I got this at walmart by accident

(...)

but after listening to the explicit version

you really arent missing out on anything

THIS ALBUM STILL ROCKS!!!!!

it melds the old skool hip hop of license to ill

I love this album. Yeah is a bit edgy and its not a hip-pop laced album, if you want to listen to that type of music listen to P Diddy. You need to respect the Beasties for progressing their sound, and whoever said the rhymes aren't tight needs their ears Ch-checked Out. If you listen to the album several times the tracks slowly build on ya until you can't live without them and aren't they the type of tracks you keep listening to for years?

Sure, I didn't end up loving every track but you definitely get your money's worth with this album. My favourites include:

Ch-Check It Out, Right Right Now Now, Triple Trouble, That's It That's All, All Lifestyles, Shazam! and The Brouhaha.

My final point is to drive home that you should give this album a couple of plays to let the genius sink in.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of the Beasties, and the Beasties bickering about politics doesn't bother me, what's wrong with this album comes in the form of too little, as opposed to too much.

The first Beastie Boys album in 6 years "To the 5 Boroughs", is a very plain Beastie experience compared to the likes of "Paul's Boutique", "Ill Communication", and even "Licensed to Ill". The production on here, all of it done by the Beasties themselves, is sorely lacking. Gone are the guitars, and in once again are tons, and tons of samples. The sampling thing was cool back in '89 with Paul's Boutique, but this is 2004, and I was expecting a new sound from the Beasties, instead of the stripped-down minimalistic beats on here. The only track on here with any sort of production quality at all is "An Open Letter to NYC".

The rhymes however, are on point, as usual. Adrock, Mike D and MCA deliver some great lines and verses, though most of the songs on here follow the exact same rhyme structure. The lead single, "Ch-Check it Out" is probably the best track on here, but that's probably because it doesn't sound much different than the others. "Crawlspace" has some nice funk-elements in it, "Oh Word?" and "Hey F*** You" show the Beasties can still tear it up when they're pushing 40. A few of the tracks on here are really weak though, such as "We Got The" and "Time To Build", I don't think it has anything to do with those two being two of the most political tracks, they just don't cut it for me.

Die-hard Beastie fans might be a little disappointed, and probably will be left waiting until the Beasties pick up their guitars again. This is a decent album, but it's not one that will maintain heavy rotation in your CD player.

This isnt a bad cd it just isnt too great either. If you like rap in general you may enjoy it, but im afraid im not in that category and preferred the mixing on hello nasty. There are a spattering of good songs here. Ch ch check it out is great as are tracks 5,6,7 and maybe some of the later ones. In all honesty none of the later songs are memorable enough to recall. It seems like theyve lost their effortless flow which is represented on songs like finger lickin, body movin, and super disco breakin.