Adam Horovitz on Iggy Azalea: ‘I was gonna say it’s awful, and it is awful’

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Adam Horovitz is best known as Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys. But the Beastie Boys are no more after Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away in 2012 after losing a battle with cancer. After Yauch’s passing, Ad-Rock and Mike D disbanded the Beasties and they’re now pursuing other projects. Adam is getting into acting, which apparently was a side-interest he had this whole time. He appears in the new Ben Stiller ensemble film, While We’re Young. Horovitz sat down with The Daily Beast for a wide-ranging, hilarious and amazing interview about life, music, acting, New York City and learning how to be middle-aged (he’s 48). You can read the full piece here (it’s an awesome read). Some highlights:

On rap’s original gangsters: “Rap music is the only genre of music I can think of where nobody gives a sh-t about last year—let alone 20 or 30 years ago. Rap is the only super-current music. If you’re into reggae or dancehall and you don’t know Bob Marley, then you don’t really know what you’re listening to. But if you’re listening to rap and you’re 15, you’re like, “Grandmaster Flash? Who’s that? Public Enemy? Yeah, my dad told me about them once.” And that’s just how it is. We had to accept that as a band.”

The state of rap today: “I have no idea about the state of rap. I don’t pay attention. I just listen to old music that I have. Once a year, I’ll go do a digging search on things, and then listen to that for the next year or two. I like Kanye West… he makes good music.

His thoughts on Iggy Azalea: “She sounds like Da Brat. I can’t say too much because I’ve heard literally one song of hers, and it’s not for me. I was gonna say it’s awful, and it is awful. But what do I know? It’s sold like 20 billion records, so people like it. I don’t care, more than anything.

His early acting ambitions: “When I was a little kid I wanted to be an actor. That was my thing. And my mom gave me a guitar for my 12th birthday and I learned how to play, and that same year I heard The Ramones, and I guess everything changed. But I tried to do the acting thing back in like… 1988 or 1989. I was in Lost Angels and another one called Roadside Prophets in the ’80s. But I went on tons of auditions. I auditioned for so many different people—Oliver Stone for The Doors movie.

His life as a family man: “My wife [Kathleen Hanna] is the coolest person in the world and I get to hang out with her every day, and I’ve got great friends and I love my family… what’s the problem? So, as of today, I’m cool with all of it. Fifteen years from now, I don’t know. The only time I really notice [my age] is after basketball, or a lot of drinking. Although if you can still handle a lot of drinking at my age, that’s a bad sign. When you’re young, you just throw up and get back up again, but the spinning… I can’t do the spinning. I guess if you’re leading a healthy, grown-up lifestyle, your brain and your body are coexisting. And my back is killing me.”

His thoughts on the current state of NYC: “It’s a bummer, man. It’s definitely a bummer. That’s what cities do—they change. Some cities go the completely opposite route and turn into f–kin’ ghost towns, but me and Kathleen went to see Patti Smith do this gig and someone asked her what she thought of New York City today, and she said, “It’s depressing. You can’t be a starving artist. You can’t move to New York to be an artist.” And there are struggling artists now in New York, but they’re not struggling for money, because if they’re living in New York their parents gave them money. So now you need to have four roommates and live in Queens. Nothing against Queens. But it’s definitely too expensive, and Brooklyn is now, too. It’s depressing.

[From The Daily Beast]

He also talks about how it’s so different for young people today and how the kids aren’t set in stone with how they self-identify, like no one is just a straight-up punk or stoner or jock anymore. Anyway, I love him. I love what he says about Iggy, like he thinks she’s terrible but he doesn’t even really care. I love what he says about his wife and his family. And yes, he’s married to THAT Kathleen Hanna (my inner Riot Grrrl just squealed). He’s managed to age gracefully, in every way possible. Glory to the former hellraisers and pranksters in this world.

Oh, and Ad-Rock has been giving lots of interviews this week – you can read his GQ piece here. He also did a really sweet NYT interview – go here to read.

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN, still from ‘While We’re Young’.

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152 Responses to “Adam Horovitz on Iggy Azalea: ‘I was gonna say it’s awful, and it is awful’”

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  1. LB says:

    Thank you! All these famous people lately are afraid to tell the truth – but it’s simple. Iggy is straight up terrible. She may make you money by guesting on your song but she’s awful. And ultimately it doesn’t matter because a lot of people out there love it enough to buy it (Still doesn’t make it good though).

