To The 5 Boroughs Reviewed
01 - Ch-Check It Out
Well we've already heard this one considering it's the first single but it sounds awesome on an album and starts off with a sample from 'The 0. J. Chronicles' from an episode of the The Joe Frank Show.
One interesting note is that they didn't remove MCA's line about them working on the album.
Great track and great beats though and a great introduction for what's to come.02 - Right Right Now Now
This track begins with another sample from the album "Cool In The Furnace" performed by Buryl Red & Grace Hawthome which has the "Now Get Busy" line that the Beastie Boys also use in the Japanese bonus track 'Now Get Busy'.
This track is more serious than Ch-Check It Out but mixes B-Boy influences in it too. The main chorus says it all about this song:
"Right, Right, Now, Now
What is goin' on?
We, We, Gotta, Gotta
Get it goin' on
Be, Be, Fore, Fore
It's Too Far Gone
We gotta work together, it's been too long"
One again the music behind them is amazing and not what you would expect from the Beastie Boys at all.03 - 3 The Hard Way
This is the Beastie's returning strongly to their Hip Hop roots. Sampling LL Cool J's 'Radio' everything in this track sounds right, from the hard bass to the "...3 The Hard Way" vocal sample, after this track you want more and they deliver.04 - Time To Build
When I read the title I thought it had something to do with building back up society and considering the amount of positive messages in this song I might be right. This track begins with another hard bass and features a great sample as it's chorus. This is a very political song and shows the Beastie's in their anti-Bush mode when they ask if it's time to impeach Bush.
A lot of people also think that Adrock is rhyming about Eminem when he says:
"Why you hating people that you never met
Didn't your mama teach you to show some respect?
Why not open your mind for a sec?"
But the Beastie Boys have denied this.
There are some great scratched over the end and a hilarious sample about aliens and mutants.05 - Rhyme The Rhyme Well
This track starts off with some very dark sounding synths but the Adrock comes in with "Now my name is Adrock I've got a story to tell" similar to how Paul Revere started back on Licensed To Ill. One of my favorite samples on this track is how when ever the Beastie Boys say "well" they sample Chuck D saying "well" as well.
This track also ends with a bizarre sample about a guy talking about how he wore the Bat-girl sample. Very bizarre.06 - Triple Trouble
This track is destined to be either the one you love or the one you hate. The reason people will love it is because it samples 'Rapper's Delight' by The Sugar Hill Gang and the song is based around the lyrics of "Double Trouble At The Amphitheater" which is from the movie Wildstyle. This is also the reason some people won't like the song because a lot of people believe the Sugar Hill Gang is over-sampled.
But personally I love this track, mostly because of the extremely funny mock British accents used through out the song.
This will become a party favorite if not for the rhymes then because it samples Sugar Hill Gang.07 - Hey Fuck You
This track begins with a sample similar to that used at the beginning of DJ Hurricane's 'Kickin' Wicked Rhymes' with Ad Rock & Black Thought. The track then starts off slow with a very asian sounding beat but when the "If You Don't Like It Then Hey Fuck You" sample comes in it changes the whole mood of the song. This is a very strange sounding song in my view but I like it for how simple the beat is. This tracks also features the "Sasquatch" sample.08 - Oh Word?
When I hear this I think of Mario jumping around in the original Nes Super Mario Brothers. Why? Because the synth beats sound like they were taken from old arcade games. The rhymes are similar as this is the Beastie's getting back to their goofy rhymes of Paul's Boutique and I love every minute of it. This track is also extremely similar to Pass The Mic because after the "Oh Word" sample a Beastie Boy's name is called and they step to the Mike and deliver their rhymes.09 - That's It, That's All
Ever since I first heard this track when the Beastie's started performing it live I have been in love with this song! The rhymes have changed a bit from the ones performed live last year but the majority of the song is still the same. One thing that is new is the sample at 1:23, Mix Master Mike has started playing this beat over the track live now as well and it goes down great.
