows Fight For Your Right, which acts as their rawdy mission statement. You can see how these boys whipped up so much excitement among the teens!

Licensed To Ill is not as good as our previous Beastie Boys record, I think this is less funny lyrically and less interesting musically, but bits of it really work for me, probably a low to mid 3

very boombox very hippy hop. every song is unique to the other, melody, rhythm. brass monkey on top. although would not listen again

They didn’t become great until they re-imagined what they could be after this album. This album has some good tracks but was mostly them trying to imitate Run DMC and just get attention.

Loved the album!!! I had listened to it so much as a kid with mum so it brought back memories of us in the kitchen playing

It was good but pretty i fell asleep for half of it. But its really different to what I would normally listen to but I liked it or at least the bits I listened to

at first i got scared bc it’s a bunch of dudes aggressively screaming into my ear but then it kinda got groovy. the lil punk moment at girls caught me totally off guard. they had visions.

❤️

100 down still much more to go

Too heavy. To rap what US metal was to rock.

Some Quirked up White Boys with just a touch of swagger, are they goated with the sauce? Historically śpeaking, I guess, lowkey overrated but they were on the bleeding edge so you gotta give it to em. Obv they were pretty big. I like their classics that they’re known for from this album. I fucking HATED the song Girls, maybe it was a joke but mf you aint weird Al Yankovic idk what the hell that was. My roommate liked it because it’s the first beastie boys song he ever heard lol. Good music to hate your parents and steal from dollar tree to. Also good for smoking weed behind a church at 13 years old.

not quite my style

has some classics for sure, but outside of those the general style isnt rly for me

Classic album, though it feels like it doesn't really live up to the age that has passed since.

Production was a bit overwhelming but there was some good stuff so maybe a 3

Fighting for the right to party

Like a fine wine, it seems to have got better with age.

Genius cross of hard rock and rap, especially when the rock being sampled is Zep. Bit of a health warning on other tracks though. 3*

I recognized two songs No sleep till Brooklyn Paul Revere it’s popular. used a lot in movies, not my style but definitely memorable.

Classic album first time to listen and it was okay

162 Los Beastie Boys no tienen nada que me gusten, pero hacen cosas entretenidas que hacen que disfrute escucharlos, aunque sólo me gustan algunas canciones específicas de ellos. En este disco no había ninguna, pero igual lo pasé bien escuchando qué canciones samplearon o qué guiños a otras canciones hicieron.

es fehlt was egal wie laut typisches hip hop album alle lieder ähnlich gutes cover

Their worst album. Still enjoyable despite sounding very dated.

For me it starts kinda weak - just looping beats and some rap, peaking midway with 'fight for your right' and 'no sleep till brooklyn' (more melodic, catchy, etc). In summary: funny (sometimes cringy?) texts and rap/hip-hop typical rhymes on a looping beat or sound samples. Not bad but also not really my taste in music.

I loved this album when I was younger. It was up there with Run DMC and LL. I still enjoy some of there stuff but it it all way to similar. Fun mix and DJ work, silly lyrics and screaming into a megaphone into a mic. I will give them huge leeway as hip hop was new and they are trailblazers but damn it sound the same from song to song.

A fun album, but that's kinda all there is to it. Nothing wrong with fun, but it kinda overstays its welcome. The ones that everyone knows from the album - "Fight for Your Right", "Girls", "Brass Monkey", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn", are all serviceable '80s hip-hop, but the rest of the album is just kinda inferior versions of them.

I like Beastie Boys. I have a very white-person taste in hip hop and prefer when it’s fast-paced and production-focused. This is kind of what Beastie Boys are making. However, although I enjoyed this album, I think it was pretty inconsistent. There’s a bunch of songs with great beats and fun vocals, and I like the guitar riffs that are occasionally inserted into the music, but there are also some songs that are underproduced and feel kind of empty. Good album overall but not the most consistent. Also, the mixing is also not the best. 7/10

(3.2) Pretty unique sound and production. I think this is probably one of my dad’s favorite albums; definitely reminds me of some car rides when I was a kid. Overall it’s just not my favorite sound, it’s definitely interesting and fun to listen to, but it’s not something I would regularly re-listen to.

3/5

I love the Beasties. On my shortlist for albums to contribute to this list when I've finished is Check Your Head (my favorite of their albums), but I'll admit I rarely go back to listen to their debut in full. The album is too much screaming, too many similar break beats, too much Rick Rubin (whose production I appreciate in short bursts) but if I'm honest, about half the tracks I could skip because they're monotonous. It should be pointed out that the Beasties were young, dumb and stupid at this point. The original title for this album was "Don't Be A Fa**ot" (they have since recognized the error of their ways and apologized) but while there are quite a few funny lines throughout, the album is largely crass and juvenile, and not necessarily in a way that makes their protagonists likeable. There was also some startling creativity being hemmed in by Rubin and Russell Simmons, who were conspiring to rip them off, and it would come out after they moved to Capitol Records in the masterpiece Paul's Boutique. The bangers on this album, "Fight For Your Right," "No Sleep Til' Brooklyn," "Brass Monkey," "Girls," "Paul Revere," etc. mean I can't rate this album too low, but it ranks well below what were going to see from the group.

good shit

Good debut

Pretty solid but not their final form.

