Quakers - Fitta Happier

1982 (Statik Selektah & Termanology) “Too Long” ft. Ea$y Money

rappcats:

RIP MCA

NOLA ANARCHA: “Summer 2012 Free Skool Classes” (via suzy-x)

TOO TRUE.

(via becoming-wave)

(via becoming-wave)

upnorthtrips:

DOUBLE TROUBLE

upnorthtrips

The Beastie Boys started out as a hardcore band in New York City in the early ’80s. The original lineup consisted of Kate Schellenbach on drums (who went on to play in Luscious Jackson), John Berry on guitar, Michael Diamond (Mike D) on vocals, and Adam Yauch (MCA) on bass. Yes, the original Beastie Boys included a girl.

They were featured on the “New York Thrash” hardcore compilation originally released on tape cassette in 1982 by ROIR Records, which also released the first Bad Brains album.

Also in 1982, the Beastie Boys released their first record, the Polly Wog Stew EP, a 7” record on the the Rat Cage label.

John left the band and Adam Horovitz joined on guitar. Adam had played in the hardcore band The Young and The Useless, who had done shows together with the Beastie Boys and released a 7” record, called “Real Men Don’t Floss”, also on the Rat Cage label in 1982.

In 1983, the Beastie Boys released their first hip hop record, the Cooky Puss EP, also on Rat Cage.

Soon, they met Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam records, who had played in New York punk bands “The Pricks” and “Hose”, releasing their first full-length album, “Licensed to Ill” in 1986.

And the Beastie Boys would return to recording hardcore songs, in addition to hip hop, with their 1992 song “Time For Living” on their “Check Your Head” album, as well as two tracks on their 1994 “Ill Communication” album and an all-hardcore 12” EP, “Aglio E Olio” in 1995.

They continued playing hardcore songs live as long as they did live shows (ending in 2009) and included a hardcore song on their last album “Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2” in 2011.

And here’s a video covering some of that history.

While Run-DMC took the Beastie Boys on their first big tours, the Beasties were the ones who took Public Enemy on their first big tour. I imagine the Beasties also might have had something to do with Public Enemy appearing with these t-shirts of my favorite band, hardcore or otherwise, Minor Threat.

I find it ironic that the Beastie Boys are mostly looked at by non-fans as the first successful White hip hop group, because it’s lesser-known that they were first-of-all a hardcore band primarily inspired by the all-Black “Bad Brains”, and considering that rock & roll is also a genre of music primarily created and maintained by Black people.

Most considerations of the origins of hip hop also neglect the fact that Puerto Rican people were involved in it from the beginning. An interesting documentary on that subject was produced, entitled “From Mambo to Hip Hop”

I previously wrote some articles about the connections between punk and hip hop in New York in the early 80s at another blog.

Malcolm McLaren, hip hop, punk & colonization

The Clash & Grandmaster Flash, punk & hip hop pt. 2

For background and enjoyment, I recommend “American Hardcore”, an inevitably incomplete documentary about the genre. The Beastie Boys are also briefly mentioned in the film.