To the 5 Boroughs

Untitled

To the 5 Boroughs is the Beastie Boys' sixth studio album. This album was released on June 14, 2004 internationally, and a day later in the United States. The album debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 with 360,000 copies sold in its first week.

Significance

• Before they recorded in 2002 and released this album, the band had been touring on their previous album Hello Nasty after 1998-1999.

• Their single "Ch-Check It Out" debuted on The O.C. in "The Vegas" from Season 1 which aired April 28 2004. Yahoo Launch News Story

• The album was the cause of some controversy with allegations that it installed spyware when inserted into the CD-ROM of a computer. [1] The band has denied this allegation saying there is no copy prevention software on the albums sold in the US and UK. While there is Macrovision's CDS-200 copy prevention software installed on European copies of the album this is standard practice for all European releases on EMI/Capitol Records released in Europe and it does not install spyware or any form of permanent software. [2]

• The album is the first to be produced by the Beastie Boys themselves and the second to feature Mix Master Mike.

• As the Beastie Boys were included in the game NBA Street, the track "An Open Letter To NYC" was included in its soundtrack.

• To the 5 Boroughs has two main themes - a tribute to their home town New York after the September 11 terrorist attacks (although, notably, the Twin Towers are on the cover drawing) and a criticism of George W. Bush's Presidency.

• The Introduction to "An Open Letter To NYC" is a sample from the track "Sonic Reducer" by the punk band The Dead Boys from their 1977 classic, "Young, Loud And Snotty".

• Another sample they used was the Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight in Triple Trouble.

Critical reaction

• Metacritic.com reviews of the album showed that the album rated 74 out of 100 meaning that the album received a generally positive response from critics. A summary of reviews and suggested tracks for legal downloading from each review is below.

• Playlouder said "To the 5 Boroughs is a triumph." Best tracks "An Open Letter to NYC", "Ch-Check It Out" "3 The Hard Way" 5 stars out of 5 [3]

• Rolling Stone Magazine said "To the 5 Boroughs is an exciting, astonishing balancing act: fast, funny and sobering". Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Right Right Now Now" "It Takes Time to Build" 5 stars out of 5 [4]

• Popmatters said "In fact, it's their best album since Paul's Boutique. Best tracks: "Right Right Now Now", "Crawl Space", "Hey F*** You" "The Hard Way" [5]

• Entertainment Weekly said: "The beats are (...) simple and effective, with a welcome lack of bells and whistles that made Hello Nasty so distracting." (18 June 2003, p 83) Rating 83

• All Music Guide said: "It's rather impressive that they're maturing gracefully turning into expert craftsmen who can deliver a satisfying listen like this". Best Tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Time to Build", "Triple Trouble" "An Open Letter to NYC", "The Brouhaha" Rating 4 stars out of 5 [6]

• The NME said: "Like Missy Elliott, the Beasties are re-examining hip hop - what it was, what it is, what it can be". (12 June 2004, page 47).

• The Onion AV Club said: "With To the 5 Boroughs Beastie boys discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent era, afording listeners the exuberance of youth together with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience. Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out" "Time to Build" "Triple Trouble". [7]

• Urb said the album "signals something of a rebirth of their signature creativity." (July/August 2004 page 123)

• E! Online rated the album as a B- saying it was "fun but hardly fresh. [8] Blender said "this formula wears thin over the 15 tracks here". (#27, page 137)

• Launch UK "Over an entire album, the formula's limitations and the limitations of the rappers, becomes a source of frustration. Imagine Hello Nasty if it had consisted entirely of "Three MCs and One DJ" and you're close to understanding how "To the 5 Boroughs" sounds. Best tracks: "Triple Trouble", "Oh Word" "Right Right Now Now" [9] 6 stars out of 10

• Q Magazine said "The self-imposed adherence to hip hop traditionalism here, and indeed musically on the album as a whole, rather subdues their famously free-form sonic palette" (Jul 2004, page 108) Rating 3 stars

• ShakingThrough.net argues that the non-political tracks work but "the album gets bogged down in meaningless platitudes" on the overtly political tracks. Best tracks: "An Open Letter to NYC", "3 the Hard Way", "Rhyme the Rhyme Well", "Triple Trouble" Rating 3 out of 5 stars [10]

• The Guardian said "the beats bounce along happily enough" but the anti-Bush lyrics are the bands weakness. The reviewer cited this lyric from "That's It That's All" "George W's got nothing on we, we got to take the power from he" as an example of the lyrical deficiencies. Rating 3 stars out of 5 [11]

• The New York Times said "the tracks crackle and swing with a wit that the lyrics rarely match" [12]

• Stylus Magazine claimed the Beastie Boys were past it saying "Overall, the band has nothing to say and spends 45 minutes saying it". It notes that the beats are "pretty lovely". Best tracks: "An Open Letter to NYC" "We Got The". [13]

• Tiny Mix Tapes claims that the lyrics are "a dismal failure. Rating 2 and a half stars out of 5 [14]

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2004	"Ch-Check It Out"	Billboard Hot 100	#68
2004	"Ch-Check It Out"	Modern Rock Tracks	#1
2004	"Ch-Check It Out"	Canadian Singles Chart	#1
2004	"Triple Trouble"	Modern Rock Tracks	#11
2004	"Right Right Now Now"	Modern Rock Tracks	#25
2005	"An Open Letter to NYC"	UK	#38

Track listing

1. "Ch-Check It Out" – 3:12
2. "Right Right Now Now" – 2:46
3. "3 the Hard Way" – 2:48
4. "Time to Build" – 3:11
5. "Rhyme the Rhyme Well" – 2:47
6. "Triple Trouble" – 2:43
7. "Hey Fuck You" – 2:21
8. "Oh Word?" – 2:59
9. "That's It That's All" – 2:28
10. "All Lifestyles" – 2:33
11. "Shazam!" – 2:26
12. "An Open Letter to NYC" – 4:18
13. "Crawlspace" – 2:53
14. "The Brouhaha" – 2:13
15. "We Got The" – 2:27

Japanese Bonus Tracks

1. "Now Get Busy [Japan Bonus Track]" - 2:25

Australian 2CD Tour Edition

1. An Open Letter to NYC
2. Rizzle Rizzle Nizzle Nizzle (Remix for "Right Right Now Now")
3. MTL Reppin for the 514 (Remix for "Right Right Now Now")
4. Sabotage (live)
5. Brr Stick Em

Singles

• "Ch-Check It Out", released in May 2004
  • United States: The song debuted April 28 on the iTunes Store.
• "Triple Trouble", released in July 2004
  • United States: Played by world premiere from the Los Angeles, California station KROQ and other stations.
  • United Kingdom: Played by world premiere from BBC Radio 1 and other stations.
• "Right Right Now Now"
  • United States: The song was first played by KNDD and KROQ in September.
• "An Open Letter to NYC"
  • United Kingdom: Charted at #38 in December 2004.

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2004	The Billboard 200	#1
2004	European Album Chart	#1
2004	Top Internet Albums	#1
2004	Top Canadian Albums	#1
2004	Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums	#1
2004	UK Albums Chart	#1

External links

• All Music Guide: To the 5 Boroughs
• Billboard News - The Beastie Boys Return With '5 Boroughs'
• Metacritic review summaries