    What he says about NY is true too. Born and raised in Queens, and it’s hard to see how much this borough and all the other boroughs have changed. Some of the changes are great but with it often comes the loss of affordability and a decrease in diversity and character (a lot of the older people forced to move out). Tragic.

    • doofus says:

      truth: I just listed to “Fancy” for the first time (yes, I live under a rock) and I was unimpressed.

      she affects the way she raps/sings SO MUCH that it feels so contrived and/or try-hard.

      so I’ll agree with him on that one. besides, he was always my favorite Beastie.

    • Santia says:

      Native New Yorker here, too. I’m torn about the changes. Let’s face it, some change was needed. No one should have to constantly fear for their lives where they live. I just feel that the government should have been providing safety services, sanitation, etc. to the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens on the same level as Manhattan all along. The outer boroughs were treated like step-children UNTIL white people started moving there due to the lack of affordability in Manhattan. Then, all of a sudden, services started to be provided, more cops showed up and they started to get cleaned up. At the end of the day, I see so-called gentrification as more of a positive thing (provided, as you say, that diversity can be preserved and housing is still made affordable to the current residents).

      • jenn12 says:

        NYC born and raised, and he is royalty to those of us who remember. And his wife kicks every possible kind of butt. Saw her twice in the 90s. Saw HIM in the early days when my friend and I snuck into a club the BBs were performing at. He is on point about pretty much everything, though I don’t get how he likes Kanye.

      • Hakura says:

        @Jenn12“He is on point about pretty much everything, though I don’t get how he likes Kanye.”

        I am SO not a fan (nowhere near, honestly), but even I have to (*rarely*) admit he has his moments. Moments that last, at BEST, all of 12 seconds before cranial-anal contact is reestablished. But I could see how, if someone isn’t necessarily ‘keeping up’ with what regularly comes out of his mouth, even an intelligent/logical person could be duped into a positive response.

      • jenn12 says:

        Maybe he’s just judging him musically? I just don’t get the Kanye love.

      • Tammy says:

        What’s the big deal about him liking Kanye? Kanye is talented. Just because most of what comes out of mouth is nonsense doesn’t mean he cannot rap or sing.

    • Esmom says:

      You could be describing what’s happened in Chicago, too. I ended up leaving a few years ago for the suburbs for various reasons…my neighborhood and various old stomping grounds had become more “suburban” than the actual suburbs so I figured it wouldn’t be much of a change at that point anyway. Except that the suburbs are way more affordable than the city now.

      • pf says:

        I just read an article where Chicago was described as an hourglass, meaning there are less middle class and more rich and poor. I think that’s true of most cities as gentrification have priced a lot of people out. I can’t afford to live in Chicago and was forced to move in with my parents in the burbs because I got student loan debt up the wazoo and cannot find permanent full-time work. Anybody who lives in pricy neighborhoods like Wicker Park or whatever either have great-paying jobs, have a bunch of roommates, or are trust fund babies. This is the reality we now live in.

      • Esmom says:

        pf, I think that’s absolutely true. My neighborhood was solidly middle class for decades and now the median home price is near $1.5 million! By the time we moved, we could never have afforded to purchase there. The two-flats that two families with numerous kids and/or several generations could share have been replaced by or converted to mansions. And when a developer and the alderman tried to build a development with a certain number of lower income units the neighbors went apeshit. I feel like they’re trying to create sanitized suburban enclaves within the city…it’s crazy and sad. I’m mostly glad to be gone. But I have a lot of nostalgia for how it used to be not that long ago, when someone just starting out could afford an apartment and there was lots of character and diversity to explore instead of Starbucks, Best Buy and Target every few blocks. Best of luck to you!

      • doofus says:

        either of you two watch “Shameless”? takes place on the South Side and they’ve been covering the gentrification thing this season as a side story.

      • Esmom says:

        doofus, no, thanks for the tip. I’m always looking for something good to watch. Right now all I’ve got on my schedule is Better Call Saul and, in a few days, Mad Men.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        I love Shameless, Better Call Saul and Mad Men!

        I know in the coastal areas of LA, the rise in AirBnB and other short term rental services has driven up the prices of rental properties. I am feeling guilty now, because I am using AirBnB for a girls weekend in Chicago this spring. We are staying in Lincoln Park. It is a property that is only used as a short term rental.