I hope this is released as a single because I would love to see a video for this track.10 - All Lifestyles
More inspiring rhymes:
"We gotta keep the party going on
All lifestyles, sizes, shapes, and form"
Great beats and great samples again. The best line has to be Mike D's:
"I'm the one that one that dance contest
'Cause you know I dance the best"
The song ends with a sample from "Sounds" performed by the original cast of "The Me Nobody Knows"11 - Shazam
More hard hitting beats with great samples. The one part I didn't really like was when Mike is singing / humming over the scratches after the second verse. But he does have one of the best lines again just before this when he rhymes:
"I splash on beats like sauce on spaghetti
Putting MC's out of business like they're Crazy Eddie"
A lot of the rhymes are just plain silly but you have to love them.12 - An Open Letter To NYC
I really love this track. It starts with what sounds like a sped up tape and goes into some of the deepest and most inspiring rhymes you ever thought you could hear by artists as well known as the Beastie Boys.
"Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen"
The whole song is a dedication to NYC were the Beastie's take it in turn to rhyme their love of their favorite city. Adrock says it best:
"Dear New York this is a love letter
To you and how you brought us together
We can't say enough about all you do
'Cause in the city were ourselves and electric too"13 - Crawlspace
I found this track hard to get into at first, it's very different from everything we have heard before. Each Beastie has a verse to them selves and sounds almost like they each have their own solo song but in the one song.
The track ends with a sample that moves you straight into the next track.14 - The Brouhaha
This is the Beastie Boys back at their best when it comes to silly rhymes. There's some pretty funny Star Trek rhymes in here by Yauch:
"Communicator check one two one two
This is Bones McCoy on a line to Sulu
Set the bullshit to warp factor one
Check your tri-corder set your phaser to stun"
The rhymes are great in this track and the beats are fantastic.15 - We Got The
More positive rhymes and a great way to close a great album. The first verse says it all:
"Who got the chance to make things right?
Why the politicians always want to fight?
The christian coalition and the right wing ooooh!
Let me tell you what you can do
Step outside the cone of silence
Too much hatred and violence
It's time to rewind
We need a military decline
Got the power of the mind focused
Government like a locust
Are we gone or just going?
Time to act on what we be knowing y'all"
That is how this track is from start to end, political and inspiring.Non Album tracks:
Now Get Busy
This track only appears on the Japanese pressing of TT5B and uses the "Now Get Busy" sample from the start of 'Right Right Now Now' and borrows a few rhymes from TT5B as well. It's a pity this wasn't on the album but we can hope it will soon appear as a B-side.And Then I
This track appears on the Ch-Check It Out single. When it started I thought it would be an instrumental but it's not. It's straight Hip Hop. I'm not a big fan of this track, I don't like the music too much although the rhymes are pretty good.
A good B-side though.Ch-Check It Out (Just Blaze Remix)
This only appears on some of the Ch-Check It Out singles which is annoying because it is amazing. The vocals were re-recorded for this remix and it sounds so fresh you almost feel you are in the studio with the Beastie Boys and Just Blaze.
Probably the best official remix of the Beastie Boys since Fatboy Slim's 'Body Movin''.Overall:
Did the Beastie Boys spend the last 6 years watching Star Wars, Star Trek and spending time with their Grandma's? From the amount of references to all those things you would easily believe it.
When I first heard the album I was shocked at how different it was and didn't like much of it. After a proper listen though I decided that a lot of the songs were great and I am now a fan of the whole album. From start to finish you have never heard the Beastie Boys like this before.
When the Beastie Boys said this album was more like Paul's Boutique they were right and that is why this album is so great because in a few years it will be like Paul's Boutique was as one of the most influential Hip Hop album's of this decade.
A few people may find the Beastie Boys political side a bit hard to stomach but the Beastie Boys have always been political and have always voiced their opinions so really it's nothing too new. I think the Beastie Boys are at their best on this album and I can only hope that they will not ruin this by taking so long with the next album.