To the 5 Boroughs

Ten years ago this month the Beastie Boys released their latest studio album titled To the 5 Boroughs.  Fans waited patiently for this release as this one took nearly six years to come out after their previous studio album Hello Nasty.  It’s a fantastic album from front to end that is wrapped in a stylistic CD sleeve and has lyrics that some might think would never come from a group known for its childish mischief and nonsense video interviews.  I want to celebrate this album on its tenth anniversary by looking back at it and describe what makes it a favorite of mine.

The six years between Hello Nasty (1998) and To the 5 Boroughs (2004) was a long one.  Many things happened during that period which would be used as fuel for the team for their lyrics.  Lyrics that would be different when even compared to Hello Nasty.  But they gave us some good tracks to listen to from Hello Nasty during the wait to keep us occupied.  Not only did fans of the group love tracks like “Intergalactic” and “Body Movin'”, but top 40 stations were playing them too.  Heck, I heard more radio play of Fatboy Slim’s remix of “Body Movin'” from a local radio station than I did of the original.  The music videos were also still top notch for the Beastie Boys by creating comical scenes like a giant robot fighting a monster and a parody of a spy film from 1968 called Danger: Diabolik.

Spring 2004 was when we heard the first single from To the 5 Boroughs.  It would be the opening track: "Ch-Check It Out."  This was a high energy song both instrumental and lyrical.

Hype for the Beastie Boys was strong at this point.  All rock/alternative radio stations in my area had this track on high repeat, and this wasn’t a bad thing because the song was so fantastic as was “Intergalactic” during the lead up to the release of Hello Nasty.  If this was a taste of things to come, we were all in for a real treat.

This would be the first album that was produced solely by the Beastie Boys.  Mario Caldato, Jr. would not be producing the album, breaking his tradition of producing the group since Paul's Boutique (1989).  Returning to this album would be Mix Master Mike.  As before, he would be the DJ for the group, improving on what he did during Hello Nasty with his techniques like the tweak scratch.

June 15, 2004 is the day when the album would be released.  Everyone was excited to grab a copy of it.  When you did, you’d notice a lot of quality went into the package of the album.  For the time, CD sleeves were replacing the traditional CD jewel case.  This is what they used and they added their own touch to it.  When you held onto the sleeve, you didn’t feel the traditional glossy cardboard.  Instead, you immediately felt the texture was rough like some leather bound object, giving the album some classy appeal.  The album art was also something to marvel at.  Artist Matteo Pericoli hand drew the skyline of Manhattan from the perspective of the East River.  On the front and back, you can see a continuous drawing of the southern tip of Manhattan.  But when you open up the CD sleeve, it unfolds many times over itself to reveal the drawing continues on all the way to Queensboro Bridge!  This is basically half of Manhattan Island!  The drawing itself is inspired by one of his works called Manhattan Unfurled.  If you look close enough, you could see the drawing lines may not be their straightest, but because he included incredible details of what seems like every window on every skyscraper that the straightness of the lines don’t matter.  It’s a beautiful drawing to say the least.

There are a total of fifteen songs for the album.  This is significantly lower compared to the previous three albums where the number was in the twenties.  But with this release, there are no instrumental-only tracks.  Lyrics are heard from beginning to end and some messages are new to what the group normally raps about.

Of course, this album contains songs where they talk smack and describe how they’re the best out there.  You couldn’t have a Beastie Boy’s album that didn’t have them dissing others in the hip-hop scene, right?  Some of this can be heard from songs like “3 the Hard Way,” “Rhyme the Rhyme Well,” and “Shazam!”  "Ch-Check It Out" starts the album off by telling the listener they’re back and ready to blow the hinges off.  If you’re a fan, you’ll love tracks like these.

“Rhyme the Rhyme Well” has that classic passing the mic feel to it where each says their name before they start their own verse of the song.  The most positive and uplifting song on the album is probably “All Lifestyles.”  It notes how you should just be yourself and have fun.  I love, love “Triple Trouble” for both its sound and lyrics.  It’s a fun song to listen to and the music video for this is great (more on this later).

Somewhat new to the group for lyrics are opinions regarding politics.  Peppered throughout To the 5 Boroughs are songs that are politically engaged.  Most of it is regarding the Bush administration and the groups dislike of his option to go to war.  The track that shows this the most would be "It Takes Time to Build."

"Right Right Now Now" is one that discusses problems with society such as gun control and racism.  This is the second song from the album, but there is another tack that I feel supplements this song well and it’s the last track titled "We Got The."  It is basically a message noting we can change the direction from the negative course they felt the country was in at the time -- "Who got the power to make a change? Who got the power to make a difference? We got the, we got the, we got the."

"An Open Letter to NYC" is a heartfelt song for the city where all three members of the group are from.  A few references of 9/11 are in this, but the majority of it is a general love letter to NYC.  They note a number of things in this song including locations, routes they would travel around in the city, and their past experiences growing up there.

An album isn’t complete without some music videos, and To the 5 Boroughs definitely delivers on them.  Like the first single, the video for "Ch-Check It Out" came out before the album was released.  With it, you get the groups funny side where they dress up in many silly getups, wear moustaches, and disturb a city block when they’re trying to film their music video; only to get interrupted by old ladies, joggers, and yuppies.  Another great video is for “Triple Trouble” where the group is kidnapped by Sasquatch (he is also the reason why they were gone for six years).  The whole video is hilarious, especially the dream sequence towards the end.

"An Open Letter to NYC" was also given a music video.  I like how they traveled to each of the boroughs and showed the culture of the city.  "Right Right Now Now," "Rhyme the Rhyme Well," and "Shazam!" all have music videos, too.  All this brings the total count of music videos for To the 5 Boroughs to six!  "Right Right Now Now" is visually a neat one to watch because they heavily use the bullet time visual effect in the middle of Time Square.  As a side note, all videos were done by my favorite music video director, Nathanial Hörnblowér.

In true Beastie Boys style, sampling is used pretty heavily with this release (but nowhere near the amount of samples from Paul's Boutique where the samples were in the hundreds!).  For some notable examples, “3 the Hard Way” has a sample of LL Cool J from "El Shabazz"; "Rhyme the Rhyme Well" includes Chuck D from Public Enemy with the song “Public Enemy No. 1”; and “Shazam!” has Kool & the Gang’s “Open Sesame” (Freeeeeeeeek out with the genie!!!).  Samples were taken over a span of many decades, but you can hear a lot of retro samples of ‘70s funk -- which I believe is their favorite decade and genre of choice.  Some recent samples are found too like 50 Cent for "An Open Letter to NYC."

Compared to their earlier albums, To the 5 Boroughs didn’t sell as much, but it did hit number 1 on many charts and did get Platinum status from the RIAA, so it’s not like it’s a failure or anything.  In addition, it was received well by critics too, but it was noted that some didn’t care for the political stuff on the album.  And I understand their criticism, but at the same time, a group of rappers in their 40s still creating lyrics about drinking, vandalism, and frat boy type behaviors would be more off putting.  Having said some of that, I love this album a lot and it still gets a constant bit of playtime when I listen to my music collection.

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