Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (April 21, 1992)

In honor of the new book from Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, Beastie Boys Book, today’s post will get back to the discography of the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, New York City's very own Beastie Boys. I haven’t had a chance to read the book as of yet, but based on the group’s videos, musical output, and all of the general bullshit they managed to do during their tenure prior to disbanding in 2012 after band member Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away, it has to be well worth reading.

It may have taken them three years to replenish all of the samples they burned for their sophomore effort Paul’s Boutique (a modern day motherfucking classic), but the Boys returned in 1992 with their third effort, Check Your Head. As with all of their other work, it was critically successful, with special attention given to the fact that group members Mike D, Ad-Rock, and the late MCA all chose to play their own instruments on the project, instead of laying atop sample after sample like a "Princess and the Pea"-type situation. It’s likely held in much higher regard than it was in 1992, back when everyone was expecting the Boys to release another rap album, as opposed to this genre mishmash of hip hop, punk, and alt-rock, which would have received a much warmer reception today, because that’s how much music has evolved. It still sold more than one million units, although it took the group roughly six years to manage that accomplishment, but the Beasties have never been the guys to hang diamond plaques in their foyers next to their fountains spewing Pink Champale.

Ditching the Paul’s Boutique format, the Beastie Boys replaced production team the Dust Brothers with Mario Caldato, Jr., who had actually produced an interlude on that previous effort. The majority of the songs feature King Ad-Rock on either the guitar or on the turntables, MCA on bass guitar, and Mike D playing the drums, along with contributions from other musicians, most notably frequent collaborator Money Mark. The shift to playing their own instruments gave Check Your Head a surprising amount of depth, showcasing the versatility of the Boys while causing listeners to pay closer attention to the performances, as it became clear with this project that the Beasties were in it for the long haul, which one certainly could not have predicted after listening to Licensed To Ill.

Check Your Head is the Beastie Boys’ third full-length album, and their second on Capitol Records, the label they defected to after having released their (rap) debut on Def Jam Records. It still incorporates samples in very creative ways, because this is still the Beastie Boys we’re discussing here, but over the course of twenty tracks, our hosts find inspiration in many different sources, with many of the songs running for less than two minutes as the Boys felt the need to get as many of these ideas out of their respective heads as quickly as possible before moving on to the next one. This gives Check Your Head the energetic feel of a spontaneous jam session, although that obviously couldn’t be what this is, as that would be foolish. 

Through sheer chance, Check Your Head was released a mere eight days before the infamous Los Angeles riots ignited by the acquittal of the four police officers that beat Rodney King and the murder of ninth-grader Latasha Harris, so the musical landscape shifted very quickly after the album hit store shelves, which led to much more pointed, angry, political hip hop from the likes of Ice Cube and, later that year, Dr. Dre, among many others. This has nothing to do with the Beastie Boys, although Dre has repeatedly given interviews stating that the Boys influenced his work, but I thought it was important for historical context. Had the events in Los Angeles never happened, who knows what hip hop would look like today.

I don’t want to write any more paragraphs here – you can find more info about Check Your Head online. I just want us to get to the fucking music already. R.I.P. MCA.

1. JIMMY JAMES

Although it was later released as a single, “Jimmy James” functions at its most optimal level as a rap album intro, albeit one that features a bit of rapping from our hosts. There’s more of an emphasis on the actual music playing here: the Beasties take up less than a third of the track’s run time with their vocals. Said music is pretty catchy, though: funky and playful, with just enough for a casual hip hop head to grasp on to, while our hosts’ lyrics are as energetic and goofy as always. I’m always down for MCA to reference his “ear goggles”, so ultimately this worked for me. Not sure why it was selected to be a single, though.

2. FUNKY BOSS

More of an interlude than anything else (there’s going to be a lot of that on Check Your Head), “Funky Boss” is a showcase for our hosts to play their instruments with minimal vocal interruption. There’s no actual point to this track: the guys are just fucking around here. But it makes for a nice breather.

