Maps of Music

To the 5 Boroughs (2004)

Where the lyrics of To the 5 Boroughs take you, and where it was really made.

The cover drawing of the Manhattan skyline deliberately includes the Twin Towers that the 2001 attacks destroyed.

Key places

Recording site: Oscilloscope Laboratories (2004)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album was recorded and mixed at Oscilloscope Laboratories in New York City. The point is placed at the city centre, so the exact building is not marked. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• To the 5 Boroughs is the sixth studio album by the American hip-hop group Beastie Boys
• Released 14 June 2004 internationally, and a day later in the United States
• The first major Beastie Boys release since 1998's Hello Nasty
• Reflects on the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York City
• Lead single Ch-Check It Out; later singles Triple Trouble, Right Right Now Now and An Open Letter to NYC

Background

• The title refers to the five boroughs of New York City, the home city of the group
• Works as a tribute to New York recovering from the 2001 attacks and as a critique of President Bush's policy
• The first album the group produced entirely by itself
• Mix Master Mike on turntables and scratches, his second appearance on a Beastie Boys album
• Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards

Recording

• Beastie Boys credited as producers and engineers, with mixing by Supa Engineer DURO and engineering by Jon Weiner
• Recorded and mixed at Oscilloscope Laboratories
• Mastering by Chris Athens at Sterling Sounds
• Several tracks are built on samples of older records, including songs by Kool & the Gang and the Dead Boys

Cover

• Cover drawing of the New York City skyline by Matteo Pericoli, taken from his book Manhattan Unfurled
• The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were deliberately included in the drawing

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• The Beastie Boys were an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1981.
• They began as a hardcore punk band, having previously been members of the Young Aborigines.
• Adam Yauch replaced the departing bassist Jeremy Shatan, and the band took the name Beastie Boys.
• The 1983 single "Cooky Puss" won local success and marked their full move into hip-hop.

Members

• The main line-up was Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass) and Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums).
• Yauch also directed many of the group's music videos under the alias Nathanial Hörnblowér.

Career

• Their debut album Licensed to Ill (1986) was the first rap album to top the Billboard 200.
• Paul's Boutique (1989) was made with the Dust Brothers and was a commercial failure but gained critical acclaim.
• Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) found mainstream success.
• Hello Nasty (1998) and To the 5 Boroughs (2004) followed, and the instrumental album The Mix-Up came in 2007.
• Their final album was Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011).
• The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, becoming the third rap group so honored.
• Yauch died of parotid cancer in 2012, and the group disbanded.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 from 25 critic scores
• Playlouder called the album a triumph
• Rolling Stone called it an exciting, astonishing balancing act that is fast, funny and sobering
• Jason Thompson of PopMatters called it the group's best album since Paul's Boutique
• Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly praised simple and effective beats without the distracting bells and whistles of Hello Nasty
• AllMusic said the group was maturing into expert craftsmen
• The NME compared the Beastie Boys to Missy Elliott, both re-examining hip hop
• The Onion AV Club said the album offers a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent era
• E! Online rated the album B−, calling it fun but hardly fresh

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the group's third consecutive album to do so
• Sold 360,000 copies in its first week of release
• Certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S.
• Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards, losing to Kanye West's The College Dropout

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The lead single Ch-Check It Out debuted on The O.C. in an episode airing on April 28, 2004
• The album caused controversy over allegations that it installed spyware when the CD was inserted into a computer
• The band denied this, saying there is no copy protection on U.S. and U.K. copies
• European copies carried Macrovision CDS-200 copy protection, which the band described as standard for EMI releases in Europe, without installing spyware
• The album's cover drawing deliberately includes the two towers of the World Trade Center

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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