      • Malificent says:

        When my grandparents lived in Lakeview in Chicago it was an ordinary, working class neighborhood. It kills me that their 2-flat probably goes for seven figures now…. What I miss most is Arne’s Penny Candy on Ashland Avenue. Haven’t been by there in a while, but it’s probably a wine bar now….

      • Esmom says:

        Tiffany, Don’t feel guilty, I don’t think those rental places are nearly as much of a problem as developers looking to make bucks on McMansions. In my old neighborhood someone turned a 6-flat into a single family home. People joking refer to it as “the bank.” It’s so hideous and out of place. Enjoy your trip!

        Malificent, yeah, it’s mind boggling how much that neighborhood has changed. In the early 90s, people thought I was crazy to move west of Ashland, like it was some dangerous hinterland, lol.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        A 6-flat into a single family home? Yikes! When homes get too big, they can become impersonal. There is such a thing as too large, especially when it comes to living spaces!

      • Other Kitty says:

        Yes! I lived in Bucktown in the late 90’s, I paid $350 for a one bedroom apt. Wicker park was affordable…I walked through Bucktown a couple years ago with my sister and it was completely unrecognizable. When I was there it was artists, older Polish people, and lots of Hispanic families. Now, it’s a bunch of rich people and my former one bedroom apt has been renovated into a two bedroom apartment renting for $1600/mo.

      • Flan says:

        Sadly and intentionally, the crisis has been an excuse to take off any extra wealth the middle class had. Middle class people now often live as poor people did 15 years ago. This especially goes for the under 35s.

        Trickle down economy is a scham. All that water stays right in the ever growing basin at the top.

    • Asiyah says:

      The only decent part of “Fancy” is Charli XCX’s part and even that’s annoying after the 3rd time hearing it lol

    • jane16 says:

      Same thing with San Francisco.

  2. Jules says:

    She is awful…………..and she will be replaced by another rapbot in a year or 2.

  3. Josephine says:

    Why are these male performers so undone by a female rapper? I like the Beastie Boys, but I don’t get why these reporters are so eager to call out Iggy for criticism, and interviewees are so happy to give it. Was he asked about other singers? Is it because she’s trying to rap and they think that is male territory only? I find the need to cut down Iggy so bizarre and so misogynistic. The worst is when women pile on, too. Why any singer doesn’t say any more than “it’s not my style” is beyond me.

    • LB says:

      I don’t know if it’s a female issue. It might be (it might be about race too – here it looks like it was) but no one usually asks about Nicki Minaj. Because she’s actually talented.

    • Jess says:

      Did you not read the question? It’s because they’re both white rappers.

    • Amy says:

      Because Iggy is new and popular. Because she’s being marketed as the Queen of rap. Because of the level of discussion and debate surrounding her and appropriation claims. Because there’s a very real discussion on her talent (or lack thereof) and whether she’s being proped up and forced in because management and others want that white rapper for marketing.

      I think to try and focus simply on her gender does the same thing she does. Ignores the true issue, it sidesteps it for the easy victimhood so that it makes it seem as if this discussion can’t take place. Rap is one thing where every man, woman, and child will call you out because part of its nature is in the spoken word and constantly reevaluating aspects of the world.

    • Kitten says:

      ..and he didn’t seem particularly pressed about it. In fact, he said “I don’t care, more than anything.”

      I completely get him because 95% of the hip hop I listen to is from 1990-2005.
      Those 15 years of rap make up the majority of my hip hop collection and this probably makes me old, but I think that was the best, most creative time for rap.

      • TheOnlyDee says:

        “Old school hip hop” and “old school rap” are my favorite. That is what I love to listen to when I’m running or working out. I will even go back further and include some Grandmaster Flash in there. The Beastie Boys are one of my all time favorites, and I cannot even put them in the same category as Iggy. I still see Iggy as a parody act.

      • blue marie says:

        Completely agree Kitten!

      • Hakura says:

        I also agree, Kitten. I think the problem is that (a lot of, obviously not *all*) rap has suffered the same ‘over-processed’ mass market ‘product’ treatment that all of the music industry has gone through the last 10 years or so. Everything is being thought of first as what can be most profitable, as opposed to the true artistry & talent that used to (at least seem to be) more valuable in the past.

        (That’s not to say that the music industry hasn’t always been this way it just seemed, to me, to really intensify into something ‘generic’, around the early 2000’s).

