| One reason nobody knew what the Beastie Boys were going to do foran encore is thatLicensed to Ill redefined rap as music.In a cutthroat world predicated on the insult, you don't do thattwice. But ifPaul's Boutique (Capitol) doesn'tjump you the way great rap usually does, it also announces thatthese guys aren't about to burn out on their vaunted vices--notcheeba, not pussy, certainly not fame. With Rick Rubin producinghard rock full-time,Paul's Boutique doesn'tpick up on the expansive pop-metal hooks that made them rich andfamous. It's not as thick and threatening as Public Enemy or aswaggish as De La Soul. But the Beasties and Tone-Loc's Dust Brothershave worked out a sound that sneaks up on you with its stark beatsand literal-minded samples, sometimes in a disturbing way, and whileI don't hear a "Fight for Your Right," I also wasn't smart enoughto handicap "Wild Thing" as the biggest rap single in history. Bearingdown on the cleverest rhymes in the biz--"Expanding the horizonsand expanding the parameters/Expanding the rhymes of sucker m.c.amateurs"--the Beasties concentrate on tall tales rather than boastingor dissing. In their irresponsible, exemplary way they make funof drug misuse, racism, assault, and other real vices fools mightaccuse them of. And because they're still bad boys, other bad boysmight take them seriously. Dayton's Royal Crescent Mob are bad boys on a middle American tip.The subgenre is white funk, but just like the Beasties the Mob obviouslylook to pop metal as well, especially those closet funksters Aerosmith.Spin the World (Sire) is one of the rare white funk albumsthat gets by on groove when the hooks go thataway. It's one of therare garage-rock albums that generates the fun garage-rock is supposedto substitute for good playing and good tunes. And it's one of therare stoopid albums that's as smart as it thinksit is. Playboy, May 1989
 | Apr. 1989 | June 1989 |  |
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