3. PASS THE MIC

The first single, and what a perfect choice this was, as its sample-heavy sound serves as a bridge between Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head. MCA, Mike D, and Ad-Rock literally pass the microphone around throughout, rapping catchy-if-empty lines over a slew of samples cribbed from other tracks, most notably Johnny “Hammond” Smith’s “Big Sur Suite”, which was used more extensively later that year for Dr. Dre’s “A N---a Witta Gun” off of The Chronic. Although the Beasties’ vibe is playful and such, the underlying instrumental plays as darker and sinister, which only ramps up the shared DNA with their previous album. If you enjoyed Paul’s Boutique as much as I did, you will like “Pass The Mic”. No bullshit.

4. GRATITUDE

In case anybody still reading today’s write-up had forgotten about the Beasties’ roots as a punk band, “Gratitude” serves as a genial reminder. Also released as a single despite its relatively short run time (which is so punk of them *insert eye roll here*), “Gratitude” was sent to rock radio stations, instead of those inclined to play hip hop, as the distorted bass that serves as the foundation for the music underneath tends to play better top that crowd. The lyrics, as simple as they are, approach something approximating depth, which was a nice touch, but it wasn’t necessary when the music itself is the selling point.

5. LIGHTEN UP

Sound-wise, “Lighten Up” is the polar opposite of “Gratitude”, likely because our hosts take the titular advice here. Again, this plays more as an interlude than a proper song, but while a reprieve was welcome, I don’t really give a shit about this track, as I feel it disrupts the flow of the project as a whole. Which is as punk as one can be, sure, but nah.

6. FINGER LICKIN’ GOOD

I can get behind this one. “Finger Lickin’ Good” is a duet between MCA and Mike D, who trade off bars while Ad-Rock lays in some scratches in the background. Even with just the two of them rapping, the chemistry remains energetic and excitable, as they’re clearly loving playing off one another. The music underneath is merely alright, as it’s nondescript enough to stay out of the way of our hosts on the microphone, and the samples used blend together well, aside from the line swiped from Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, which comes in toward the end and is a bit jarring if you’re not expecting it to happen. Still works pretty well today, though.

7. SO WHAT’CHA WANT

Even though “So What’cha Want” was the second single from Check Your Head, I have a feeling that those of you two reading this write-up today will fall into one of two categories: those who know this song because of its inclusion in Rock Band 2, and those of you who are more familiar with the DJ Muggs remix that threw his Cypress Hill bandmate B-Real into the mix for no reason. And I like Muggerud’s blunted take, too, but the original version is the way to go, folks. “So What’cha Want” sets the tone for Check Your Head, with its distorted rap vocals and fuzzy guitar informing the listener that this isn’t, in fact, Paul’s Boutique II: Even Boutiquier. I’ve always liked how the Boys threw that organ into the beat, and while I dig the performances of all three of our hosts, I always enjoyed Mike D’s “illest motherfucker from here to Gardena” line, because I’m four years old and I think cursing is funny. I’m not discounting the Soul Assassins mix in any way, however: you should probably just listen to both and make up your own mind.

8. THE BIZ VS. THE NUGE (FEAT. BIZ MARKIE)

Given the Beasties’ liberal, peaceful vibe, I imagine that this interlude, on which guest star Biz Markie croons over a sample from known conservative fuckboy Ted Nugent’s “Home Bound”, wouldn’t have made the final cut had Check Your Head been released at any point in the past decade. For what it’s worth, though, I always skip this shit whenever it pops up, so.

9. TIME FOR LIVIN’

A kind-of awesome cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Time For Living”, one which lives atop a fucking fire bass riff that plays as much more of a throwback to the Beasties’ days playing tiny clubs and bingo halls as a punk band than “Gratitude” ever could, and I like “Gratitude”. This one’s just fun, you two.

10. SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE

Musically, there’s some interesting stiff on “Something’s Got To Give”, as our hosts blend live instrumentation with some sound bites from their own live shows. But overall, this didn’t do all that much for me. I found the distorted vocals more annoying than anything else.

11. THE BLUE NUN

Another interlude.

12. STAND TOGETHER

Meh.

13. POW

Decent enough, but this mostly-instrumental track is a bit too jam band-esque for my personal taste.

14. THE MAESTRO

Kicks off with a voicemail that serves as an alleged follow-up to the “Ask For Janice” interlude from Paul’s Boutique, and only grows sillier from there. “The Maestro” shifts Check Your Head back into hip hop mode, as our hosts drop their boasts-n-bullshit with aplomb. The Beasties sound much more aggressive on “The Maestro”, but they haven’t dropped the goofiness and random pop culture references that are prevalent throughout their catalog. A nice late-game gem for those of you two who prefer to hear our hosts actually spit, but for the rest of us, it’s merely okay.

15. GROOVE HOLMES

An instrumental tribute to the late organist “Groove” Holmes. I don’t feel any further description is necessary here.

16. LIVE AT P.J.’S

I enjoyed the live show feel the instrumentation gives to this song, and our hosts are back on their bullshit lyric-wise (that was intended to be a compliment), but the actual music underneath all of this wasn’t very engaging for me.

17. MARK ON THE BUS

Interlude…

18. PROFESSOR BOOTY

The final single released from Check Your Head features Ad-Rock talking about nothing, Mike D belatedly responding after former labelmate LL Cool J accused the Beastie Boys of influencing certain venues to not book other hip hop acts, and MCA completely trashing MC Serch (of 3rd Bass). That last part is the most notable aspect of “Professor Booty”, an otherwise low-key affair with a bland instrumental. The Beasties sound fine, but MCA goes in to a degree he hadn’t accomplished until now. Serch definitely pissed him off. Come for the beef, but don’t stick around for the song itself, as it’s merely okay.

19. IN 3’S

Another instrumental track, although this one was pretty catchy, to be fair.

20. NAMASTÉ

Check Your Head ends with “Namasté”, a glorified outro on which MCS recites some of his poetry over the Beasties’ instrumental track. I applaud these guys for doing something different here, but unless you’re just fiending for a bit of poetry this evening, there’s no real need to visit “Namasté” more than the once.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Check Your Head is most certainly not Paul’s Boutique, but it also isn’t Licensed To Ill. The Beastie Boys pride themselves on switching things up a bit on every project just to keep things interesting, even if just for themselves, a feeling I can absolutely relate to. I found myself missing the sample-heavy pastiche of their magnum opus, but Check Your Head has plenty of entertaining moments, and the fact that Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock wanted to play their own instruments for the majority of the project represents both growth and a nod to their punk past. "Real" hip hop fanatics may be upset that Check Your Head isn’t exactly a “pure” rap album, although there is obviously some shit on here that they’ll gravitate toward, including two of the best rap songs in the Beasties’ catalog. But if you tend to get bored easily, Check Your Head shifts gears enough to maintain your attention throughout. I wouldn’t personally rate it as high as some of these other critics, and some of it didn’t hold up well for me in 2018, but I still enjoyed a lot of Check Your Head. You, however, may not, especially if you prefer lyrics with substance, or rap albums that don’t incorporate guitars into the mix, or rappers who don’t act like frat bros even when they had left that phase two projects prior. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you already like the Beastie Boys, you’ll find a lot to like here, but if you aren’t familiar with their work, this is not your gateway, and it should not be treated as such.

BUY OR BURN?l BURN? The first half of Check Your Head is strong enough to warrant a purchase. The rest of the album, however, may test your patience, so consider yourself warned.

BEST TRACKS: “Pass The Mic”; “So What’cha Want”; “Time For Livin’”; “Gratitude”; “Finger Lickin’ Good”; MCA’s verse on “Professor Booty”

-Max

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