Why Licensed to Ill Might Be the Best Rap Album Ever

The facts: it’s by the Beastie Boys, 3 middle class Brooklyn Jews, and it’s the biggest-selling rap album of the 80’s.

It shows the value of not giving a fuck. They don’t care about conveying an image they aren’t. They rap about what they know about - White Castle burgers, porno mags, bein’ hated and confront-ated, and the right to party. You won’t find them faking it in a single line. Their beats are the same way, original stuff made out of whatever sounded good at the time - rock music samples and their voices and blaring bass and xylophones.