Episode 54: Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

Coming off huge commercial success, Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys had big shoes to fill. They were entering the studio to record their sophomore record, which many bands fail to achieve the same success as the first. What came next in 1989 was Paul’s Boutique. This album would blow the doors off the whole genre and send the Beastie Boys in a direction more towards hip-hop. What’s incredibly unique about Paul’s Boutique, is that it’s an album made up predominately of samples. If you’d asked me in 1989 if I would be reviewing an album made of samples, I would likely have said no. But I wanted to dig the hole, pile the dirt, dive into the hole, and dig deeper into this one. Why did an album filled with samples, an album completely different from a group’s debut, an album that initially was considered a failure, gain so much of a cult following and eventual underground popularity that today it is considered among the top 5 Hip Hop records of all time? Let’s find out. Find out more at ALBUMREVIEW.NET