While the Beastie Boys’ 2004 offering To The 5 Boroughs was by no means a flimsy love letter to their hometown, it felt like one written on expensive stock with a Cross Pen and checked twice for spelling. Despite all the NYC references, it felt too much like “new” New York – the place where the race to be on the cusp of all things contemporary, while still remaining safe just makes everything (including the Beasties for the first time) sound downright old.
Five years and one missing “Hot Sauce Committee” later comes Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. The Beasties have returned with “sharks teeth and tiger claws,” loosening their input jacks and snare lugs and scaling back the electronics from digital busyness to Giorgio Moroder and Roger Troutman inspired analog glory. The Beasties feel permanently young again having crafted an album that is just as consistent, unhinged and enjoyable as Check Your Head.
Check Your Head was a third album debut if one ever existed. It was also a return to the trio’s original punk rock DIY aesthetic; an escape from both the frat boy raps over shiny Rick Rubin production and the crowded Dust Brothers beats that epitomized their West Coast bong blast. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is the same sort of stripped-down sonic homecoming or in the words of Ad-Rock “bringing it back to 8-7.”
In today’s age of dragging, dropping and Fruitylooping – where the posse cuts require reading the written order of the features to figure out who is rapping – Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 feels more vital than ever.
MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D each stake out their own rooms in the house party and can use something basic like water and ice or obscure like Grandmaster Caz to outline why they can still rip a mic to shreds. They are as distinguishable from each other as a guitar solo is from a trumpet swell, but still fit just as well together when placed side by side. On Hotsauce their wordplay, metaphors, (tasteful) bathroom humor and playful braggadocio are given the sonic treatment they deserve: warped and flanged on joints like “Nonstop Disco Power Pack” and “Tadlock’s Glasses” 
or padded with the same broken glass distortion as the dank eerie instrumentation of shining (but still hazy) moments like “Long Burn The Fire.”
The Beasties have also never had better diversions and tangents. The hardcore jam “Lee Majors Comes Again” is catchier and more memorable after just one listen than the entire Aglio e Olio EP, and instead of adding multiple tracks of “yes we really play these things” instrumental filler, Hot Sauce’s one moment, “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” falls perfectly in the sequence and grooves just right thereby sparing it from The Mix-Up / In Sound From Way Out yawndom.
Strangely, the one area where Hot Sauce lags is during the two guest vocal tracks (“Too Many Rappers” ft. Nas and “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” ft. Santigold). While the aforementioned collabs are a lot of fun and have plenty of replay value, they still feel like bonus cuts that mistakenly show up during the actual album. A guest on a Beastie Boys album that doesn’t break the cohesion can only be one whose performances are spacey and weathered making them blend seamlessly into the wood paneling and Star Wars posters. (ex: Lee Perry on Hello Nasty, Biz Markie on Ill Communication or spitting over Ted Nugent on Check Your Head).
Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is a throwback to the days when the Beastie Boys ruled New York; when you could read 100 pages worth of articles on the Moog organ in their Grand Royal magazine; when you could buy Ben Davis and Fuct in the XLarge Store on Tompkins Square and then skate over to catch them play a surprise punk set with Murphy’s Law at Coney Island High. At the same time, Hot Sauce isn’t just for veteran fans; it’s the rare case of something brand new that replaces the “Greatest Hits” album as a primer for newbies; a perfect soundtrack for 30 more years of endless summer.
this album is dope as hell
the beastie boys r back
OHHHH YEAHHHHH!
You guys are way to quick with giving out 5’s
But it’s not a 5 star review. It’s 4 stars.
most definitely buying this one!
hell yeah!
That is one of the illest videos ever.
Check your head if u don’t think this album is fresher than Beyonce’s snatch after jumping out of the shower…
well i’d eat beyonce snatch after jumping out the shower
…
If you don’t even appreciate this album, you need to re-evaluate your hip-hop preferences.
beastie boys fan couldn’t ask 4 a better album
now i’m waitin for part 1 to come out
Beasties DEFINATELY sounded rejuvinated on this joint.
Fuck it. They wanna release an album in their 60’s… I’ll be there on Tuesday to pick it up.
Straight trash. 5 stars for this? Please
you stupid cunt, I bet your skank ass don’t even know who the fuck the beasties is
good shit
I am gonna come right out and say it. If a black rap crew (like the Roots) released this album, it would have a higher rating (like a 4.5).
Am I nuts or does anyone else agree with me on this?
Of course, there are tons of white hip hop artists that get hated on for various fake reasons, but support what you like and let the haters do their jobs (drink rotten milk)
i agree, i think the last two roots albums are overated,beastie boys are the most consistent rap group ever
Legends right here. Just bought the album, but haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.
Video is insane. Had to be 20 celebrities in that shit.
Ok so. Beastie Boys are my favorite hip hop group of all time, I have eagerly been waiting this release since its announcement. I feel like I have been waiting for a Valve game with all the delays. I go to the record store to buy it, excited as fuck ONLY TO FIND OUT THE VINYL DOESNT COME OUT TIL JUNE 6TH OMGGGGGGG
COULD HAVE GOOGLE THAT INFO YOU FUCKIN DUMMY
too many rappers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koN-yF4ySQs&feature=related
Skywalker – Barton Block
album is the beast!! 5 stars. this is how it should be!
5
I can’t belive that are still people that don’t find this dope! Really ,that’s sad!
3/5
doooooooooooooope
doooooooooooooope
unexpectedly dope
Classic sounds of the Beastie Boys. Takes me Back to Pauls Boutique.
I agree. And Paul’s Boutique is still my favorite Beastie Boys album.
This is another just another branch of the genre we call hip-hop. Listened to the whole thing, and it’s freakin dope
Beastie Boys are one of my all time favorite groups also. And this shit is ill!
This review is a great read – And yes, love the new shit, too!
Great album, great review. Always glad to see someone who understands the Beasties’ role in hip-hop and doesn’t dismiss them as relics from their 80’s Def Jam era. This album is full of live energy, goofy rhymes and distorted mics. It’s exactly what we needed.
I’ve also been listening to this Beastie remix album “The Jew Style” ( web.take92.com ). Mostly stuff from “Nasty” and “5 Boroughs,” but it spans most of their career… Good stuff.
Another Beastie Boys classic. I’ll give this one a 4/5. I’m actually shocked that they can put an album out like this 25-30 years after they debuted.
very good album, i´ll give it a 4 and keep listening to it for a couple of days. I strongly recommend serge severe´s album by the way.
peacee
wonder if they will ever release the video they did for Too Many Rappers Feat. Nas
I would sure like to see it.
Everyone says this is a great album, and it’s the Beastie Boys so I won’t doubt ’em. I’ll check it out
Today’s hot rappers should dust off their old DMC and check out this new beastie Boys disk. Hot Sauce is a modern homage to old school. instantly a classic.
http://www.lootbag.info/2011/05/beastie-boys-hot-sauce-committee-part.html
“Too Many Rappers” is the best song on the album. Much better than all those crab rappers out there.
beastie boys are dope , dont care what nobody say . this album is ok
I don’t know. I think I’d give it a 3.5/5. Its definitely their strongest album in years but it’s not as good as their classics imo.
Wow I really like this review. The writer hit everything head on for the most part. Check Your Head was a completely new start in a lot of ways (Knowing the story around Paul’s Boutique explains why), and this cd is almost like erasing the 90s Beasties from existence. For a long time they were at odds with their Licensed To Ill selves (just read the Sounds of Science booklet for proof), this seems to see them just at piece with who they are in general. I like both guest vocalist tracks a lot though and think they fit well.
1.5
Beasties Rule, Mannnn