I’m second to no one in my love of the Beastie Boys, but I have to say, some of the rhymes on the recent To the 5 Boroughs, which I checked out from the library the other day, leave a bit to be desired. My longstanding theory has been that there is an inverse relationship in the Beastie oeuvre between the quality of the material and the degree of social consciousness they attempt to convey. To wit:

We have a president that we didn’t elect/the Kyoto treaty he’s decided to neglect

Sigh…

Consider: widely regarded as their best album, Paul’s Boutique is almost entirely devoid of socially redeeming qualities. Unless you consider drug use, casual sex, throwing eggs at people, shaking your rump and gunplay socially redeeming topics.

Actually, as a whole To the 5 Boroughs is pretty decent. But the rapping about global warming and the perfidy of George Bush I can do without.