A fun record. Took me a minute to get into it but after I did, I enjoyed it! It does feel quite dated, though. The record scratching and lyric rhythms scream 80s rap

Nice album, but not my style

This first album by The Beastie Boys reminds me of the first album by Ween (GodWeenSatan): basic, immature and dumb as hell and yet they both oops!, happen to be great! For the Beasties it’s hitting the surprising goof nail in the burgeoning genre of rap. I personally don’t like them overall. They don’t speak to me. Fight For Your Right is another all time hated song for me. Girls is ridiculously misogynistic…such a WTF! moment. Their Zeppelin sample was cool, but if I want that I’ll go listen to Zep. No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey and Slow and Low are pretty great. The Mr. Ed sample in Time To Get Ill had me chuckling and reminded me of watching endless reruns of that show as a kid. 3.5 stars, because this album is NOT good and yet great at the same time.

I've never loved the Beastie Boys, but this has some fun songs.

This guy's are amazing at making fun music. The energy is hard to dispute. The rapping is in very high quality, the interaction between the boys especially. Production also feels ahead of time A very good record A high 3

Cool beats but nothing really that special to me outside of Fight For Your Right

preferred to the last beastie boys album but was happy when it was over

Hard not to get caught up in nostalgia with this one, my first proper hip-hop album. Sounds very raw now with some dubious lyrics but still has some great tracks.

Copying from my other account, this is the best of the three beastie boys accounts on this list, Fight for your right easily being there best song

kind of fun, kind of annoying

My mom loves this album so i've been vaguely familiar with it forever. It's obviously very influential, and some of the tracks are classics to me, but some of them just gave me a bit of a headache. I won't lie, some of the longer tracks that I wasnt already familiar with were a bit hard for me to listen to. I'm disappointed because i thought i'd love it more. It's solid, but just a lot for me.

i'm being nice to this album because i heard the influences and i can appreciate what this album did for hip-hop but please know deep in my soul i hated every miserable moment i spent listening to these 'hip-hop! it started out in the park!' flows

3.5 - Good album. Listened to it for ages. One or two kinda annoying songs though.

This is okay in small doses, but a whole album becomes annoying. 3 stars or C-.

Most of it sounds fun but it loses one star because the lyrics are just too silly (how many times they talk about "girlies"?)

A classic hip hop debut

Funny that I knew more songs off this album than Ill Communication, but ended up liking that album more. This is a fun but juvenile debut album, with some good songs, but you can tell they were only just figuring out their sound. "Fight For Your Right" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" are the best on here, but also enjoyed "Rhymin & Stealin" and "The New Style"

It's alright. I liked "Ill Communication" better. I do appreciate the shorter tunes but the yelling vocals get old pretty quick.

Well, some of the lyrical content has not aged well; but I think we can give the Beasties at least some benefit of the doubt, as they seemed to realise that themselves before very long. And the overtones of snotty-nosed obnoxiousness are at least a partially deliberate aesthetic choice. Some of the beats and production still sound great. So, not their best imo, but still worth hearing.

... enjoyable, not in frequent rotation. At least they became The Beastie Boys eventually ...

Like “Girls”, reminded me of “A man needs a maid” lol. Recognized “Fight For Your Right” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. Reminded me of the sound of 90s, but was surprised to learn it was released in 1986. “Hold It Now, Hit It” reminded of the intro to Mase’s “Bad Boys”.

Corny, laddish, and maybe even cringe 🫢 but still a banger

Words words words WORDS talk talk talk TALK

Brings back high school nostalgia

No doubting the cultural influence it has had. Is it a favourite of mine? Absolutely not, but you have to give it a nod. An excellent cameo from Slayer's Kerry King on a couple of tracks.

Classic album, love the vibes here. 6.8/10

Noen kule låter, men ikke noe jeg kommer til å høre noe særlig på.

This was such an important record for me and my friends in the late 80ies. It was punk. It was rap. It was a whole lot of fun to shout along to. Listening to it with 2025 ears is quite hard going. It is very shouty and brash and bloke-y and to be honest quite obnoxious. Some things are better left as nostalgic memories.

Nærmer seg den Beastie Boys-æraen jeg liker best. Fortsatt litt mye tull.

Some stinkers on here but some classics as well. The following albums are better

Definitely some bangers on here but also a bit more inconsistent than some of their other records - which is to be expected for a debut.

lehet csak nem voltam eleg kipihent ehhez a tegnap, de annyira nem jott be

Better than I remember

Bem… O estilo de produção é daora. Gosto da seleção de samples e a forma com que são utilizados. Mas sinceramente, eu prefiro muito mais o Paul’s Boutique, em todos os aspectos. O estilo vocal do grupo me irrita profundamente neste álbum. No segundo lançamento da banda eles refinaram seu estilo, e eu até consigo entender quem prefere o estilo mais ridículo e absurdo desse primeiro álbum, mas não é pra mim. Só pra deixar claro, uma versão instrumental deste disco seria 5 estrelas facilmente a meu ver. Mas os vocais diminuem a nota pra mim. A mescla de Rap com Punk e Metal é fascinante. Ao menos esse álbum não é entediante, nem um pouco. Extremamente barulhento e noioso. Certamente memorável, mas não faz meu gosto inteiramente. 3/5

Energique. Pas mal

I liked this more than Paul’s Boutique but still not my thing. A couple decent songs but Brass Monkey is still terrible, hate that song. Rhymin & Stealin was the standout to me. I appreciate the innovation in this but the yell rapping just doesn’t work for me.

