To The 5 Boroughs [Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics]

Beastie Boys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00021LRWM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (495 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,505 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #40 in Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > Old School

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The hiatus is back off, again, for the Beastie Boys, and music lovers will bob their heads with insuppressible glee. With its Nice & Smooth impersonations and shout outs to Brooklyn's Albee Square Mall, To the 5 Boroughs, their first album in six years, harkens the return of the trio to the city that made them who they are today. It's an up-tempo yet surprisingly homogenous assemblage of vintage electro-style party beats, and it's a strictly Beastie affair: the Boys co-wrote and produced each track themselves, which means that it sports none of the sonic fripperies and quirky collaborations that distinguished previous classics such as Paul's Boutique. Finally jelling after two years of on-again, off-again recording, To the 5 Boroughs will appeal to those fans old enough to remember the Licensed to Ill tour. Those old-schoolers are sure to appreciate the album's mostly off-the-cuff lyrics and minimal-to-the-extreme musical landscape--even if its stripped-down sound may leave others longing for the days when the Boys were California dreamin'. --Rebecca Levine

Product Description

The hiatus is back off, again, for the Beastie Boys, and music lovers will bob their heads with insuppressible glee. With its Nice & Smooth impersonations and shout outs to Brooklyn's Albee Square Mall, To the 5 Boroughs, their first album in six years, harkens the return of the trio to the city that made them who they are today. It's an up-tempo yet surprisingly homogenous assemblage of vintage electro-style party beats, and it's a strictly Beastie affair: the Boys co-wrote and produced each track themselves, which means that it sports none of the sonic fripperies and quirky collaborations that distinguished previous classics such as Paul's Boutique. Finally jelling after two years of on-again, off-again recording, To the 5 Boroughs will appeal to those fans old enough to remember the Licensed to Ill tour. Those old-schoolers are sure to appreciate the album's mostly off-the-cuff lyrics and minimal-to-the-extreme musical landscape--even if its stripped-down sound may leave others longing for the days when the Boys were California dreamin'. --Rebecca Levine

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mature but full of energy. July 25, 2004

By Gabriel Perdue

Format:Audio CD

To the 5 Boroughs is an extremely impressive album. On the one hand, it is pure, vintage Beastie Boys. You need only listen to about ten seconds of the album to know that these are the Beastie Boys you know and love. And yet, on the other hand, these are a noticably older, more mature Beastie Boys. The tracks are richer and more complex. Their flows now come gravel voiced and with the authoritztive tones of the elder shamans of rap. But the Beastie Boys have aged like great Scotch. They are still full of energy and carry the same eccentric wit, only know they have become deeper and smoother. These guys are real artists and there is just no denying it.

If you've liked any of their previous albums, I can't imagine not liking this one. I bought it having not heard a single song and haven't regretted it for a second.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars B-Boys Are Like Fine Wine July 10, 2004

By josie doolan

Format:Audio CD

The first time I listened to this album, I'll admit that I didn't really like it but after many spins it finally clicked. Like in all of their albums, Beastie Boys are always one step ahead and it takes a bit of time to adjust because people expect it to sound a certain way, like in Paul's Boutique for example, and even now people are still adjusting to Hello Nasty. But once you do, you'll see it for the masterpiece it really is (or hear for a better use of a word.)

Beastie Boys have gone back to their roots with To The 5 Boroughs, back when hip-hop was all about fun and "Once upon a time on this mic/ M.Cs be really working on what they write" (Right Right Now Now) but at the same time taken it one step forward and raised the bench mark in hip-hop once again. And while it's filled with old-school beats and rhymes, it also has an almost futuristic sound to it, like the computerized voice in "Oh Word?" for one.

The album as a whole is fun and up-beat with witty, humorous 'doo-doo rhymes' that Beastie Boys are famous for such as "I'm a freaky streaker like Winnie the Pooh/ With T-shirt and no pants and I dance the Bugaloo" and "Yo what the falafel? You gotta get up awful early, to fool Mr. Furley/ And that's, word to Aunt Shirley, and you could stick your head in the toilet give yourself a swirlie", using a similiar rhyming style to Run DMC, but it is also filled with so much meaning as well. I mean, just listen to "An Open Letter to NYC" and you can really tell how much pride and love they have for their city.

