Can They Still Lay Down Mad Rhymes With an 80% Success Rate?
How do you place the Beastie Boys when they finally hang up their samplers? Pioneers? Sell-outs? Futurama guest stars? All of the above is true to some degree, and their latest effort, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two", sees them try to force everything the New Yorkers are known for into one album. By the way, if you were wondering about Part One, the most confusing email ever put paid to that. In short, they've come full circle and the first instalment has been replaced by Part Two, which had been re-sequenced and moved until it resembled Part One almost perfectly. Huh? Perhaps it's a nice way for MCA to get some closure after his battle with cancer.
There are some fantastic moments but not everything fits as it should. The beautiful coda on 'Say It' is the first real 'wow' moment with everything else being a bit samey. The Groundhog effect comes through with every unnecessary name check. After 25 years (!), most people know who Ad-Rock is. It reminded me that Mr Horowitz and co. are not the hardest thing on the menu anymore.
I found it to be a frustrating listen, as one brilliant track would be countered with two that didn't quite work, the shrapnel of a hit waiting for some miraculous hook, which I felt they could do in their sleep back in their prime but now seems slightly tired. That's why the collaborations were a fantastic idea as it gave them a fresh set of ideas and invigorated their own performances. They trade focus with Santigold fantastically on 'Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win', creating a powerful summery track with no definite point of attack, which really works. Fellow New Yorker Nas guests on 'Too Many Rappers' and he turns in a top three rapping performance.
Other gems from the album exist on 'Long Burn the Fire', where the old edge is back with a heavier, more in your face delivery but the momentum is erased by the next three skits, which feel like stumbling into a private joke with no explanation. That's where the frustration comes from: The Beastie Boys have long been considered Hall of Fame rappers and samplers, so shouldn't every track and skit be brilliant?
The highlight of the album is a throwback to their instrumental back catalogue. 'Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament' is something that wouldn't sound out of place in a jazz club, as a bumper for football coverage or in any film you want to name from the last five years. The track surpasses anything on the impressive "In Sound From Way Out" and "The Mix Up".
Although they ambitiously declare that "the best is yet to come" on opener 'Make Some Noise', they're always going to be known for their past glories and that's what will shift units of this album. After outliving their rivals, what have they got left to achieve? "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two" is a trip to the Five Boroughs via the VIP lounge and they've lost some of their edge beyond the velvet rope. In an age where clever rappers are everywhere on the internet, three rich white guys doing what they've done since '85 doesn't change the game, rather it shows that what they invented and shaped is done better by younger pretenders.