Classic Beasties with great samples. Flow is pretty basic and repetitive.

I understand why this record is on here but I just can’t listen to it anymore. Me and my friends play a game called “Never Rap Wack” where we try to freestyle as badly as possible and I realized one of our go-to rep flows was early Beastie Boys.

They are so fun and there's a really exciting combination of hard rock and 80s rap in here in a way that makes me wish I enjoyed the sound of it more. This sounds like the kind of music that would be really fun to jump around and scream to if I was really drunk. Fav tracks: Fight For Your Right; No Sleep Till Brooklyn; Paul Revere

Strong middle but all the songs were fun.

Their debut album. Hip Hop. This is a very playful and entertaining album. The fusion of Rock and Hip Hop os very cool. I had a lot of fun listening to this album. However yesterday I had Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell, from the same year and I liked that better.

Not as profound as their other work, the hits still hit but the deep cuts aren’t nearly at their best yet

Some lowlights (Funky Monkey) but also, they made some damn fun music.

Beastie Boys still remain unique (at least from music I've heard). I'd prefer if they would vary it up and not end every single line with the same exact inflection though. Minus one star bc White Castle is disgusting

Like it but don't love it. The trading off of lines starts to feel like a forced gimmick and not something natural around halfway through

Heard it before. I love how goofy Beastie Boys are. It may not be peak of rap but I just can't help but love them 3/5

4/10 - better than other beastie boys albums but still not fantastic. This one has more popular songs so I know them

another classic - i know several of the songs, but not the whole album. Not mega my thing but I can appreciate it.

Mixed feelings. The album is good, but I do find I get tired of it relatively quickly. "Girls," "Fight for Your Right," and "No Sleep till Brooklyn" are all classics though. This one's my third of the three Beastie Boys albums on the list. I think two would be the right number... keep this one, keep Ill Communication, and drop Paul's Boutique.

itsa boys album, but there are some bangers here and there. god my reviews are getting so bad. i can't not think of playing guitar hero when No Sleep Til Brooklyn plays. I cant tell if that ruins it or makes it better actually

Not really my kind of thing

Rhymin & stealin - 2,5/5 The new style - 3/5 Posse in Effect - 2,5/5 (least fav) Slow Ride - really like the intro 3,5/5 Girls - this is fun; a lil misogynistic tho otherwise a 3/5, now a 2,5/5 Fight for your right - 3,5/5 No sleep till brooklyn - 3,5/5 Paul Revere - i like songs with storyline 3,5/5 (2nd fav) Hold it now, Hit it - it lowk gives this game thingy for children (bop it), but it slaps 4/5 (fav) Brass Monkey - 3/5 Slow and low - liked the instruments and how they interacted with the music 3/5 Time to get Ill - 3/5 Coherence - it's all very teenage boy 4/5 Overall impression - it grew on me 3/5 ---> 3,2/5

Frenetic, grabs you by the neck rap. Authentic sounds. Fun.

Not as bad as I feared, but as overhyped as expected.

I feel like a bunch of brain cells died while listening to this, but that's okay. It's a fun album and sometimes you need to let it flow and let yourself go.

I liked Paul’s Boutique better

Props to them for making their vision come to life. I get they’re creating a persona and I appreciate the rock element but it’s not something I would ever want to listen to on the regular

Interesting but not really my thing.

Disappointingly repetitive still. Not quite Devo

Good fun, didn't rate it as much as a later album of there's but still a unique record. Frat boy energy hard through this

I mean it's objectively not good but that's not the point. It's certainly not bad. Because of the hits I'd say 3.5

Enjoyed

You have to fight for your right to party. Who hasn't danced to that? I certainly have. I've never heard the entire album. It's not bad.

Some of this hasn't aged well at all but others are timeless. Real mixed bag here

Good

Fun beats and some fun lyrics, but too much shouty and some pretty badly aged lyrics.

Okay listening to a few of these tracks here I think there’s some interesting sampling stuff going on back when sampling wasn’t exactly trivial. Particularly on “Time To Get Ill” is when I first caught wind of that, but I think there’s more than that. It actually reminds me a lot of that video of when A-Trak won the DJ championships in… idk 1999, at the age of 14 or something like that.

Grunge rap with grit

I don’t really know where to begin. There’s a self-awareness that makes their ridiculousness endearing, but they are still ridiculous. Musically, I enjoyed a lot of it, even if it swayed into GCSE-music-presentation-with-Casio-keyboard territory at times. And it’s also somehow simultaneously both of its time and timeless. I’ll give it a 3 because it’s making my head hurt thinking about it.

The album picked up a bit, but a lot of it is very formulaic. Low 3.

