Beastie Boys
Ill Comunication

THE REVIEW

It is the era of the crossover, the year in which Nu-metal is born. But it's also the big comeback of the Beastie Boys, two years after the underestimated Check Your Head.

Ill Communication is one of the best albums produced in the '90s and perhaps one of the highest peaks reached by the New York group. While Check Your Head was another critical success but a flop in sales, with this monumental work the Beastie Boys went straight into legend.

This album is a true kaleidoscope of sounds: the 3 artists constantly jump from one genre to another, and Sure Shot at the beginning is just a taste: remember the megahit Sabotage, also famous for the video directed by Spike Jonze, but let's not forget the more rapping singles Get it Together and Root Down. Much credit is certainly due to all the group members, including Mario C. and keyboardist Money Mark, just to mention a few, but let's not forget the guest star from Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip in Get it Together.

The Beastie Boys, however, do not stick to rap and experiment with instrumental tracks like Sabrosa, Shambala, and Ricky's Theme. They also return to the punk of their early days with Heart Attack Man and Tough Guy, and the mic experiments of Bodhisattva Vow, when MCA was getting interested in Eastern cultures.

Ill Communication was released during a transitional period in rap metal, which soon officially became Nu-Metal. But even today this album is uncategorizable and is much more than just a simple hip hop record. Those "3 idiots who made a masterpiece" were no longer such idiots (video clips aside :D) but have made many more masterpieces.