    • Bridget says:

      Do you even know anything about Ad-Rock? I can guarantee you he’s not undone about a female performer. Maybe she’s just not good.

      And just for reference, it’s a staple of music interviews to ask the subject about what they personally listen to and about current music.

    • jenn12 says:

      He’s married to one of the original Riot Grrls. I don’t think he has an issue with women.

      • ISO says:

        “Glory to the former hellraisers and pranksters in this world”. Beautifully said- that might be my one and only bumper sticker.
        Yes his wife -is – the coolest, so he’s talking about substantive music vs the smoke screen of marketing. I don’t get it’s a gender diss. IA music just isn’t that cool in the slightest. Never was. Whats wrong with us as a culture?

    • Flan says:

      Normally, I would tend to agree, but Iggy being branded as the Queen of Rap is just shameful.

      Black people have developed rap, and as so often with a musical style, white people then belatedly try to swoop in and take the reigns. I can understand why they don’t like it when media then give the accolades to someone like her.

      Why I don’t like her? She has made racist and homophobic comments. And that accent… it seems just so fake. Nobody gets an accent like that in a natural way after having grown up on the other side of planet earth.

      • Danskins says:

        ^This!

        Iggy is an embarassment to hip hop, despite having strong record sales. There is nothing original or inspiring in her work, only cringe-inducing lyrics. That’s why it’s so offensive when some try to label her as the new “queen” of rap. Oh please. As if Nicki Minaj, Missy Elliott, Lil Kim, Da Brat, Queen Latifah, Mone Love, Salt n Pepa, MC Lyte, etc. don’t exist. 😒

      • Flan says:

        Exactly. Countless of black people invent things, have IQs that go through the roof and make progress in all fields. However, they often only get representation in the media as entertainers, when they are not being presented as ‘thugs’.

        That even that and the ‘Queen of rap’ title need to be given to a white person (who is very unpleasant to boot) is disgusting.

        All those you mention deserve that title a thousand times more.

      • mark says:

        So it’s bad when iggy makes homophobic and racist comments but it’s fine when every other rapper says the same thing?

    • Bob Loblaw says:

      Why do you assume it’s a sex issue? He doesn’t like the one song he heard, he expressed his opinion. You are elevating it to misogyny, for no reason, and lumping him in with the well-deserved crappy reputation rap has about hating women. This is not an effective way to discuss feminism or advance the cause. There is so much misogyny and patriarchy in our society, don’t muddy the waters by confusing criticism of music with actual hatred of women.

  4. t.fanty says:

    Yes to the presentism of rap music. That said, Paul Revere will always be a great song.

    ETA: and I’ll bet if Sabotage were released today it would still be the biggest hit of 2015.

  5. Shambles says:

    He shouldn’t even have to speak on the subject of I’m-So-Hood Barbie because she’s not a rapper. She’s a pop-sheep who just so happens to speak her terrible and uninspired lyrics in a nasal voice with an offensive accent, rather than singing them. I actually had to explain why I hate her to my very core the other day, and I got so flustered I couldn’t even get the words out right. The fact that anyone could like her at this point had me red in the face. *Breathes* anyway, get it Adam. No sleep til Brooklyn.

    • Santia says:

      I had to explain the same thing to my 11 year old the other day. And I pat myself on the back for not couching it in terms of race. I would be offended by a person of any race so obviously putting on an accent like that. Someone here called it “verbal black face.”

      My mom has a heavy Spanish accent, so I asked him “if one of your friends pretended to speak like Grandma because he was trying to sell records to people in Grandma’s community, would you find it offensive?” And he said “yes, I would think he was making fun of my Grandma.” Which is what doesn’t sit well with me. Granted, Iggy has now crossed over, but she came out trying to make it in the rap game, which is still primarily Black. The Southern Black affectation she puts on is over the top; especially since her speaking voice is completely different.

    • Kitten says:

      Yes! Shambles FTW.

    • Asiyah says:

      I love the Beastie Boys! Unlike Iggy, they never put up an act. Much respect to them. Iggy’s crap. You have every right to be upset and she too makes me all red in the face. I find her absolutely despicable, both as a person and professionally.

    • jwoolman says:

      It’s not unusual for people to use different accents when performing than in personal life. Elton John did it- he said he used an American accent when singing because that’s what he listened to, those were his models as a kid. Will Smith’s “professional voice” was quite different from his normal speaking voice. I hear these differences all the time with others. It just means that when a particular type of music/rap starts with one group (using their normal accents), it spreads easily to other groups who like the style and consciously or unconsciously adopt the same accent. Just listen more carefully to the “singing accents” and contrast them with the spoken accents or the likely spoken accents (if you know the background of the singer).

