I’ve got to hand it to the Beastie Boys for keeping things interesting for so long. Diversity pays off, and Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D. have proven to be among the versatile musicians to emerge from hip-hop’s golden age. They can still hold it down as a delightfully old school rap unit, they can rock it out, and they can jam out soul/funk style as well. It’s also interesting how they can maintain their audience despite taking ridiculously long pauses between albums. Even if you count the instrumental Mix-Up album, May’s Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is only their fifth album in the past thirteen years. By comparison, Rihanna’s put out five albums in six years.
At any rate, the promotional machine for Hot Sauce is kicking into full gear. If you head on over to the Beastie Boys’ website, you can hear the album streaming. I thought it was gonna be a one-time thing, but it appears to still be running. So catch it while you can. Hell, it may have already been pulled by the time this has been published. If that’s the case (or alternately, after you’ve listened to the album), make sure you check out the complete “Fight for Your Right Revisited” mini-movie. This hilarious imagining of what happened after the iconic video was made stars a laundry list of funny people, including but not limited to Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Rashida Jones and the Beastie Boys themselves.