Beastie Boys were always around when I was growing up. This song was a mainstay at grade schools dances, pretty much tailor made for it, with its beats that made young white kids wanna pretend they knew how to break dance and those ebullient voices of the Beasties. Later, the group was a constant presence on the VH1 "nostalgia" shows I used to watch obsessively in high school, whether for "Fight For Your Right" or "Sabotage." This one was always the one that distilled their essence for me. Maybe even a bit basic by their standards, ti was still a lean mean radio-ready rap hit with a ton of clever lyrics and a sick flow. These three guys interplay off each other like nothing else. Their voices, their energy, belongs together.
The utterly invaluable folks at Rap Genius note the thread of humility and pacifism in MCA's lyrics: "Too sweet to be sour / Too nice to be mean / With the tough guy style I'm not too keen / I'm trying to change the world, gonna plot and scheme." Amidst all the boasting and references, (culminating in comparing himself to Spock) there's an undercurrent of social awareness, one the audience might be forgiven for missing, but these are guys, especially Adam Yauch, who cared what message they put out.
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