Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

The Beastie Boys stormed onto the music scene with a mix of raunchy, rowdy rap and punk in the mid-80s. In the 90s they refined their music with a mix of electro-funk and old school hip hop, and experienced their hey day with albums like Ill Communication and Hello Nasty.

Finished two years ago, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two was shelved when Adam "MCA" Yauch was diagnosed with cancer. After one track change after another, switching things out between this and the yet unreleased Part 1, it's finally out.

The rap is classic Beastie: tight rhymes with clever play on words. The music is beyond definition with futuristic bleeps, scratching discs, thumping drums, rip-roaring guitars and heavy funk. But we can say this: it's damn good.

Besides the radio friendly "Make Some Noise" and "Too Many Rappers (featuring Nas)", Hot Sauce is packed with gems from the super funk "Funky Donkey" to the laid-back noise-jammed "Tadlock's Glasses" (named after one of their bus drivers who used to drive Elvis around). Standing out among the pack is "Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament," political activism via beatbox instrumental. It's nearly three minutes of repetitive, head-bobbing goodness.

It's been a long time coming, but the wait is well worth it.