A real mixed bag. Really liked a few songs, some were borderline terrible

Catchy rap-rock. From what I've read/heard, Beastie Boys played a huge part in making the genre popular.

Funker fortsatt.

It feels overhyped. At its core, it’s RUN DMC with a guitar track layered on top. That’s not to say it’s bad... there are undeniable highlights like Fight for Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Brass Monkey. Those tracks still hold up as fun, raw bursts of energy. But as a full album, it doesn’t quite deliver. The consistency just isn’t there, and too many cuts feel more like a novelty than something with replay value. As someone who genuinely loves hip hop, I respect the influence, but I can’t pretend it fully clicks with me. Solid moments, weak stretches, overall just okay. 6.5/10.

weak start, but great second half

In the list of “cool things I’ve stolen from my parents”, this album on cassette is one of them! My mom bought this her senior year of high school with her waitress job money in 1989 and now it sits in a chest of keepsakes because I am too scared to ruin it. So fun to return to something I haven’t listened to in full in I don’t even know how long! If I ignore all the rampant misogyny in the lyrics, and man, there is A LOT, it’s still a really fun album. Who doesn’t love screaming along to Fight For Your Right? Or No Sleep Til Brooklyn? They’re fucking classics! There was one lyric I just literally cannot get behind early in the album about being attracted to underage girls. Yuck. This really is of it’s a time, but fun to revisit regardless.

I prefer their later stuff

This album is one year older than I am and also younger than I’ve ever been.

Fun. Kind of a shame it took 3 white guys to first top the album charts with a rap album.

Great OG hip hop w some truly inventive beats. As usual, an entire BB album is grating by the end. Hits are the hits for a reason, other than that - ehhhh. 3.2/5

Its a fun album. I have to be in the mood for it, and really only listen to a song or two in one sitting

While amazing and "important" in retrospect it falls far behind the rest of their albums up to the end of the millennium

Good

Never heard a fast food place referenced so much in one album. Beastie Boys <3 White Castle No but it's so funny that they wrote this whole album to make fun of frat boys in the 80s and then that became their audience because they didn't realize it was an ironic album.

I can't stand this dude's voice good lord. If it weren't for Girls, fight for your right or whatever it's called, no sleep till brooklyn, and brass monkey... that's actually a lot of decent songs now that I list them. I don't know how they get away with sounding so annoying. Would never ever put this on again but if it was on at a party I think I'd regretfully kinda enjoy it.

Conversely to the last album, I expected to like this more than I did. It ended up feeling like the same song for 40 min broken up by track 6/7/8 and some cool samples on "Time to Get Ill".

Okej album men har aldrig riktigt fattat Beastie Boys. Vet att de är kult och har sin plats i musikhistorien, men tycker inte det är superspännande att lyssna på.

I prefer their other work, but fun debut. Very clear where their influences are which is always a good sign. Can have a good debut and not deserve to be on this list though

Not a fan of the beginning but towards the end it got good

5/10

Respectfully I recognize the significance of the Beastie Boys and this album. The instrumentals and lyrics have influenced many modern songs. The album also draws from other popular songs for its instrumentals which play well with the lyrics. Despite the cultural significance, the Beastie Boys are not really my flavor. Something about the artists voice does not appeal to my ears. Overall it is a good album but probably not one I will listen to again.

Fun, but nothing much

Shout out the beastie boys

Sooo eighty's hip hop. 😂

Sometimes COOL but of they stopped doing THIS all the TIME it would be BETTER because it becomes ANNOYING at some POINT

It's a classic but I personally prefer the later stuff.

White guys rapping decently well. It has its place, but it’s not usually in my headphones

ok

54/1001 Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill Heard before? ✅ Revisit? ❎ I've never really got the appeal of the Beasties, they've never worked for me. This is fine. I get that rock-hip-hop crossover and the use of samples have influenced numerous artists but doesn't appeal to me.

I know it's an important disc, but that doesn't make listening to it for more than 15 mins any less irritating. 3/5 for the history

far from my favorite beastie boys album. iconic, but outside of a few standouts I dont like a lot of it.

Uneven debut album, some good stuff of course but quite a few filler tracks.

2.5

A bit too drum heavy in the beats, but cool mix of rock and hiphop, with aggressive rapping. 3.5 stars

Enjoyed at the time. Enjoy listening now but I'm not sure how well it's dating.

es como una especie de broma graciosa. lo raro es que no me ha desagradado del todo. hay algunas que me gustan y todo

Did I mention before this is in the same category with Beck, the massive loser? Upon first encounter ('fight for your right') I was annoyed and took pity on them for their self-awarelessness. It turns out they were aping the crass party hooligan caricature, flaunting an incongruous ethic identity. The rest of the world and I probably didn't realize the kind of production and hip hop chops they had up their sleeves for their follow up records. 'Licensed to Ill' with Rick Rubin is innovaotive, disregarding the party track, but nothing like the 'Boutique' and 'Communication' with The Dust Brothers Mario Cataldo. Kick it, indeed.

Stupidly fun.

Music to make nerdy white boys feel tough.

Quite revolutionary in its time, I was never a big fan and this continues to be the case

I gotta be honest, I'm just not going to listen to this one because I know I don't have it in me right now. You have to be in the exact right mood to listen to a FULL Beastie Boys album, and that rarely happens. Maybe next time I'm getting ready for a party and need some hype music. We'll see.