      In some cases, people even will use spoken accents that are not their own. I hear this with kid actors a lot, especially the American kids who are black. They put on what they think is a kind of black street accent (even if their characters are suburban and their TV parents don’t talk that way) but their natural accent is middle/upper class Los Angeles… I wonder sometimes if black actors aren’t allowed to have different accents today, like all Irish characters once had to have brogues. Weird but true. An interesting aspect of British TV shows for me is that regardless of ethnic background, the characters/actors have accents consistent with where they grow up rather than according to ethnicity. Black Americans who do the same risk accusations of “trying to sound white”. This can be an interesting clue to progress or lack of progress in real equality. A linguist looked at differences in language (English dialects) among different groups a while ago (sometime late last century…) and said that most groups gradually alter their dialect toward the mainstream dialect as they gain equal opportunities and become less isolated. But he saw the opposite trend in black neighborhoods he was observing in some big city (maybe Philadelphia?)- the local dialect was deviating more, not less, from the mainstream despite exposure to television. He interpreted this to mean a high degree of isolation and that people saw no advantage to adopting the mainstream dialect, meaning the opportunities weren’t equalizing fast enough to matter to most.

  6. Lilacflowers says:

    Daddy is playwright israel Horovitz. Adam’s sister is a film producer and his brother is a television producer. Acting is something he has been playing with since childhood.

  7. Talie says:

    I didn’t even know who he was and I doubt I’m the only one. So, score one for Iggy.

    • Jess says:

      If you’ve never heard the Beastie Boys, then that’s score minus 1000000 for you! It’s certainty nothing to be proud of.

      • BangersandMash says:

        Thank you!!!

        times that minus score to the power of 10…

        Talie- Epic Fail!!

        Even though I acknowledge that Adrock is right about how current rap is…
        People need to crawl before they can earn the right be ballers.

        Don’t step up talking about rap and you don’t know the beasties. That’s foundation stuff, that’s primary rap education.

        DAAMMMNNN, that ignorance right there is what Iggy is all about!!

      • Mom2two says:

        Paul’s Boutique goes down as one of my favorite albums of all time.

      • Bob Loblaw says:

        Oh please, I could name a dozen awesome bands you’ve never heard of, don’t be bullies.

    • Esmom says:

      Eh, I don’t think Iggy “wins,” I just think you’re proving his point that the genre is of the moment.

      I’m happy that my 14 year old son loves the Beastie Boys, he discovered them on his own and it’s fun to see him enjoying and being inspired by stuff from back in my days of being really into music.

      • Hakura says:

        @Esmom – “Eh, I don’t think Iggy “wins,” I just think you’re proving his point that the genre is of the moment.”

        I’m gonna sound like a suck-up, but I found that a very casually classy response to an immature statement (about something I would’ve been all snark about. xD) Kudos! =) And that’s awesome about your son. It reminds me of how I embraced a lot of my parent’s favorite music/artists as a kid. It’s an awesome thing to be able to share.

    • Amy says:

      Lol, score one for ignorance which yes…Iggy seems to embrace. I mean really they tell you who he is IN the article, but well point well made about who her fans are and how little they know about the music genre.

      • claire says:

        “point well made about who her fans are and how little they know about the music genre.”
        PREACH!

    • AJ says:

      What?!?!?! How sad. The beasties are and will always be AWESOME. I highly recommend Paul’s Boutique. One of the greatest albums of all time…in my non expert opinion.

      • Kitten says:

        Also their most underrated album.

      • AJ says:

        PB is perfection from beginning to end. After MCA’s death I had a hard time listening without being sad. Now I can listen again with all my happy memories and think how lucky I was to have seen them 7 times!

      • Kitten says:

        The Beasties and The Roots was my first “arena” concert, at age 15 🙂

      • Mom2two says:

        I missed this post! Adding some love for Paul’s Boutique here!

      • Tiffany :) says:

        What an amazing show that must have been, Kitten! I am jealous over here!

    • Renee28 says:

      That’s not something to be proud of.

    • Bridget says:

      You don’t know who the Beastie Boys are? That sucks for you. Also, do you live under a rock?

