Ch-Check It Out - 3
Right Right Now Now - 4
3 The Hard Way - 3
Time To Build - 4
Rhyme The Rhyme Well - 3
Triple Trouble - 3
Hey Fuck You - 4
Oh Word? - 3
That's It That's All - 3
All Lifestyles - 3
Shazam! - 3
An Open Letter To NYC - 3
Crawlspace - 2
The Brouhaha - 2
We Got The - 3
Total - 46 stars / 15 tracks = 3.07 stars
The last time I listened to the Beastie Boys was when I reviewed their complition "The Sounds Of Science," which covered most of their career leading up to 1999's "Hello Nasty." Half a decade was relatively good to the Boys, as their sound has matured and refined. The forced similes comparing life situations to pop culture is still there, but why change now?
The album also has a bit of a political edge to it, specifically calling out and criticizing the Bush administration. This is just a year after similar comments brought hate mail and death threat to the Dixie Chicks. The best song on the album that deals with social issues is "Time To Build," which laments how easy it is to unmake positive social change, especially considering how hard it is to create.
My other favourite track, "Hey, Fuck You!" is an unrelenting, but still playful attack on somebody. Not really knowing their history or grudges, there's not point in my speculating who it's directed at, but its poignancy suggests that there is a specific target in mind. Feel free to join in the debate here.
Toward the end, we start falling into recent habits of weaker rhymes being overshadowed by excessive effects. Nonetheless, I'd say it's probably a step in a good direction if I liked this single release more than their last compilation.
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