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 To the 5 Boroughs - Definition 

To The 5 Boroughs
LP by The Beastie Boys
Released June 14, 2004
Recorded 2002, 2003 & 2004
Genre Old school rap
Length 44 min 37 sec
Label Capitol
Producer The Beastie Boys
Professional reviews
Allmusic.com 4 stars out of 5 link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70311061608252709&sql=Abs841v74zzpa)
Rolling Stone 5 stars out of 5 link (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album?id=6040857)
The Beastie Boys chronology
Hello Nasty
(1998) 		To The 5 Boroughs
(2004) 		N/A


To The 5 Boroughs is the Beastie Boys' sixth studio album. This album was released on June 14, 2004 internationally, and a day later in the United States.

Contents
1 Track listing
2 Singles
3 Chart Success
4 Significance
5 Critical Reaction
6 External links

Track listing

  1. "Ch-Check It Out"
  2. "Right Right Now Now"
  3. "The Hard Way"
  4. "Time To Build"
  5. "Rhyme The Rhyme Well"
  6. "Triple Trouble"
  7. "Hey F**k You"
  8. "Oh Word?"
  9. "That It's That All"
  10. "All Life Styles"
  11. "Shazam!"
  12. "An Open Letter To NYC"
  13. "Crawl Space"
  14. "The Brouhaha"
  15. "We Got The..."

Singles

Chart Success

The Beastie Boys released To The Five Boroughs the first album they produced themselves worldwide on 15 June 2004. It reached #1 on the Billboard album charts, #2 in the UK and Australia and #3 in Germany on debut. The first single from the album "Ch-Check It Out" has reached #1 in Canada, #2 on the US modern rock chart and world Internet download charts, and #3 on a composite world modern rock chart.

Significance

  • Before they recorded in 2002 and released this album, the band has been currently touring on their previous album Hello Nasty after 1998-1999.
  • The album was the cause of some controversy with allegations that it installed spyware when inserted into the CD-ROM of a computer. [1] (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/23/beastie_boy_cd_virus/1) The band has denied this allegation saying there is no copy prevention software on the albums sold in the US and UK. While there is Macrovision's CDS-200 copy prevention software installed on European copies of the album this is standard practice for all European releases on EMI/Capitol Records released in Europe and it does not install spyware or any form of permanent software. [2] (http://www.beastieboys.com/news.php/2)
  • The album is the first to be produced by the Beastie Boys themselves and the second to feature Mixmaster Mike.

Critical Reaction

A Metacritic.com of reviews of the album showed that the album rated 74 out of 100 meaning that the album received a generally positive response from critics. A summary of reviews and suggested tracks for legal downloading from each review is below.

Playlouder said "To the 5 Boroughs is a triumph." Best tracks "An Open Letter to NYC", "Ch-Check It Out" "3 The Hard Way" 5 stars out of 5 [3] (http://www.playlouder.com/review/+tothe5boroughs/)

Rolling Stone Magazine said "To the 5 Boroughs is an exciting, astonishing balancing act: fast, funny and sobering". Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Right Right Now Now" "It Takes Time to Build" 5 stars out of 5 [4] (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album?id=6040857&pageid=rs.Reviews&pageregion=double1)

Popmatters said "In fact, it's their best album since Paul's Boutique. Best tracks: "Right Right Now Now", "Crawl Space", "Hey F*** You" "The Hard Way" [5] (http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/b/beastieboys-tothe5boroughs.shtml)

Entertainment Weekly said: "The beats are (...) simple and effective, with a welcome lack of bells and whistles and made Hello Nasty so distracting." (18 June 2003, p 83) Rating 83

Allmusic.com said: "It's rather impressive that they're maturing gracefully turning into expert craftsmen who can deliver a satisfying listen like this". Best Tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Time to Build", "Triple Trouble" "An Open Letter to NYC", "The Brouhaha" Rating 4 stars out of 5 [6] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70311071654390588&sql=A81apqjkwojka)

The NME said: "Like Missy Elliott, the Beasties are re-examining hip hop - what it was, what it is, what it can be". (12 June 2004, page 47).

The Onion AV Club said: "With To the 5 Boroughs Beastie boys discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent era, afording listeners the exuberance of youth together with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience. Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out" "Time to Build" "Triple Trouble". [7] (http://www.theonionavclub.com/review.php?review_id=7569)

Urb said the album "signals something of a rebirth of their signature creativity." (July/August 2004 page 123)

E! Online rated the album as a B- saying it was "fun but hardly fresh. [8] (http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,3232,00.html) Blender said "this formula wears thin over the 15 tracks here".(#27, page 137)

Launch UK "Over an entire album, the formula's limitations and the limitations of the rappers, becomes a source of frustration. Imagine Hello Nasty if it had consisted entirely of "Three MCs and One DJ" and you're close to understanding how "To the 5 Boroughs" sounds. Best tracks: "Triple Trouble", "Oh Word" "Right Right Now Now" [9] (http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/040621/33/1wq4b.html) 6 stars out of 10

Q Magazine said "The self-imposed adherence to hip hop traditionalism here, and indeed musically on the album as a whole, rather subdues their famously free-form sonic palette" (Jul 2004, page 108) Rating 3 stars

ShakingThrough.net argues that the non-political tracks work but "the album gets bogged down in meaningless platitudes" on the overtly political tracks. Best tracks: "An Open Letter to NYC", "3 the Hard Way", "Rhyme the Rhyme Well", "Triple Trouble Rating 3 out of 5 Rating 3 stars [10] (http://www.shakingthrough.net/music/reviews/2004/beastie_boys_to_the_5_boroughs_2004.html)

The Guardian said "the beats bounce along happily enough" but the anti-Bush lyrics are the bands weakness. The reviewer cited this lyric from "That's It That's All" "George W's got nothing on we, we got to take the power from he" as an example of the lyrical deficiencies. Rating 3 stars out of 5 [11] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1235790,00.html)

The New York Times said "the tracks crackle and swing with a wit that the lyrics rarely match" [12] (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D17FE3B540C778DDDAF0894DC404482)

Stylus Magazine claimed the Beastie Boys were past it saying "Overall, the band has nothing to say and spends 45 minutes saying it". It notes that the beats are "pretty lovely". Best tracks: "An Open Letter to NYC" "We Got The". [13] (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2088&PHPSESSID=093c825c5242676ae3a324db095c155d)

Tiny Mix Tapes claims that the lyrics are "a dismal failure. Rating 2 and a half stars out of 5 [14] (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/musicreviews/b/beastie_boys.htm)

External links

Licensed to IllPaul's BoutiqueCheck Your HeadIll CommunicationSome Old BullshitThe in Sound From Way Out!Hello NastyThe Sounds of ScienceTo the 5 Boroughs
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