Adam Yauch Park, Brooklyn Heights. It’s only right…
The Beastie Boys On Chapelle Show (never aired).
Some Words On Why The Beastie Boys Matter So Much To Me:
This was inspired by an article that came out on my folks site Largeup.com today about the Beastie Boys’ connection to reggae music. I left this comment on their article today:
The Beasties truly represented my musical path more than any other group ever. I came of age (11-13) going to see to hardcore bands like Bad Brains and Murphy’s Law, who obviously both had big reggae/ska influences. At the same time, I was being introduced to “The Harder They Come” soundtrack (which includes the “Stop That Train” sample), Eek A Mouse, Steel Pulse, Yellowman and the like. I remember, my boy had all these reggae artist names scrawled on his book bag, and it just had a HUGE effect on me. I went and found all those artists.
After being raised on classic rock, yacht rock and 80s music, hardcore and punk were the next logical step. Then, all the hardcore kids in Boston (where I grew up) took off their Doc Martens, and put on sneakers, started listening to/going to more reggae, ska and hip-hop shows, and called themselves “sneaker boys”. Precisely at this time, I moved to NYC. I never went to another hardcore show again. I got completely obsessed with listening to Red Alert, Stretch Armstrong, Kid Capri and Silver Dee on the radio, and just got consumed by hip-hop. Later on, I went back and caught back up on all these previous phases, which was great therapy.
The Beasties represent the true nature of hip-hop and dj culture to me. The people that started hip-hop (and dj culture), just loved music. ALL KINDS. But the Beasties also had a musical progression that mirrored mine, which transcends any of that for me. The connection between reggae, punk, hardcore and hip-hop is something that I think many people who call themselves “hip-hop fans” just don’t even understand.
Sunny Bak is a fashion photographer that, by chance, found herself shooting for the Beasties during the “License To Ill” era. The story (as told to Jay-Z’s Life And Times Blog) is that the Beasties used to hang around Sunny’s photo studio with all these models she was shooting, and that’s how she met them. Sunny used to just throw the boys into her photos because she needed someone to test the light out on. Haha. Later on, when they got a deal, they called her up, and asked if they could use the photos, and hire her.
Last Thursday (the day before MCA passed), I attended an opening for Sunny’s show with Cey Adams of rarely seen photos from the Beasties in the early 80s. It’s actually still up at 675 Hudson St/Ivy Brown Gallery. We ended up meeting Sunny through a mutual friend over there, and were pretty amazed at her down-to-earth nature.
I just dug this video up above, that sees Sunny being interviewed about the photos she contributed to the “Kings Of Rock” show at Rush Arts Gallery last month. She’s got some great stories to tell, and this video doesn’t even have 300 hits, so I’m sure they’re stories you haven’t heard.
The Beastie Boys traipse around Tokyo in 1992.
(Source: youtube.com)
