Solid Gold Hits

So time to flip the blog upside down for a bit and feature some Hip Hop. Yes that's right. Don't worry it's just the Beastie Boys though. So take a trip down with three guys from Brooklyn who taught us Hip Hop could be goofy.

The Beastie Boys oddly enough started out as a Hardcore Punk band in the early 80's before transitioning to Hip Hop and becoming one of the best selling artists of the genre. MCA, Ad Rock,  and Mike D started out down the Hip Hop trail in '83, employing at one point a young DJ by the name of Rick Rubin. Rubin of course later would produce bands and form Def Jam Recordings. The band supported Madonna, Public Image Ltd, and Fishbone during the early years before releasing their debut record 'Licensed To Ill' in '86. Over the next two decades the band would go from goofballs to standing up for political issues. The constant thing was the epic and glorious music videos. From "You Gotta Fight" which featured a then young unknown MTV news anchor Tabitha Soren, to "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" which featured Slayer Guitarist Kerry King, to the made for TV video "Sabotage", the band never lacked creativity. Sadly MCA passed away at the young age of 47 in '12 from Cancer. The band vowed to put the band to bed and never perform under the Beastie Boys name again. For me the Beastie Boys were never really a true Hip Hop group, there were too many elements of Punk/Metal/Hardcore fused in for it to be true Hip Hop. In any case enjoy 'Solid Gold Hits' the last Best Of collection that was released in '05.

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