If you look back to some of their older songs such as 'Alive' you'll see that Beastie Boys already had political views so this is not new.... They are socially conscious and it is hard to ignore the changes that have happened around, and it would especially impact New York, the place they grew up in, so naturally they express their views on the issues that have occurred, because they (surprise, surprise) do have opinion and aren't just puppets in the music industry. But it is not to the point where the album is overtly preachy and has enough party tracks such as Ch-Check it Out, Triple Trouble, Oh Word and the aptly named Hey F@#? You, and as Mike D sings in "It Takes Time To Build", "If you don't like the news then press eject."

As for the music on this album, the beats are hot. They're funky, fresh, energetic and booming, most noticeably in Rhyme the Rhyme Well, It Takes Time To Build, Triple Trouble and An Open Letter To NYC, and if you don't find yourself at least bobbing along I think you need to check your pulse. Mix Master Mike's skills on this album are also amazing and his genius meshes well with these hip-hop veterans.

The rapping skills of King Adrock, M.C.A and Mike D are top-notch and King Adrock proves he really is the King. While he doesn't do any trademark screaming or show the same energy in this album, it has a different sort of energy and is bursting with attitude and diversity, singing his usual higher voice in some songs and lower in others. Mike D has never sounded better either, he really shines on this record, and M.C.A's voice is raspier, which makes him sound even better and he really bites you with it.

So if you want a refreshing, old-school, pure hip-hop album that is real, not fake like a Canal Street watch or the mindless, manufactured 'gangsta rap' out there that is dominating the mainstream, take a listen to this album and expand your mind. Beastie Boys' uniqueness, ability to create different music from the rest and simultaneously never selling out or trying to be 'hip' are some of the many reasons that sets Beastie Boys apart from other bands, why they have been in the biz for so long and why they created such an impact in hip-hop history.

This album is yet another example of their genuis and is hip-hop at its purest. If you don't like it at first, listen to it a few more times so you can take it all in and see it for what it really is. I guarantee you that this album, while it may not be a Paul's Boutique (but then again, what is?) it is certainly not a dud and is better than 95% of the music out there. This album proves that like fine wine, Beastie Boys only get better with age.
-Josie Read more ›

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Where are all the cool & LOYAL b-boy fans? February 1, 2005

By me 'n izzyb

Format:Audio CD

Come on, if you ever listened to Check your Head in high school - Paul's Boutique _ or any of their albums for that matter. Demos and Outtakes was a personal fav. - You have to LOVE them. Sure they are outraged about what happened to NYC, it is their home. I lived there when 9/11 happened and get what they are saying to all the new yorkers...Sure, they bash Bush, that is only because they are cool as hell and smart enough to see the truth in the world.. I think this album is in reaction to 9/11 in a way. They are older, wiser, still amazing, sexy and cool ARTISTS. Artists create things of importance. I was so refreshed to hear this album because it made me feel less alone - it actually gave me hope in a time when the world seems to have gone conservative and crazy. I love it.

Not to mention, there are loads of things that make me laugh out loud in the car when I am listening to it. MCA's smooth and he is sexy (freshly dressed) as hell, Adrock is cute and silly as hell - and Mike D is just hilarious and great, as always. ie..."Riunite on Ice" - like its so classy, that is hilarious and classic beasties humor and "The truth is brutal, you'r grandmas coo-coo " - HA! and "I'm the one who one that dance contest 'cause you know I dance the best.." who else can pull this off? The wit..Anyway, They felt they had to speak up- and I for one am thrilled (even if it does make the album dated sooner than later, it will be historical) they had something important to say so "If you dont like the news then press eject" people.

Back when they made music with a perhaps lighter tone the world was different and they were younger with less pressing things on their minds. But they were still very much politically aware (esp. about racism, classism).... Anyone who just wants some mindless booty shaking should just listen to pop. These are the people that were never true Beastie fans, they just got on the bandwagon back when they were really popular and went to lalapalooza or whatever, like '96-ish? perhaps? Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sha-zammm! July 21, 2004

By sam paul

Format:Audio CD

I gotta say I was hesitant to buy "To the 5 Boroughs" when I heard the B-Boys were going to do a CD heralding a return to their roots. Would the Beasties still have enough mad skills to stack up in the newest evolution of hip-hop? Would a return to immaturity mean they have abandoned the evolutionary path of growth their fans have grown to love?

I'm glad to say "To the 5 Boroughs" is another 1st-rate high-quality Beastie Boys disc. This could have been the second album that they never released. The missing link between that unimaginable growth spurt they took from "Licensed to Ill" to the under-appreciated genius that is "Paul's Boutique". "To the 5 Boroughs" has an old skool vibe but it's the bigger (& better) brother of the orginal New York rhyme styles that put them on the map. Only this time the music is theirs, the lyrics have hidden maturity and the collage of music has depth.