Artist: Beastie Boys

Album: Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Label: Capitol

The Beastie Boys are now the Beastie Men. Hard to believe it's been 25 years since Licensed to Ill loosed Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock onto the world.

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, the trio's first rap album since 2004's To The Five Boroughs (2007's The Mix-Up was a Grammy-winning instrumental album) is a self-assured, smooth return to the rap game. Although they're now competing against the acts they helped birth, the Boys show they still belong at the top of the heap.  

Although they're all grown up, one trip through Hot Sauce's 16 tracks is refreshingly old school. Despite tinkering and tweaking, the core sound of the Boys hasn't changed. But instead of being stuck in a Groundhog Day-style repeat of its glory days, the Beastie Boys have proceeded with a firm sense of identity, resisting the urge to radically alter their sound or their subject matter, a decision which would have made Robocop-like changes to their fundamental DNA.

This was - you will recall - a trio that built its image on being the little guy, three punk white kids from NYC whose sound made us believe they set up shop in their basement, tinkered with beats and scribbled insane lyrics on scraps of paper.

In those regards, Hot Sauce Committee reveals nothing has changed for the Beastie Boys. They still boldly call out fellow rappers, even if they're old enough to be their parents, as on the collaboration with Nas, "Too Many Rappers." The rhymes are sizzling, including one killer line, "Oh my god, just look at me/Grandpa been rappin' since '83."

"Make Some Noise" is the perfect combination of old and new. It's mostly beats and bass, with a funky guitar behind, the Beastie Boys at their crowd-pleasing best. "Nonstop Disco Powerpack" kicks off with live drums and a funky bass line, followed by some back-and-forth work from all three Boys. Mike D's slightly nasal, whiny delivery is a good reminder that, without the Beastie Boys, there'd likely be no Eminem.

The upside of the low-key production is that it allows the real gifts to shine through. These were three seriously talented rappers, with a clever ear for rhyme and a self-deprecating take on their own success. Hot Sauce shows this group is still in total command of this identity, making records on their terms, with whoever they please. What's impressive is how that total command has taken them the U2 route, and not the M. Night Shyamalan one. Absolute power doesn't have to corrupt; sometimes, it just means freedom from the edicts of corporate record labels. In this case, that means a winner.

*This review first published 5/10/2011