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Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys is a groundbreaking, pioneering, Grammy award winning rap group from New York City that has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. The group has been inactive since the death of founding member Adam “MCA” Yauch in 2012. According to Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, the name came from the code word ‘beast’, which was yelled whenever a policeman arrived as musicians were selling drugs outside a record shop that doubled as a rehearsal space for bands in the early 1980s.

Originally a punk rock band named The Young Aborigines consisting of Yauch, Kate Shellenbach, Michael “Mike D” Diamond and John Berry, the band renamed themselves Beastie Boys and released the Polly Wog Stew EP shortly before Berry’s exit in 1982. Berry was replaced by Adam “Ad-rock” Horowitz and the band recorded a disco-joke parody of Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” titled “Cookie Puss” the following year. Producer Rick Rubin took an interest in the song, envisioning the group as ‘the first white rap group’ – but without Schellenbach. Rubin founded Def Jam Records soon after and signed the group as a trio.

Their first rap single, 1984’s “Rock Hard”, featured an uncleared sample of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” and was promptly recalled. However, its b-side “Beastie Revolution” was used without authorization in a British Airways commercial, resulting in a $40,000 settlement that the band used to embark upon a full-time rap career.