Beastie Boy Mike D has posted a new song to his Soundcloud account. It’s the first new music to be released by anyone involved with the Beastie Boys since MCA’s tragic death last year, and it’s 10 minutes long. Beyond that, we’re not sure what to say about it. Is it hip hop? Is it punk rock? Is it good? Is it bad? For right now, we’ll answer all of those questions with “maybe.”
Beastie Boy Mike D has posted a new song to his Soundcloud account. It’s the first new music to be released by anyone involved with the Beastie Boys since MCA’s tragic death last year, and it’s 10 minutes long. Beyond that, we’re not sure what to say about it. Is it hip hop? Is it punk rock? Is it good? Is it bad? For right now, we’ll answer all of those questions with “maybe.”
The song, “Humberto Vs The New Reactionaries: Christine and The Queens Remixx,” makes reference in its title to “Too Many Rappers (New Reactionaries Version),” a Nas collaboration from the final Beastie Boys album, Hot Sauce Committee (Part Two). Originally released in 2009 as a digital single, the original version of “Too Many Rappers” was more of a straightforward hip hop song, but the version on Hot Sauce Committee (Part Two) had an electro-sounding beat full of distorted, digital squelching noises. That’s not quite what we’re hearing on “Humberto Vs The New Reactionaries,” though the song is driven by a pounding beat that at times resembles the 808 sound dominating the Beasties’ Rick Rubin-produced debut, Licensed To Ill. But with Mike D’s punk-style vocals and a fast guitar riff dominating the mix for the majority of the song, there’s a lot of the Beastie Boys’ hardcore roots showing through here as well. Add some harsh EDM-style digital blurts and bloops popping in and out of the mix throughout, and you’ve got something that doesn’t really fit anywhere on the musical spectrum.
The song was created for fashion house Kenzo’s Spring/Summer 2014 show, and the “Humberto” referenced by the title is Kenzo’s creative director, Humberto Leon. In a post on their blog, Mike D tells Kenzo that he “wanted to honor what [Humberto] was inspired by: American hardcore like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks.” That explains the punk rock influence. But then, he continues, ” I wanted to update it, or maybe couldn’t help but to update it.” As far as the hip hop and electronic sounds on the track, Mike D had this to say: “I have been listening to a fair amount of trap records and I think that found it’s way into things on this for sure.”
Regardless of how welcome we find new music from the Beastie camp, the song’s 10-minute length is a bit daunting, and the finished product is far more fitting as a soundtrack for runway modeling than as a new standalone single. Mike D acknowledges this in the conversation with Kenzo, saying, “It was more like scoring a soundtrack for a movie, but without an actual film.” However, the song is not without merit even for the home listener with no runway models to watch. If you start listening at around the four-minute mark, just as the vocals first show up, and cut it off at the false ending around the eight-minute mark, what you’re left with isn’t a bad approximation of futuristic, multiculturally informed hardcore punk. And the “gotta get my mind right” chorus is pretty catchy–in fact, the song could probably have used a bit more of that chorus in lieu of the lengthy intro and outro.
But don’t take our word for it–listen to the new Mike D track below:
What do you think of it? Tell us in the comments!
