What If ALL Of Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique Was A Video? (Video)
File this under: “What Makes The Internet Amazing: August 2014.”
Twenty five years later, so much can be said about The Beastie Boys’ sophomore album, Paul’s Boutique. The Def Jam Records departure found the Downtown/Brooklyn, New York trio out west, living in a Hollywood hills estate, eating fast food burgers animal-style, chasing sun-kissed women, wearing “borrowed” vintage clothing, and getting dusted. “Dusted” can refer to many things, but for the sake of this point, Heads can assume we’re referring to MCA (R.I.P.), Mike D, and Ad-Rock onetime running in with The Dust Brothers.
The duo of E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo had mad garnered success in Hip-Hop, producing for Young MC and Tone-Loc on the skyrocketing Delicious Vinyl Records imprint. Former Hip-Hop college radio DJs, Mike and Giz’ had a “knowhow” (pun intended) for combining early Rap, samples, and otherwordly sources in making back-to-the-future-sounding jams. Never responsible for a full album, the tandem joined the Beasties to fill the void left by Rick Rubin at Def Jam. The results were a double-platinum LP featuring 104 samples (at last count), including 24 on “B-Boy Bouillibaisse” alone.
As the Beasties’ sound, fashion, and overall aesthetic changed from 1986’s Licensed To Ill, Capitol Records needed visuals to show this to the masses, Hip-Hop heads and others alike. With four videos made (packaged on their subsequent Anthology and Skills To Pay The Bills home video releases), Paul’s Boutique is as visual as it is audio. In honor of the recent July 25 25th anniversary of the LP, a website, PaulsBoutiqueAVC.com (Paul’s Boutique A Visual Companion) filled in the blanks for 53 minutes of mixed media, the perfect complement to an album that melted Hip-Hop’s face-off, and logistically could never be made again for retail purchase.
Did any Hip-Hop artist or group make a bigger leap from their first to second album than the Beasties?
Bonus Beat: Check out Ad-Rock’s recent remix of Harlem’s Ratking.