When the Beastie Boys burst onto the scene in 1986, the three nasally white-boy rappers from New York City had only recently abandoned a sputtering career in punk rock. But when founding-member Adam Yauch died in 2012, the Beastie Boys were finished. Now, almost a decade after their last record, they decided it was time to tell their story, with The Beastie Boys Book.
Their debut hip-hop album, “License to Ill,” went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide, celebrated by drunken frat boys convinced their partying rights were being infringed. And they played to stereotype.
But the Beastie Boys would change with the times—and apologize for the past—while becoming one of the most successful rap groups of all time.
Their new book hopes to answer all questions of growing up and ownership of past mistakes — including those of Brett Kavanaugh and Russell Simmons.