![]() One of the things the boys always do well is meter out instrumentals, giving their albums a good stride and pace, and on Hello Nasty these are expertly timed in, almost giving the listener a break from all the crazy. ![]() “Intergalactic,” the big single, aside from being a synth-soaked and bass-rattling piece of time-displaced Beasties genius, also provided with one of the band’s most beloved cuts. “Unite” also features a spacey and warped out synth line, brought to life by Mix Master Mike’s animalistic scratching and one of the dearly departed MCA’s finest bars: “ I got books with hooks and looks like rain/ Will someone on the Knicks please drive the lane?” The Beasties have always been well regarded for their video content and Hello Nasty proved to be a rich and fertile ground for them. Some critics praised the production of the record and said the lyrical content was unsurprising, but frankly, any album that features the phrase, “ I’m the king of Boggle/ There is none higher/ I catch 11 points off the word quagmire” doesn’t have to prove itself to anyone, as “Putting Shame in Your Game” does with its ominous click track production, sounding like the RZA dodging laser blasts. “The Grasshopper Unit (Keep Movin’)” features slick, bass-heavy production and opens with a reference to someone “ Thurston Howlin’,” which proves the boys hadn’t lost any sense of their playfulness. Hello Nasty is almost the perfect storm of a Beastie Boys record, in that it’s a thorough meshing of every iteration – their grungy debut, the variety of samples and sequencing from Paul’s Boutique as well as their instrumental prowess and experimentation from the Check Your Head and Ill Communication era. Their 1998 release Hello Nasty was met with solid sales and critical acclaim, but has been direly overlooked in favor of older records and their 21st century comeback, To the 5 Boroughs. While Paul’s did the rare thing of breaking the sophomore slump and establishing the group’s legitimacy, their catalog only evolved and refined since them. The raw energy and eclectically tight smash-up of samples that the Dust Bros laced the boys with was only a stepping stone, albeit a brilliant one. ![]() Not to make it sound like they’ve been derivative: quite the opposite. Since its release, Brooklyn’s Beastie Boys’ masterpiece has influenced the sound of hip-hop for two decades and counting, as well as their own internal sense of composition. Paul’s Boutique must be the most successful fake business of all time. ![]() Revisit is a series of reviews highlighting past releases that now deserve a second look. ![]()
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