It may have been six years since their 1998's Hello Nasty, but despite their weathered profiles, the Beastie Boys haven't aged a day: they still screw up lines and giggle like teenagers, still reference late-nite TV, and still… well, they still can't rap. Fortunately, their focus has always remained more on their palpable charisma and production techniques, and while they've lost a bit of the former with age, the classic throwback beat backing them up is the star player in „Ch-Check It Out“'s 80s hip-hop homage.
Though the live-sounding percussion here is about as busy as you're likely to hear in 4/4, the track is strikingly minimal coming from the trio whose past records nearly burst at their seams. Here, we're offered just the riotous punch of a lone drumkit and the occasional horn stab, yet surprisingly, it's more than enough to keep the song interesting throughout its three-minute runtime.Still, where the Beasties have generally been crude if likable rappers, they're completely off their game here. Ad Rock and Mike D fare the best, keeping their lines simple (if usually completely nonsensical), but MCA is a wreck: His increasingly gravelly rasp's constant reminder of mortality is the least of his concerns, as not only are his rhymes painfully out of touch (Klingons?!), but he fails to even stay on the beat– at times, it seems his lyrics are written for another song entirely.
Fortunately, the Boys have made the wise decision to keep their recent Northern State, Sr. sermonizing in check, and to mix themselves low enough that you're likely to miss about 80% of their rhymes. Again, the beat is the focal point here, and while it's nothing too spectacular, it still sounds great blasting out a trunk. [Ryan Schreiber; May 17th, 2004]
Quelle: Pitchfork
Mir gefällt weder der Song, noch das Video. Nur more of the same, nichts Neues.
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