In 1989, The Beastie Boys released Paul's Boutique. It was the follow up from their first album, License to Ill, which introduced the world to what was termed "Frat Rap." It made them huge stars, allowed them to tour with Run DMC and Madonna, and basically moved Rap more into the mainstream. But things weren't going right. They split with their producer, Rick Rubin, and left Def Jam records to sign with Capital and moved out to LA for a bit. While there they decided to record an album with The Dust Brothers, a producing duo who basically were compiling beats to make their first record. The Beastie Boys convinced them to use the beats for Paul's Boutique. The result was a masterpiece of samples and layering of sound that is extremely complex.
This album could not be done today. You see, there was a lawsuit filed in 1991, Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. Basically, Biz Markie was sued by Gilbert O'Sullivan (perhaps the whitest man ever sampled in a rap album) for use of a sample of the song, "Alone Again (Naturally)" for his song "Alone Again". The defense actually argued that the case should be thrown out because illegal sampling was so rampant and everyone was doing it. (That line never worked with my mother, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't going to fly in a court of law.)
Back to the Beastie Boys. They sampled everyone, including the untouchable Beatles. (On one of their songs, "The Sounds of Science," they actually sampled FIVE Beatles songs. ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "When I'm 64", "Sgt. Pepper's (reprise)", "Back in the USSR", and "The End".) The Beatles apparently filed preliminary legal papers about this, leading to a great quote from Mike D: "What's cooler than being sued by The Beatles?"
I think "Shake Your Rump" is the best song off the album. (Followed by "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" and "Hey Ladies" solely for the reference to Sodaharu Oh, the Japanese Baseball Legend.) It has great samples, and the bass line works brilliantly. Plus the lyrics are fantastic. The Brady Bunch reference always makes me laugh, as does Mike D saying his real name is Clarence. (Reminiscent of Walt Frazier going by Clyde.) The song moves quickly, with some breaks, but is an assault on your ears as you try to figure out what the samples are, and how they all fit together. Chuck D even said that the dirty secret in Hip Hop back then was that the Beastie Boys had the best beats. That's some high praise, considering he was working with The Bomb Squad, one of the best in the business.
You might like this song, you might not. Paul's Boutique was considered a flop when it first came out. No one was ready for it. Almost 25 years later, though, it still sounds great. Maybe we just had to catch up to the sound. Like the song says, "It's the joint!"
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