I like Beastie Boys, but not like some people like Beastie Boys. This album feels all over the place. I get that it was revolutionary, but if you didn't love it back when it came out, it's hard to find a space for it today.

Beastie Boysin se THE levy, mutta näitä paria isointa hittiä poislukien ei oikein kauheen erikoinen. Tai ehkä sit erikoinen kuvaa just hyvin. Biitit kyllä outoja. Girls oli kanssa tuttu ja sekin sinne oudompien osastoon menee. Parhaat: Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn

3.5/5 Album adelantado a su época. creativo, chistoso y entrete. Whitest bars ever. Me puedo imaginar en un carrete gringo en los 80s escuchando esta wea por primera vez y volviendome loco. Girls es la peor canción de la historia y en general creo que no ha envejecido muy bien este álbum. Sus rapping flows son medios repetitivos también. This ain’t no Paul’s Boutique!! Fight For Your Right y No Sleep Till Brooklyn top temas para mi

There's a few good songs in here but the rest of the album is too aggressive for me.

Starts off amazing then awful songs like girls and slow ride and it picks up again with fight for your right and no sleep til Brooklyn. I was so close to loving this but there’s too much filler

Iconic but honestly not for me. Not a huge punk fan and this album feels like punk dudes doing hip hop. Respect though.

Hip-hop ochentero muy fresco a puro grito en el cual se basó Eminem años después. Temas míticos como "Fight For Your Right" y "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" han trascendido en el tiempo hasta la actualidad. Sin ser mi tipo de hip-hop favorito, me ha divertido escucharlo y valorar la importancia que tuvo en su tiempo. 7/10.

I like the Beastie Boys, and have their anthology "The Sound of Science", which I enjoy. This is a good album but ultimately I think the Beastie Boys will remain a "Best of" band for me. Three stars. Would I listen to this album again? Selected tracks. Would I buy this album? No. 1 "Rhymin & Stealin" - Excellent. The reason this resonates is probably the samples from Zeppelin, Sabbath and The Clash. - 5 Stars 2 "The New Style" - 3 Stars 3 "She's Crafty" - Two Zeppelin samples in the first three tracks! - 4 Stars 4 "Posse in Effect" - The vocal delivery is now getting monotonous, with similar vocal melodies. - 3 Stars 5 "Slow Ride" - 3 Stars 6 "Girls" - 2 Stars 7 "Fight for Your Right" - This has humour, dynamics and vocal melodies. Oh and guitar! - 5 Stars 8 "No Sleep till Brooklyn" - One of their best songs. - 5 Stars 9 "Paul Revere" - 3 Stars 10 "Hold It Now, Hit It" - Dull. - 2 Stars 11 "Brass Monkey" - 3 Stars 12 "Slow and Low" - Excellent song. - 5 Stars 13 "Time to Get Ill" - One track too many. - 2 Stars Total - 45 Average - 3.46

“Licensed to Ill” es un álbum que predominaría adelanta al sonido que primaría de la década de los 90 en adelante. En esta obra, Beastie Boys exploran el género del hip hop, el rap y lo fusionan con voces desgarradoras, sucias y gritadas clásicas del hard rock. Esta combinación de géneros da como resultado uno de los álbumes más importantes e influyentes del hip hop. A lo largo del disco encontramos letras rebeldes, satíricas, provocadoras e incluso machistas y misóginas viéndolas con los ojos de hoy en día. Destaca el gran éxito del álbum “Fight Your Right” un himno a la rebeldía, a la personalidad y la identidad. En cuanto a la producción, Rick Rubin, productor del álbum, hace uso de recursos del hip hop por ejemplo, el uso de samples o el “scratching” (sonido de rasgar un vinilo), que se convertirían en una seña de identidad del género años después. Una de las canciones más curiosas en la producción es “Paul Revere”, en la que la pista cuenta con una base rítmica invertida y, aun así, funciona a la perfección en el tema, creando un efecto sonoro único. En conclusión, “Licensed to Ill” es un proyecto arriesgado y provocador que sirve como punto de partida de un género musical que años después sería el que dominaría la industria musical.

Pre-listening thoughts: wait 😭 im lowkey excited for this. Don’t judge me Post/during listening thoughts: hmmm okay. So turns out this is a band I enjoy in small doses. This was a tough listen at times. Lots of pop culture references being YELLED over some of the most simplistic beats oat. It’s like shitty GarageBand beats before that app existed. Brass monkey is a classic tho. Sometimes it’s funny and charming but sometimes it’s annoying as shit. 5/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no Fav tracks: She’s Crafty, Girls, Fight for Your Right, Brass Monkey Least fav tracks: Slow Ride, Paul Revere

lo recordaba mejor

it was okay, but I think the impact it had on the hip-hop scene shines through

When this album came out, I thought it was annoying AF. I loved the use of rock samples and production (for the most part), but their voices and lyrics made me want to punch them all in the face. This album always put me in mind of white boys I knew who would try to rap-such an embarrassment, honestly. Suburban white dudes, amiright?! I wrote them off for years after that. I came back around when I sat down and listened to Paul’s Boutique (though actually the first album that made me interested in revisiting this group was the all-instrumental In Sound From Way Out). It’s nice to know that this talented group was able to evolve beyond this dated, misogynistic sound and make music that I could enjoy both in spite of-and even occasionally with-their voices. It really wavers between a 2 and a 3 for me. I gave Straight Outta Compton a 3 and had similar issues with the content, so I think I’ll give this a 3 as well-it works as an album, even despite its dated sound and content.

