First time around they were written off as more of Presley’s snot-nosed ancestors, shamelessly appropriating breaking black musical styles. Then, after creating an undisputable hip-hop masterpiece (1989’s PAUL’S BOUTIQUE), they were tossed aside because they’d seemingly lost their commercial value. But now, having successfully made their “new style” over and debut it at Number 1, the only thing the Beastie Boys can be dissed about is their media over-exposure. The phattening pleasures of ILL COMMUNICATION’s 20 tracks come when they visit the old school–whether with DJ Hurricane on the wheels of steel in “Sure Shot”, or freestyling classic Beastie rhymes with Q-Tip on “Get It Together”. Or when they turn that classroom on its ear by replacing the samples and machine-beats with live jams. And it’s not just their musical skills which have progressed over the years. On ILL COMMUNICATION, the lyrical jokesters who’ve previously added figures as diverse as Japanese baseball legend Sadahura Oh and prominent science dude Galileo Galilei to hip-hop’s lyrical canon, finally allow their individualism to shine brightly through the usual veil of Beastie-speak. By casually expounding on an undercurrent of values ranging from Buddhism, to corporate slackdom, to (of all things) marriage, ILL COMMUNICATION goes further to define the parameters of a twentysomething community than any other commercially successful record in recent memory.