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Soul Strut 100: # 52 - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
edited March 2018 in The Soul Strut 100
I will slowly be unveiling the Top 100 Soul Strut Related Records as Voted by the Strutters Themselves.

# 52 - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique



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  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Gravity-Bong.jpg
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    YES! What an album.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    probably the first and maybe only record that i knew and know word for word
  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    Hell yeah!
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
    This is all mid-90s college for me. Remember blasting Shake your Rump in the dorms??? That bass was the ultimate speaker test. Also -- discovering samples from this record in my digging infancy was so bad ass. Ronnie Laws and the Eagles never sounded so good.
  • HollafameHollafame 844 Posts
    Basically ground zero for me, musically
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    I wasnt all in when it first dropped.
    Alot had happened in Hip Hop btwn this and their debut album.
    And i wasnt checkin their lyrics.

    Its stood the test of time. Classic shit.

    I was a frat dude when this came out.

    blah blah yadda yadda.

    I still need that Shadrach B-side w/ the dude rhymin over the phone.
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    the 33 1/3 book on this album is pretty good. Well worth reading. I used to play this really loud in my room at home. Now, as a parent, I wonder what my parents were thinking. That must have been really annoying. Not necessarily the music, but just the volume.

    Amazing collage of samples. Even more amazing the way they had to piece things together all rinky dink. The book mentions something about two mono samples being run simultaneously with smpte or something to make stereo samples.

    Also funny to think that some of these could have been Tone Loc songs.
  • EIGHTYEIGHTY 224 Posts
    One of the illest albums that they ever put out, not saying their other stuff was not any good but this one stood out the most.

    I might be wrong but I thought I heard a rumor that this album was heavily ghost written for them? Could someone clarify this for me please?
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    This was way past my time.
    I have never given it a proper listen.
    Shame on me.
    Maybe next time it comes through.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts
    RAJ said:
    Also -- discovering samples from this record in my digging infancy was so bad ass.

    Truth! And of course, the first time listening to the entire Car Wash soundtrack was a sample-spotting smorgasbord.

    But yeah, this one, 3 Feet High and Rising, and Nation of Millions are the holy trinity when it comes to the densely-layered-samples sound.

    Also, I feel like this was the Beasties' best vocal outing. Not that they're lyrical lyricists with mad complex 'phors and whatnot, but the tag-team style worked really well here, and they did a good job of establishing a particular vibe with their rhymes. This is one album I really don't get tired of.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    great record. "shake your rump" bass is pretty much a guranteed noise complaint if you live in an apartment/condo. does it fall under the rubric of "bass purity"?

    anyhow, i remember when this album dropped nobody or very few gave a shit (myslef included). it was only after "check your head" became massively succesful that many folks checked back to PB.
  • bennyboybennyboy 538 Posts
    Yeah, I'd agree with that - wasn't checking for the Beasties when this dropped, only came back to it after the fact. Great lp, and over the years I've shifted my allegiance from 'Shake Your Rump' to 'Hey Ladies' as being my standout track. Video is great *cracks whip*.
  • minimini 880 Posts
    Desert island album.
  • finelikewinefinelikewine "ONCE UPON A TIME, I HAD A VINYL." http://www.discogs.com/user/permabulker 1,416 Posts
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    i love rakim saying he could have made 6 albums off the samples from PB
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    A classic, straight up. This record belongs to a time when hip-hop was still figuring out what it actually was or could be, and hadn't yet been pinned down by Tha Bizness.
  • Bon VivantBon Vivant The Eye of the Storm 2,018 Posts
    Oh, man. Me and my crew in HS used to play the shit out of this tape, for like, 2 years.

    Blew my mind.
  • kalakala 3,362 Posts
    an instrumental version was never unearthed right?
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    i thought bootleg vinyl was pressed in the early 00's?
  • soupsoup 69 Posts
    Classic record. I bought it well before Check Your Head and remember the friend I was with trying to cap. The Beastie's were not cool circa this album, or at least not in the bay.

    Instrumentals definitely exist, I have the mp3's somewhere or other but I've never seen them on vinyl.
  • bboyparkzbboyparkz 549 Posts
    Dope.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts


    Is this Hip Hop's only double gatefold joint? I cant recall. For an object its easily top 5 in Rap vinyl.
  • Mr. AttentionMr. Attention 51 Posts
    YES. This record has aged like a fine wine. TIMELESS. I remember reading an interview with either Mike D or MCA regarding the decision to construct "The Sounds of Science" entirely out of Beatles samples, and he said something to the effect of "Fuck it; how cool would it be to get sued by The Beatles!" That attitude permeates throughout the record and the Dust Bros. completely killed it on the beats.

    I'm eternally grateful they didn't continue the 'License to Ill' vibe, and really love the next step they would take on 'Check Your Head' (still my personal favorite from start to finish, but 'Paul's' is close...)
  • Dean RDean R 9 Posts
    Probably worth putting up a link to this here.

    Shows just how mind boggling this record is


    http://www.strongroomalive.com/2012/08/solid-steel-caught-in-the-middle-
    of-a-3-way-mix/
  • neil_somethingneil_something 993 Posts
    Dean R said:
    Probably worth putting up a link to this here.

    Shows just how mind boggling this record is


    http://www.strongroomalive.com/2012/08/solid-steel-caught-in-the-middle-of-a-3-way-mix/

    I was just about to post this...

    Here's the soundcloud page where you can download it: http://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/solid-steel-radio-show-31-8-1
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    this looks great, thanks for upping.
  • dayday 9,611 Posts
    Paul's Boutique is in the top 10 of all time for any genre IMO. I remember my aunt gave me the tape for Christmas and I played that shit non stop. After MCA passed away I went back and really dove into it again. Still blows my mind how far ahead of it's time it was and that it still holds up today. The Dust Bros. were on some serious shit for 1989. I don't throw the word "masterpiece" around much, but when it comes to sampling, this is definitely one.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I graduated high school in '89 and that summer I was able to go to Cali for a couple of weeks to visit old friends. I remember one day out their driving from Huntington Beach to Downy to meet a friend in another friend of ours' tank of a borrowed Volvo wagon. I was alone and very teenaged stoned and stuck in gridlocked traffic on the 605...and that's when Hey Ladies came on the radio and my shit instantly turned into a spaceship right there...a jalopy of a spaceship that putters along like the Soul Train in a quest to eventually get you somewhere, anywhere twice as groovy as last second, but a spaceship nonetheless. I was transfixed to say the least. But then Fine Young Cannibals or something came on after it and shit went right back to being a busted wagon stuck in traffic.
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    probably my favorite beastie boys record. timeless. dust brothers absolutely killin it.
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