Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys started out in 1981 as a New York hardcore punk band and turned to rap a few years later. Licensed to Ill, produced by Rick Rubin for Def Jam in 1986, became the first rap album to top the US album chart. After that the trio took a different route every time: the sample collage of Paul's Boutique with the Dust Brothers, the self-played funk and hardcore of Check Your Head and Ill Communication, the turntablism of Mix Master Mike on Hello Nasty, and the bare beats of To the 5 Boroughs, their album about New York after 11 September 2001. Adam Yauch, better known as MCA, died of cancer in 2012. That brought the band to an end.

This collection brings together Beastie Boys on vinyl, LP and CD: reissues of the studio albums, deluxe editions with bonus material, and the early punk recordings.