Estivo ben, pero non me cambiou a vida

>Never cower, never shower, and I'm always stinkin' >The girlies I like are underage He just like me fr Insanely dumb and I liked it. Surprised to not see anyone chimping out over it the same way as with Kid Rock fav: Brass Monkey

Pretty Good

I grew up with this album. Rap was getting very big, and this album is a good representation of that time. But I wouldn't recommend someone who wants to hear Beastie Boys for the first time start hear. In retrospect, many of their albums are better than this one. Many other albums of the era are better than this one too.

Mitte 80er rap mit egitarre - ist ganz lustig, definitiv ein Wegbereiter für sowas wie blood sugar sex magik - aber definierter als hiphop zu erkennen. Vielleicht auch ein bisschen lonely Island?

I have never liked Brass Monkey and for the most part don’t like Fight for Your Right either. Don’t sleep till Brooklyn is a great song and the rest of the album is definitely more solid than those two songs.

Decent, but most of it sounds dated.

3.5

Listened in the truck via YouTube music. This is an album that definitely left a mark and Beastie Boys had a unique take on boom bap rap. The style is dated, but still fun to listen to. Slow and Low was a fun find.

AS much as I am aware of their impact/influence on certain artists, their debut album certainly wasn't something that resonated with me. The style of "Yell Rapping" is not one for me, and the lyrics were mostly satirical or meant to be comedic. The beats hit quite well, and even ignited some past recollections of hearing them in possible samples so that certainly helped the album, but overall it will receive a 2.5/5, bumped to 3.

This album following Run DMC's breakthrough was really influential in terms of making rock/punk rap and hip-hop as a whole movement more mainstream in the mid 80's to early 90's. While iconic and being a fun listen overall with a legendary producer backing them, I wouldn't have it in my classic hip hop albums list.

You can really tell this was produced by Rick Rubin. Striking stylistic similarities between She's Crafty and 99 Problems released 18 years layer by a much better rapper. I'm gonna assume the rap style and the corny lyrics are intentional. Girls genuinely made me chuckle. Similar to how Eminem would so I can see how this would influence him. They also can't get all the credit for this style of rock/rap when acts like Run DMC clearly influenced them. 3/5.

This album was very original in it's time. One of the first meetings of Hip Hop and Rock. Individually a lot of these songs are entertaining and catchy, some of them are great, even, but taken as a whole their is not enough variation. It is relentlessly harsh and brash, too much to listen to all at once, for me.

Immer noch zum Teil frisch, aber dennoch nicht wirklich Zeitlos (auch wenn diese Zeit mit meinem beschränkten Wissen wohl einiges später geschätzt worden wäre…). Musikhistorisch sicher ganz anders einzuordnen, und sicher einen sehr hohen Stellenwert.

I love the beastie boys. I love how they made something (with Rick Rubin) that was new and fresh. I love their attitude, their style, their anger, their passion, their sense of fun, their aesthetic and how beautifully they have stood the test of time. However, ive always found the music to inconsistent for an album. There are individual songs that are god tier, but a lot of their stuff doesn't stand up and i don't regularly listen to them. This album blew them up and set the blueprint, but doesnt include any of their high points so isnt something i would listen to much.

An album i havent had the desire to go back to. I like the sampling and energetic performances. But theres not much substance here. 6/10 Favourite: No Sleep Till Brooklyn Least Favourite: Girls

There's several very fun tracks on here - closest I come to liking the genre.

Party album of 86

Was a fan back in the day, tastes change but influential none the lesss

Old school. Trummaskin och rickriff. Slyngellyrik. Håller inte hela vägen, blir för enformigt. Är den med på listan bara för att fight for your right är med?

Genuinely some really really fun stuff and it did define this type of music for a lot of people but some tracks are so similar it gets really repetitive, more of a 3.5/low 4 I feel

I reckon I liked it more as I had it when it came out than I would if I heard it the first time now. Always loved "No sleep til brooklyn'

Not 100% my jam lyrically but iconic and great standouts

Another one of those bands were you love the hits but the rest of the album not so much!

Has not aged well. Not to be taken seriously Silly fun

Paria kappaletta enempää ei jaksa kuunnella, vaikka albumilla on hyviä kappaleita.

No joo. Kylhän tää ny menee ja on menny mut kyl muuttu aika renkutukseks pidemmän päälle. Muutama helmi

OGs

It is what it is... not for me. I have the intergalactic album, but never listen to it

Didn't like the random sampling of other bands - CCR, Zeppelin, etc. However, I'd forgotten how many hits they had on this album. The more original songs are still fun to listen to.

moin bien que leur autre album mais sympa quand meme

Decent but overrated

I didn’t like this much when I first came out. Then I kinda got into it for a little while. Listening to it now it just seems very juvenile for the most part a couple of times where they really decided to rock or actually still pretty good at that. And I know this was kind of groundbreaking at the time it came out

Hmm, really like their later stuff but this is too young-guy for me all in.

