100 Greatest Songs of the 00’s #61 Beastie Boys – Ch-Check It Out

Released: 2004

Who, in 1986 when Licensed To Ill and the accompanying hype and chaos and bullshit made the Beastie Boys the new Sex Pistols, had money on the trio A) still being a thing almost twenty years later to tell the tale(s) and B) more popular seemingly than ever?

The answer was nobody and although Mike D, Ad Rock and MCA had diversified mightily since then – amongst the side lines were running a clothes brand and also a record label, playing some golf and in the latter’s case practicing Buddhism – the secret seemed to be more than just sit ups and good moisturiser.

Their sixth album To the 5 Boroughs came in the wake of 9/11 and pulled off a rare balancing act in offering a still grieving New York solace but not compromise. If hip hop had begun the process of reorienting itself for the new century, Ch Check It Out was the Beasties in classic new-old mode, with a huge brassy sample rummaged from Peggy Lee and the familiarly elastic rhyming style that allowed them to get away with pretty much anything. A little less crazy than before, rap’s Peter Pans had done it again.