Hello Nasty

Performer: Beastie Boys
Artist: Miho Hatori; Jill Cunniff; Money Mark; Joe Locke; Mix Master Mike; Eric Bobo; Biz Markie; Lee "Scratch" Perry
Engineer: Suzanne Dyer; Mario Caldato, Jr.; Steve Revitte
Producer: Mario Caldato, Jr.; Beastie Boys
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: The Beastie Boys: MCA, Mike D, Adrock. Additional personnel includes: Miho Hatori, Brooke Williams, Biz Markie, Jill Cunniff, Lee "Scratch" Perry (vocals); Brian Wright (violin, viola); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Steve Slagle (flute); Paul Vercesi (alto saxophone); Nelson Keane Carse (trombone); Mark Nishita (keyboards); Joe Locke (vibraphone); Eric Bobo, Richard "Sammy's Dad" Siegler, Duduka (percussion); Robert Perlman (drum programming); Mix Master Mike (DJ). HELLO NASTY won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. "Intergalactic" won the 1999 Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. Personnel: Brooke Williams, Jill Cunniff, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Miho Hatori (vocals); Brian G. Wright (violin, viola); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Steve Slagle (flute); Paul Vercesi (alto saxophone); Nelson Keane Carse (trombone); Money Mark (keyboards); Joe Locke (vibraphone); Eric Bobo, Richard Siegler, Duduka (percussion). DJ: Mix Master Mike. Recording information: Dungeon, New York, NY (1995-1998); G-Son Studios, Los Angeles, CA (1995-1998); Ted Diamon's House Of Hits (1995-1998); Tree House, New York, NY (1995-1998). Photographer: Michael Lavine. Unknown Contributor Roles: Pair Extroidinaire; Ed Durlacher; Pat Shannahan; Alex Bradford & Company; Dean Jones & Company; Les Baxter; Los Angeles Negros; Nine; Run-D.M.C.; The Jazz Crusaders; Barbara Lynn; Leopold Stokowski. On their fifth album and first proclamation in four years, the Beasties pledge allegiance to the next millennium while rocking out old-school stylee. Instead of pretentiously haphazard schizophrenia, Adrock, Mike D and MCA mold Run DMC boasts, Lee Perry dub freestyles, and introspective acoustic strumming into the best album-cum-mix-tape of the first half of '98. NASTY is the true successor to their sampledelic fantasia PAUL'S BOUTIQUE, as realized by craftsmen looking to do more than just get crazy with the sonic cheese whiz. "Super Disco Breakin'," "Body Movin'," etc. are all first-rate party jams that the trio can probably come up with in their sleep. It's when the Beasties look towards the new school that the artistic flipping of the script begins. Not just in the lyrics, which are expansively conscious in nature and politically literate in content, but sonically as well. The jr. drum-and-bass of "Flowin' Prose" and MCA's acoustic singer/songwriter turn on "I Don't Know" point in directions at once completely incompatible and positively natural. Just like their mate Beck, it is the diversity of styles that the Beasties are prophesizing as the key to the future--so long as that diversity's in the shadow of the old school.

Rolling Stone (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Beasties stir-fry all kinds of beats in their wok, from old-school hip-hop and head-checking punk to bossa nova and reggae..." Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.66) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (8/6/98) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...the collaboration that Black Flag and De La Soul might have made, mixing jaunty samples and esoteric beats with punk-guitar crunch....Hip-hop hasn't unleashed anything this fantastically dense since the heyday of De La and Public Enemy..." Spin (1/99, p.91) - Ranked #10 on Spin's list of "Top 20 Albums of '98." Spin (8/98, pp.135-136) - 7 (out of 10) - "...HELLO NASTY...is filled with so much money-makin' and disco-breakin' on and on till the breakadawn, you'd think we'd taken the way-back machine into the early Kangol era. Yet such recapping doesn't sound even faintly kitschy. More like a labor of love by three premillennial mensches laying their roots down: a B-boy Anthology of New York Folk Music..." Entertainment Weekly (7/17/98, pp.81-82) - "...a sonic smorgasbord in which the Beasties gorge themselves with reckless abandon...The melange makes for a looser, more free-spirited record than their earlier albums; the music invites you in, rather than threatening to shut you out..." - Rating: B+ Mixmag (1/99, p.49) - Included in Mixmag's "Ten Best Albums of 98" - "...electro-tinged beats and whiney rapping..." CMJ (1/6/03, p.18) - Included in CMJ's list of "Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time" CMJ (1/11/99, p.5) - "...The chart-topping album finds the Beasties re-enhancing the three-way rhyme antics of their LICENSED TO ILL days using soulsonic electro-funk, cheeky bossa nova, Rachmaninoff loops and some death defying turntable moves..." The Source (9/98, p.256) - "...What underlies the Beastie sound, and ultimately their widespread appeal, is their obvious appreciation of other music....Mike's scratches add another layer to the album's mighty production..." Rap Pages (11/98, p.130) - 4 (out of 5) - "...HELLO NASTY continues their musical reign...Lyrically, they deliver their made-for-concert verses in perfect unison..." Q (Magazine) (p.134) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Recorded back in New York and acknowledging that the most powerful tracks on ILL COMMUNICATION were the ones where they stepped up to the mic, it marked a partial return to basics..."

In the mid-1980s, the idea of white middle-class Jewish rappers may have provoked laughter or outright disdain, but the Beastie Boys' albums and singles have shown that they are anything but a joke. After hip-hop and rock fused into the music of choice for rebellious American youth, it became increasingly clear that the Beastie Boys deserved to be regarded as true musical innovators. The release of 1989's PAUL'S BOUTIQUE began the Beasties' transition from lewd, party-seeking prankers to sophisticated, party-throwing sonic pioneers, with band members ditching the six-packs and gold chains in favor of Buddhism and social activism. The trio's newfound maturity and good-natured vibe only enhanced their success, leading to a continued streak of hit albums. Not bad for three New York City weisenheimers.

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