An enjoyable album, don't need most of the songs in this album, but it's a fun one to just listen to. No need to skip any songs and don't mind listening a couple of times. Some good variety between the songs while still sounding distinctly Beastie Boys. 3/5 stars.

I like Beastie Boys more than I like their music.

At times this was too much and just a lot of NOISE but not always in a good way. But there’s a few classics in there. Equally a few lazy songs in my opinion so a mixed bag.

Covered within the Beastie Boys Discography Draft episode of the Are You Listening? Podcast in 2023.

A fun romp! The hits are some of the better tunes but there's some other good stuff here. Seems like really fun music to make (or see live)

Bratty white parody of hip-hop has gained stature

This album had all of the Beastie Boys songs I know from Girls to No Sleep to Brooklyn. The music is always excellent and the songs are very catchy. I have a lot of nostalgia for the majority of this album. However, I can't lie and say that the Beastie Boys are all that good of singers. They do, at the end of the day, just shout. That doesn't automatically make the album bad, but I can't justify putting it on the same level as albums that had the full package with great lyrics, great music, and great vocals. It's still the best album, in my opinion, the Beastie Boys has to offer and is a really fun listen.

Good old school hip-hop with a clear message in the songs. Brings me back a bit and the songs have a good beat. Don't know if its something I would listen to every day though.

Fine, but nothing more.

Excellent. If you can't enjoy it, lighten up. Maybe it's a bit juvenile, but so are The Ramones. I'm only giving it 3 stars, but it's a fun album, and it was the start of a band that made some great rap music.

Very 80s sounding. Some interesting things going on. Paul Revere was a cool song.

First time listening to this one all the way through. It's an interesting start, but that old-school MC delivery style can get a little repetitive after a while.

loved the sound, but the rampant misogyny was pretty hard to ignore. 3/5

okay, but not really my genre

About the only rap/hip hop album that I can listen to, but even this strains my patience.

Better than the other Beastie Boys album that I had to listen to, but still why so jarring vocals? Please, kendrick lamars style is literally more enjoyable than this, tired of hearing these white kids scream as if that was a form of music

Girls has to be one of the worst songs I've ever heard. However, there's a lot to love here, but it's not necessarily the vocal deliveries. The old school beats, the stripped down 808s, and the rhythms are some of the saving graces of this album. It has a few classics, and it can't be denied how infectious those songs are. 3/5

Although they have a high energy, kind of punk rock spirit, I just can't get into the Beastie Boys nasally, often annoying rapping. I wish I liked this one more, but outside of hits it starts to be grating at album length. Standouts: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Fight For Your Right, Brass Monkey

치기 어린 악동 소년들의 유쾌한 반란이 느껴지는 사운드. 특별함을 느끼기는 어려우나 무려 40년 전의 사운드라는 점은 주목할 만하다.

Bueno

Good beats. Lyrics didn’t hold me

Beastie Boys, banda imprescindible y este debut fue un pelotazo con Fight for your rights. Demostró que el Rap (Hip-hop o como quiera que entonces lo llamáramos) era posible para los blancos y además ser masivo. Venían de Nueva York, y eso en los 80 era una enorme ventaja comercial. También que habñian estado con Madonna, la de principios de los 80, que era otra cosa. De no ser por su ejemplar carrera posterior, podría haberse quedado en una banda one-hit wonder, pero vaya hit. No es desde luego su mejor disco (Ill Comunication, incluso Paul´s Boutique o Hello nasty) pero fue tremendamente influyente y abrió de par en par las puertas del hip-hop al público. Tiene sentido porque luego hicieron Paul´s Boutique y demostraron que no eran flor de un día, sino algo mucho más serio que un grupo de hardcore-rap improvisado. Sacaron 7 singles, algo que asombra hoy en día pero en aquella época se vendían mucho mejor. El resto tiene cosas buenas: No sleep till Brooklyn sigue la misma estela pero con menos acierto, repite Kerry de Slayer e incluso participa el propio Rick Rubin. Hold it Hit it, el primer sencillo, es bastante buena y se sostiene aún hoy en día (sample que también usó después Ini kamoze con éxito), y algún divertimento que se queda en eso: Girls. Ya habían tenido éxito con ese tipo de parodias, por ejemplo con Cooky Puss. Produce un tal Rick Rubin... Como anécdota no se incluyó I'm Down de los Beatles porque Michael Jackson no les dejó, ya que se la había jugado a por entonces su ya no amigo Paul McCartney con los derechos de autor.

There are a lot of Beastie Boys on this list. Not a bad thing, they're fun. The generator has given me all three in reverse chronologically order, so this is my last one on this project. Probably middle of the road out of the three. The three song run of "Girls", "Fight for your Right", and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" was really solid. These guys are so goofy, but the energy really carries them.

