The Beastie Boys: arguably the greatest rap group in history

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Originally published at: The Beastie Boys: arguably the greatest rap group in history | Boing Boing

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Again with the hyperbole, yo. Maybe consider using less?

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Nonsense.

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Dude, just no. Seriously.

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Here’s the long forgotten follow-up:

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Yeah… the obligatory word missing from the title is the adjective ‘White;’ now that is an arguable stance one could reasonably take.

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Significantly important? Sure, I can buy that one. “Greatest?” No. Stop that right now.

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Pretty much what i came here to say. Everything is subjective, especially when it comes to music and artists so talking about “the best” of anything is pointless. But Beastie Boys are 100% a very significant and important rap group and no one will ever be able to take that away from them

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Sure, they’re fun. But have you heard:

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For sure. Them signing to Def Jam wasn’t an accident, they were pals with Rick Rubin who saw their crosdover potential on his label. The Beasties only even started rapping as a joke - their passions at the time were in hardcore punk music.

Don’t get me wrong. The Beasties were a great and important rap group, and that’s indisputable. They were able to rise above their novelty status and release some seriously good and indispensable music. But they I doubt they would have ever had any initial fame let alone crossover appeal has they not been white and had the ability to ride the coattails of established and serious players like label mates Run-DMC and LL Cool J.

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I mean, I like the Beastie Boys a lot, but I don’t think I would claim them as the greatest.

Wouldn’t Wu-Tang be considered the most influential/greatest rap group of all time? A Tribe Called Quest? Run DMC?

The Beastie Boys had some good longevity, I will give them that.

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Indubitably; ITA on all points.

As already mentioned, surely a prolific group like Wu Tang ranks higher.

I mean, I get it that this is just one person’s opinion, and that person just happens to be a rap icon… but it’s still rather click-baity to phrase the title as it is.

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Man I loved The Fat Boys as a kid. Remember their movie The Disorderlies?

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I think they had a couple things going for them that gave them longevity and success. There were always authentic about who they were - a trio of white middle class Jewish kids - and rapped about what they knew which certainly wasn’t about life in the South Bronx or Queens. In the world of rap one of the biggest sins is inauthenticity. Vanilla Ice may have been ok as a rapper but his whole “I’m a dude from the hood in Miami” schtick when he was basically an upper crust dude from outside Dallas meant nobody would take him seriously.

The Beasties had a clear admiration and respect for the genre and culture, and even if they started as a joke they really grew into it. A greatest of all time? I can’t say I agree with this. One of the greats? Sure, I’ll go with that.

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I dunno… I’m like El-P in terms of white rappers…

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Hell yea!

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In related news, Pat Boone was the most successful R&B artist of all time.

/s

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Also a reasonable argument.

Declaring a White group as the best ever, in the entirety of a whole ass genre that was created, pioneered and perfected by Black culture, though?

For all I know, Murs may actually even believe that, but from my perspective it seems intentionally provocative and borderline attention-seeking…

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I can’t see choices besides Wu Tang for greatest group based on sum total output, but I could definitely see Paul’s Boutique for greatest album.

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Yep, I enjoyed it a lot.

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