Beastie Boys were an American rap group from New York City, formed in 1981. The group was composed of Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band the Young Aborigines in 1978, with Diamond as vocalist, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach on drums. When Shatan left in 1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the band changed their name to Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.
Music video by Slick Rick performing Behind Bars. (C) 1994 The Island Def Jam Music Group.
Behind Bars is the third studio album by British-American rapper Slick Rick, released November 22, 1994, on Def Jam Recordings. The album features production from Vance Wright, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Easy Mo Bee, and Warren G, as well as guest appearances by Doug E. Fresh, Nice & Smooth, and Warren G.
Official music video for “Meowpurrdy” from the Meow The Jewels album by Run The Jewels. Featuring Lil Bub, Maceo, and Delonte.
Animated by British artist Cyriak, the clip features a beastly, three-eyed cat, around which a kaleidoscopic collection of smaller cats gather, multiply and morph extra eyes, legs, tails and heads. This frightening feline, however, is no match for an angelic gray tabby, who descends from the sky and destroys the beast by being swallowed and coughed back up like an explosive hairball.
Killer Mike and El-P have donated all earnings from Meow the Jewels directly to the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two high-profile victims of police brutality. Additional profits have gone to the National Lawyers Guildâs Mass Defense Committee.
Killer Mike and El-P made their new RTJ4 album available in a bid to boost morale, citing the world as being âinfected with bullshitâ and concluding that their music might bring fans âsome joyâ.
El-P wrote in an Instagram post: âFuck it, why wait. The world is infested with bullshit so hereâs something raw to listen to while you deal with it all. We hope it brings you some joy. Stay safe and hopeful out there and thank you for giving 2 friends the chance to be heard and do what they love. With sincere love and gratitude, Jaime + Mike.â
Official music video for Don’t Get Captured by Run The Jewels, off the RTJ3 album.
El-P and Killer Mike of Run the Jewels are reborn as claymation characters in their new video for Donât Get Captured, a grim meditation on abuses of power.
The two rappers are observers in the clip, rolling slowly through a dark, violent claymation landscape full of skeletons like in a haunted house. The skeleton world is ruled by a small cadre of self-satisfied politicians who wear top hats and smoke cigars. The video depicts gentrification, racial profiling by law enforcement and a biased court system that doles out lethal punishments. This gives extra force to Run the Jewelsâ frequently repeated warning: âDonât get captured.â
The hyper-political R.A.P. Music track gets a hyper-political animated video.
Atlanta rapper Michael Santiago Render, known professionally as Killer Mike, released his sixth album this month. It’s called R.A.P. Music. The album’s title isn’t about hip-hop, per se, but refers to an acronym tweeted by another Georgian, a critic named Maurice Garland, two years ago. “He just put it up randomly: ‘Rap music is supposed to be Rebellious African People,’ ” Killer Mike told Morning Edition. “I said, ‘Yo, i’m naming my next album that.’ “
“First of all, all humanity is from Africa, and i think we’ve been trained to put color on it. But, in terms of the black people who were directly descended from Africa and brought here a few hundred years ago, that voice began in the fields as wailing, which turned into gospel. Gospel got secular and turned into blues, and blues got faster and became rock ‘n’ roll and became funk and became soul and R&B. What’s more American than young people speaking their mind over things they had to create over pots and pans and electronically because music was taken out of schools? What’s more American than making something out of nothing? What’s more gospel than rap music?”