Decent album not my thing but some top tunes but a few fillers

The flow and voices are rough but the beats and lyrics are incredible

eu nunca fui mto com a cara do beastie boys mas admito que esse é ok

Nostalgia does a lot for me. We listened to this all the time with our dad as kids, but hearing it in full now, I hear a bunch of kids fooling around. Which is sick, but it sounds unpolished, they hadn't figured it out just yet, but you can feel that they have it.

The lyrics are a little juvenile but, it’s not bad.

Cool album but don’t see myself re-listening much. Beastie Boys got a unique sound though.

Fun album!. But as always, I don't connection that much with music that heavily relies on lyrics rather than music. This is still, musically interesting, just not really my cup of tea. I love the tone on their voices though, really cool. Now I wanna go listen again the "Stutter rap". That was funny af. Oh and I'd like to find "Sabotage" too. I loved that song when I was in high school.

I was a young teenager when this came out, and I remember the fuss it caused. There are a lot of cliches on it, and some of the lyrical content sounds outdated now. The album is mostly a lot of nonsense, but there is a joy in it. It’s party rap. It’s about having a good time which is reflected throughout, most overtly on Fight For Your Right I have no idea if it’s technically good or not, but I like it in a way I have never really liked the Beastie Boys again. Whether that’s nostalgia or because it’s really good, I neither know nor care!

A classic, if a bit juvenile. I had honestly forgotten how great the samples were, though.

Honestly, it's a very rough album until Girls. I like Girls. I did enjoy Time to Get Ill and Brass Monkey, but overall, the album doesn't match with me too well.

Third time this group has popped on this list. The best one I've heard yet, just because it had a bunch of hits on it. But the songs that were new to me were just classic beastie boy sounding songs - meaning they were slowly annoying than anything else. But this is their album that I'm most willing to give another try. Really hope they're done appearing on this list

Positives: Interesting elements. A mixture of rock and hiphop. Groovy, fun to listen to. Makes you want to dance here and there. Good to play the whole album while listening to it in the background. Negatives: Too much switching between the singers (sentence after sentence). A loot of good songs but not one worthy of adding it to favorites (some come close like: she's crafty, no sleep till brooklyn and brass monkey). Hard to remember any lyrics and to sing along. Conclusion: Fun album. Good to listen to all of it at once. Not made to listen to only individual songs.

Lots of shouting with drums and rock vibe.

Who would have thought that when this came out in the mid 80s they would have long careers. There are so many annoying songs on this, namely girls, fight for your right among others. But Paul Revere is awesome and the sampling was smart to draw kids in. This is a 3.5. Can’t give it a 4, so I’ll give a three - but this is a 3.5.

Massively influential, iconic sounds, but just not a fan.

The Good: We’ve been given green light to be sick! The Bad: Turns out that this license has been revoked… The Ugly: Trying to shake off our “ill” feelings… Back in high school, my buddy and I started a hip hop thing, cause we be all cool like that… I forget what we called ourselves, though I am sure that it my name had Double something in it, and his was Triple … Anyway, silly teenage stuff, trying to do body pops, and break dancing, and “browning”, at least, that is what my buddy called the foot shuffly dancing thing… Anyway, he was the one who would buy hip-hop records, and I would be the one listening to it and trying to figure out if there was a future in it for this double something. Now, you know I am no fan of rap, but there are exceptions to this rule, like Public Enemy and Eminem, yet the Beasty Boys, for me, have always been something that wanted to be more then it actually was. This album proves how primitive hip-hop was back in the day, however, it was also filled with a more positive outlook on life, unlike that gangsta shit that followed soon… Going to rank this straight down the middle as I had fun listening to this album for memories sake, but probably won’t be listening to this anytime soon again… 3*

Good sampling

It's okay. Not much else to say about this

Joda

It's OK, but doesn't do much for me

Felt a bit more ready to listen to this after getting Ill Communication about 60 records ago and being pleasantly surprised with it. I feel like the aforementioned may edge it over this one, but I still enjoyed this more than I tend to enjoy rap albums.

I like this but it’s not their best - Paul’s Boutique and Ill Communication are far superior.

4/2/25. The energy and samples used here are fun, really good debut from a legendary group. I thought it was a tad repetitive in the rhymes, but still overall an enjoyable listen.

Ohhh, Beastie Boys.. What is it about you that just doesn't jive with me? I get it. I totally respect it. I dunno, it's like being trapped in a frat house with a boombox that only plays one tape. It’s loud, chaotic, a little misogynistic, and trying so hard to be both funny and badass. There’s energy here but it’s juvenile as hell. It's a time capsule of stuff that aged like milk, me thinks. To me, Beastie Boys are best enjoyed in small doses; a little here, a little there. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions: - Fight For Your Right - No Sleep Till Brooklyn - Brass Monkey

Classic junior high school album with junior high school attitude and intellect. Kicked off a great career and there are so many highs in front of these boys.

I'm a fan of Beastie Boys but an entire album at once is a lot. The production is excellent and their lyrics are pretty fun and clever. Overall enjoyable but, better in small doses.

It's ultimate party music, so full of energy and enthusiasm. As a listening experience, objectively speaking, it's a bit too much in yer face.

An absolutely exhausting album. I don't recommend doing more than one or two songs at a time (zero tracks might be the optional number).