      • doofus says:

        she doesn’t live with me, I swear.

        (see my above post…)

      • Bridget says:

        @doofus: ha! I’m glad to know you’re not sharing your rock with her. Though I’m pretty sure if I didn’t listen to the radio on my way to work I wouldn’t really have heard much of Fancy either – it’s not like I’m hitting the clubs or hanging with a bunch of teenage girls.

    • claire says:

      LOL. I’d be pretty embarrassed to admit that if I were you!

    • Asiyah says:

      Score one for Iggy?

      Have a couple of seats and learn about hip-hop and when you find out how much of a big deal he is get back to us.

    • M.A.F. says:

      Sit down

    • lukie says:

      Then actually, you prove his point about hip hop today…which is probably why the majority of it sucks and all the good stuff is either underground, or played outside of the U.S.; too many youth have no respect, understanding or appreciation for true hip-hop or its pioneers…sad really…

      So, score one for the Beastie Boy.

    • prettylights says:

      I agree with everyone else, that’s very sad.

      If you like any genre of music I think you owe it to yourself to find out where the roots of that genre are, who came before and paved the way. Personally I think that’s better than just listening to pop / top 40 hits on the radio. You’ll find a lot of amazing artists you didn’t realize existed! Like…the amazing Beastie Boys.

    • aer says:

      Nope, you probably are the only one who didn’t know who he was….

    • Michelle says:

      You must have been born yesterday. Who hasn’t heard of the King Ad-Rock??? I digress….

  8. Jenny says:

    Is that his baby, or a scene from a movie he’s in – ?

  9. Jen43 says:

    He sounds so wise. I am not sure I knew he was married to Kathleen Hanna. They must be the coolest couple ever.

    • Kitten says:

      I didn’t know either. How great would it be to have those two over for dinner?

      • Cleo says:

        I found they were a couple when I watched “the punk singer” a documentary about Kathleen Hanna. They were adorable in it and you could feel they had been through a lot of things together and were such a solid couple (they met almost 20 years ago I think).

      • Kitten says:

        Just added it to my queue.
        Thanks!

      • ab says:

        same here, I was a fan of both kathleen hanna and the beasties but missed the memo about these two being married until I watched her documentary!

  10. MonicaQ says:

    He’s such a sweet guy. I met him at Adam’s funeral (I have the Yauch last name but I’m related by only marriage, not by blood) and he’s such a calm and funny guy. I didn’t know he was acting so I’m pretty excited.

  11. Sirsnarksalot says:

    When the Beastie Boys hit the scene they were seen as a joke. Bunch of Jewish kids from Brooklyn trying to imitate black rappers. White frat boys loved it. The rap community ignored them. They had to stick around to earn credibility. It’s remains to be seen if Iggy will but they have more in common than you think. He only heard one song and he didn’t like it (of Iggy’s) so it’s a little much to extrapolate that into him critiquing her. And as for gentrification, he’s a part of it because he and his wife have a house flipping business in Bklyn and I think there was even talk of making a reality show out of it.

    • Esmom says:

      I don’t think that’s actually true. I think they were pretty well respected in the underground rap and music scene in NYC prior to Licensed to Ill. It was then that their “party” song hit the charts and brought them into the mainstream where the frat boys embraced that anthem.

      • Bridget says:

        @esmom: that poster has no idea what they’re talking about. No clue.

        They were 3 skinny white guys from Brooklyn who had to rip it up when they got on stage or they’d have been laughed out of the venue, and they came up with Rick Rubin and wet one of the very first Def Jam artists. Their peers were Run DMC and LL Cool J.

      • Sirsnarksalot says:

        Sorry but I lived through it. Beasties were a novelty act ignored by the rap community which was very much not mainstream at that time. All rap was “underground”. They were treated like weird Al yankovich, like a one off. The first album is terrible and no one really admitted to liking it besides frat guys thinking they were in on the joke. The Alt community embraced them before rap did and it took a couple albums for them to earn everyone’s respect.

      • Esmom says:

        Sirsnarksalot, you may have been alive during that time but I don’t think your memory or experience is matching up with reality. About License to Ill:

        The album was well-received, and was favorably reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine with the now-famous headline, “Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece”.[13][14] Licensed to Ill became the best selling rap album of the 1980s and the first rap album to go No.1 on the Billboard album chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached No.2 on the Urban album charts. It was Def Jam’s fastest selling debut record to date and sold over nine million copies.

