Classic Review: Paul's Boutique by The Beastie Boys

 

 

    The Beastie Boys might seem like a bunch of frat boys trying to carry on their absurd party endlessly with their rock heavy production and raw, unfiltered style, but their second release Paul’s Boutique was an upgrade to artistic mastery. The project was largely composed of samples, 105 to be exact and consisted of soul, funk, prog rock and everything in between. The raps were hilarious and witty as hell and the project oozed swagger and personality unlike anything else coming out at the time. The album is like a collection of tall tales creatively used to highlight issues that were actually important and wasn’t just a bunch of boasts and disses that marred the Beastie Boys’ first release. Chuck D of Public enemy said “The dirty secret among the Black hip hop community at the time of the release was that Paul’s Boutique had the best beats.” Rolling stone even referred to it as the Dark side of the Moon of hip hop, which if you think about it, is quite a gushing compliment. The Beastie Boys used their unique approach to hip hop and created an album that ages like fine wine, getting better and better as it is listened to 31 years later, sounding as fresh as ever and musically engineered to be a on par with some of the greatest hip hop records ever produced.

    105 samples is an absolutely ludicrous number, far too many for most artists and producers to even know where to begin. Thanks to the Dust Brothers though, this record utilizes each one in perfect fashion. There were some samples on here that almost had no business being on a hip hop record, but the Dust Brothers somehow made it work. “Shake Your Rump” features percussion loops that are off the chain and are as hard as nails, with guitar chords and synths that are pitched up loud and dirty just how the beastie boys like it. The track features some horn synths that sound as if they have been taken from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and fed into a blender, sounding punchy and overwhelming in the best way possible. The track “The Sounds of Science,” among its other samples, features 3 different Beatles tracks, including “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and “The End.” The structure of this track is without a doubt one of the most creative hip hop tracks ever made. It begins with droning synths and the Beastie Boys come in over some slow-as-molasses drums and a texture filled bassline with some silky staccato keys that meld together to form a thundering and vibrant instrumental. The track switches up half way through and everything goes straight to 11, the drums pick up in intensity and the guitar riff that is looped over the beat is superb and mixed in a fantastic bluesy way, instantly getting your foot tapping to the rhythm. Cuts like “Car Thief” utilize some zealous synths that fall and stutter throughout the track to give it a daunting personality. The cut also contains funky bassline samples and zany notes and chords intermittently sounding off that vitalize this track with tantalizing character and bravado. Just like the basslines, some synthesizer notes are present, electrified and jazzed up. “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” comes off as a metal track almost, with percussion that has snares and high-hats rising in a legato fashion. The guitar chords are made icy and dark, hitting with some grueling passion and cruelty. The chords were sampled from “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, and have just as much character as they did from that track, filling the ears with constant grunge-like riffs. The production on this cut is just as intense as the title of the song itself, hitting with brutal intensity throughout, never once giving the listener a chance to catch their breath.

    The Beastie Boys have always had crafty lyrics and decent wordplay present in their music but Paul’s Boutique transcends their debut with even wittier bars and cleans up their redundant braggadocio with cleverness and delicate slyness. “Johnny Ryall” is a cut that chronicles a homeless man Mike D would come across in New York, laced with a folk-rock sample from David Bromberg’s song “Sharon.” Bars like “Sleepin in the street, there ain’t a damn thing funny, With the hand-me-down food and the hand-me-down clothes, A rockabilly past of which nobody knows.” This cut shows that the Beastie Boys were evolving their storytelling. They were finding hidden gems in their everyday lives in which to incorporate into their music, seemingly of no impact or importance, but critical to the stylistic themes of the odd corner store wares a shop like Paul’s Boutique would sell. “3 Minute Rule” plays out sonically like a first run track off of Licensed to Ill, with swagger filled bars like “ I’m so rope they call me Mr. Roper, When the troubles arise you know I’m the cool coper, on the mic I score just like the Yankees, Get over on Ms. Crabtree like my main man Spankee.” Again, cuts like this highlight the wide array of lyrical and musical styles found throughout the project and showcase the refined mixes these tracks had while playing into the themes of oddity and complexity on the record. The track “Hey Ladies” is a classic Beastie Boys womanizer track, with lyrics like “There’s more to me than you’ll ever know, And I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh, Tom Thumb, Tom Cushman or Tom Foolery, Dating women on TV with the help of Chuck Woolery.” These clever bars and contagious delivery once again showcase the vast range of talent and thematic styles that Paul’s Boutique has to offer, while letting the Beastie Boys show off their fun-filled escapade of lyrical deliveries.

    There is almost nothing normal about Paul’s Boutique in any way at all. The whole project plays out like you just walked into a small time shop that had just caught your eye and low and behold, it contains some of the most fashionable and out of the box styles you have ever laid your eyes on. Cuts like “Egg Man” and “What Comes Around” showcase the unique and witty song writing of the Beastie boys while also highlighting the insane, brilliant ridiculousness of instrumentals and samples they were able to incorporate into their sound. The groovy funk and classic rock they have utilized on here is absolutely divine, as evident on bonus tracks like “B-Boy Bouillabaisse: A Year and a Day.” This cut combines a gorgeous, intoxicating drum loop sampled from Tower of Power’s “Ebony Jam” and The Isley Brothers’ “Who’s That Lady.” The drums have been sped up and refined to fit the lightning flow of MCA, keeping the same funky groove throughout. The chords on this track are synthed up and dance around, sonically providing the cut with even more infatuating textures. The song also samples Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks,” utilizing the underlying chords to bolster the track further with deeper tones of soulfulness and energy.

    The Beastie Boys had always been seen as a group of white boys that many in hip hop wanted nothing to do with. Paul’s Boutique completely flipped the script though and showed the genre just how great they really were. This project was light years ahead of anything coming out at the tail end of the 1980s, chalk full of off the wall samples and crafty lyrics. The artistic style The Dust Brothers showed in effectively utilizing each of the 105 samples on this record was masterful, and the combination of production along with the lyrical abilities from The Beastie Boys created something truly special. The next time you see a quaint store that peaks your interest, take a look at what is has to offer because you might just find that it contains some of the best and brightest items your eyes have ever had the luxury of beholding, just like Paul’s Boutique.

 

 

Score: 10/10