To the 5 boroughs

The Beastie Boys

To Be Honest: The Boys are pissed off. To the 5 Boroughs finds the Beasties in confrontational mood, re-marking their territory like three ageing Rottweilers. Insults are spat in all directions. Fundamentalists, Def Jam, bad diets, and particularly the US Government are slapped around with real aggression. Thankfully, they are far too canny - and silly - to turn into Rage Against The Machine. Amongst lines like, 'We've got a president we didn't elect/The Kyoto treaty he decided to neglect', you'll still find Ad-Rock blurting out, 'I walk like Jabba the Hutt'. Even more importantly, there's a real party groove underpinning the whole thing. 'An Open Letter To NYC' is its centrepiece, an anthem of defiance via the medium of dance, which urges the Boys' hometown to its feet: 'Two towers down but you're still in the game'. Like the album as a whole, it's stripped-down yet epic, broody yet joyful. God only knows how they've done it, but political awareness has never been such fun.

Listen out for: Ad-Rock becoming deranged with anger: 'What you talking about Willis?/Who's the ill-est?/ You know my name's Adam/Stop calling me Phyllis'.

Play: While dressed-up as Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.