      • Bridget says:

        You know, you can just say that they’re not your cup of tea.

      • doofus says:

        well, I “lived through it” too, and I remember them being taken seriously by the rap world. I remember the success, and I remember how they were noticed because it wasn’t a “standard” rap album like one from RUN DMC or another established rap artist/group.

        in my (very racially/ethnic diverse) town in NJ, it took my high school by storm and was embraced by both white and black kids.

        That album was so much more than “Fight For Your Right”, but that’s what got the most airplay.

      • G says:

        They opened for RUN DMC out here in Cali so no joke. I thought at first they were more a “spoof” to rock bands at the time with ‘Fight for your Right’. Then I heard ‘Paul Revere’.

    • FingerBinger says:

      That’s not really true. They had the backing of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Simmons and Rubin had a bit of success by that time and that helped to legitimize them in the rap industry.

    • lucy says:

      I remember this, too. The initial impression was of a co-opted jokey homogenized version of rap palatable to suburban and collegiate mainstreamers, comparatively filtered from the original frontline of street rap from the ‘hood. Yes, frat guys latched on right away. Yes, BBs sold a lot of units. BBs were a successful crossover rap act, and they were smart, substantial, and talented enough to appreciate and work with established rap entrepreneurs in their business model. Respecting and flowing with those who have made a path before you takes intelligence and integrity. Beasties have that in spades. Their entry to the market initially branded them apart from the established rap scene, not a part of it.

      In other words, they initially appealed to non-traditional rap audiences, proved their mettle and expanded that audience, which, in turn, introduced and/or expanded their audience’s appetite for traditional rap and perhaps bridged the traditional rap audience’s appetite for the Beasties’ version of rap.

    • lucy says:

      To your point, G, about BBs opening for Run DMC: what a great bill! How cool! But not necessarily an indication of market acceptance, good marketing sense, or like-with-like. Cases in point: Jewel’s first tour was opening for Peter Murphy (nee Bauhaus). Public Image Limited opened for INXS. Soul Coughing opened for Jeff Buckley. Psychedelic Furs opened for Ministry (although, granted, Ministry WAS a new wave dance band at the time). Fastball opened for Whiskeytown. I do appreciate the variety in the sometimes head-scratching pairings, though.

    • lukie says:

      Agreed. They WERE NOT taken seriously at first. I am from the Bronx and lived this time period. People forget that before you saw it on MTV, underground hip hop shows are where you were seen. They WERE NOT taken seriously at first by those that were battling live.

      As I said in another post, RUN-D.M.C kicked the door down when Rubin teamed them up with Aerosmith to do “Walk This Way”. That record blew all of their careers up, including Aerosmith because that song resurrected their career as a group.

      Why do you think RUN-D.M.C. got into the rock and roll hall of fame before the Beastie Boys? Let us all give thanks to the Kings of Adidas and the producing genius of Rick Rubin for kicking off the start of Hip Hop’s Golden Age…HURRAY!

      • Bridget says:

        They were a trio of skinny white teenagers, I don’t think anyone here is saying they didn’t have to prove themselves on stage. But that’s how musicians get better in the first place: by playing their music. The original poster brushing them off was off base, that’s all.

        I love the Beasties, and I’ve always thought they carved out their own niche by melding their rap and punk influences – and I think they ended up being ahead of their time by doing so (excepting, of course the infamous “Walk This Way”, but I didn’t think that necessarily least to a larger trend).

        And yes, Rick Rubin really is amazing.

      • lucy says:

        @Bridget: Interesting that you perceived the original post about the Beasties coming off initially as more of a parody than a serious rap group as a “brush off.” I took it as an observation not an opinion. The poster isn’t discrediting them at all, just pointing out how the band’s entry into the market seemed more like satire than serious music-making, and that the credibility came later.

    • Jellybean says:

      You are completely right… Anyone who disagrees with you was born in the late eighties and upward…. And people have memories like fish…

    • Bob Loblaw says:

      I remember it too, I agree with the OP, there’s a lot of revisionist crap being floated, they were not taken seriously, they were considered a jokey, novelty act, yeah they eventually earned their place but they were not well respected at the beginning.

  12. He wa the beastie I had a crush on. And now I know why.mhes looking a little Thom Yorkeish. The piece was interesting but it kind of odd that it’s basically “I’m an old man”.

