Ill Communication - Beastie Boys

Oh tread carefully you innocent ones, it's got one of those 'Parental Advisory, Explicit Lyrics' stickers. Must be good then eh!. I reckon this sort of sticker is a ploy to inflate sales, a dark and sinister marketing tool that more often than not achieves its aim. It lends hormonal teenagers in need of a way to further infuriate their poor parents a vehicle to do so. There are so many albums with this much abused sticker that I'm surprised no one has thought of a 'Teenage Advisory - No Explicit Lyrics'. It would surely appeal to the over-35's. So there were bad boys before Eminem, although you'd be hard pressed to ...

This is my favourite Beastie Boys album - it's got everything, from brilliant instrumentals to the funkiest of beats, from relaxed chillout tracks to the funniest samples, from perfectly juggled rap to evil guitar noise, all topped off with the sheer genius that is Sabotage. This album is one of the finest works of a group of people who have acheived the impossible task of being consistently cool for the best part of two decades. You have to be something special to be a successful white rapper, and the Beasties are the most successful proponents of this (thankfully) sparsely populated genre. Ill Communication is the product of a varied and qualified mix of ...

'Il Communication' relly defines what the Beatie Boys are all about. It may not be their best album (that award goes to 'Paul's Boutique'), but is the most Beatie Boys album that they have made. All the elements which made this band messianic kings of cool are on this album - the 70s references, hardcore punk, effortless yet hugely entertaining hip-hop and that one rapping syle that they have that goes 'de-de-dada-de-de-DA' where they sing in staccato and then emphasise the end. This really made them into the massive world-conquering institution that they have become. After 'Lincense to Ill' had millions of disaffected 80s ...