What were you doing 24 years ago today? For lots of you, the answer is probably "being born" or "being conceived" or something. But for some of us, the answer is "joyfully celebrating the release of the Beastie Boys second album, Paul's Boutique."
Coming almost three years after their world-changing megasmash Licensed to Ill, at first, Paul's Boutique, alienated a core contingent of original Beasties fans. The band had moved out to LA to record it, and, working with the Dust Brothers production team, opted for a smoother, funkier sound, far more lush and layered than the crunching guitars and B-Boy breakbeats Rick Rubin had provided for them on the first album.
As the years passed, though, Paul's Boutique came to be known as the masterpiece that it is. The Beastie's best album? Yes, it says here. An all-time masterpiece of sample-based pastiche production, and the perfect expression of three talented rap artists wholly unafraid to experiment and grow. The celebrate the date, please enjoy these 18 photographs of the Beastie Boys when they were concieving, creating, preparing for, and revelling in the birth of Paul's Boutique.
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