    I didn’t know he was married to Kathleen Hanna. She dated Kurt Cobain right? Or something that pissed Courtney Love off. But then again I guess that’s not saying much since every thing pisses Coutney Love off.

  13. Veritas says:

    Adrock is from the old school. Of course he doesn’t like fake rappers, with a fake ass, and a fake accent. Hip hop today is so different then when I was younger. It was more real and It was a lot better than the garbage their shilling to this generation. I love the beastie boys. RIP MCA. I remember when I saw them live like 10 years ago it was awesome. Long live the beastie boys forever. And l love Kathleen Hanna long live bikini kill.

  14. Amy says:

    On a very basic level focusing only on her music Iggy is vocally bad. She doesn’t seem able to actually get any music of hers to chart unless it’s done as pop and has some other member of the struggle brigade featured on it.

    Add in to that her repeated public ignorance, her unwillingness to engage, her proving the issues of appropriation, her attempting to use her gender as an excuse for being rightfully called out and a few dozen other issues and her career and public respect is going in exactly the right direction. Downhill fast.

  15. Kris says:

    I was cool with him till he said he liked Kanye ..do wut cha wutcha want

    • Amy says:

      Kanye is a mess. Lately his work and songs have been disappointing and he’s become almost a caricature of the type of hip hop artist he used to mock. That being said…that man makes some amazing music. Not every song, but when you do actually listen to the way he creates music and what he injects into it. Little touches here and there and what he says he’s about our world is amazing.

      Kanye’s music, like Kanye’s everything else, went downhill once he hooked up with Kardashians.

      • TheOnlyDee says:

        Kanye’s stuff pre Kim was great. I will freely admit that. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a really good album. Now he is distracted and trying to be a fashion guy while keeping up with the K klan.

      • Kitten says:

        I agree but I’ve always said that Kanye was a mediocre rapper. I mean, he writes decent raps but his flow is so…meh.
        His strength has always been in song production IMO.

      • Amy says:

        Definitely agree Kitten. Kanye is much like Lil Wayne to me. There will be SOME Kanye songs that are such vocal fire and then some where you can clearly hear his weakness in actually rapping. He’s an amazing producer and he can give you a hot as hell track out of every 5 he releases.

        All of the lights is probably my favorite piece of his work because he combined his two skills perfectly for that one song. Others have stronger production than lyrics.

      • Kitten says:

        Precisely, Amy. It’s the inconsistency that bugs.

      • jwoolman says:

        Might be hard to tell what came first, a chicken vs egg thing. Was he deteriorating artistically before he hooked up with the Kardashian Krew and that explains his attraction to them and futile focus on “fashion”? I doubt that the Ks caused his continuing decline into mania. They just aren’t helping it.

  16. Mrs. Darcy says:

    I’m old enough (and white enough ;-0) that the Beastie Boys were my first exposure to rap music. I think they were probably more influential than a lot of non-white rappers would let on, I mean sure there was NWA and Public Enemy but the Beastie Boys made rap mainstream, which is kind of a big deal that they don’t get more props for probably because they’re Jewish boys from Brooklyn. Just saying.

    • lucy says:

      ‘xactly.

    • lukie says:

      I only disagree because I would give that credit to RUN-D.M.C and Aerosmith when they did “Walk This Way,” together. That song kicked the door down for The Beastie Boys.

      In NYC, every kid that grew up around classic rock knew RUN-D.M.C. after that. It also resurrected Aerosmith’s career too.

      Rick Rubin; that man is a friggin’ genius!

    • jenn12 says:

      Adam is from Manhattan.

  17. TTMuch says:

    People like Iggy Azalea if they want music to dance to or workout to or anything but really think to. It’s pop. Like Meghan Trainor. I get that pretending to be a rapper offends a LOT of people, but that accent she puts on just reminds me of when American singers used to affect an English accent because that’s what was popular at the time. Like Green Day, emulating the 60s punk groups. I know and like some of the Beastie Boys, of course, but I never thought they were the second coming. I saw them win Rappers Of The Millennium / Decade or something like that and I thought the roof was gonna come off, soooo I’m not sure about that level of acceptance. That was the award show where Lil Kim had her pastied boob rocked by Miss Ross. Anyway, he’s aged well!

  18. AlmondJoy says:

    I’m sorry, but Da Brat is one of my favorite rappers and she does NOT deserve to be compared to Iggy. It’s an insult.

    • TheOnlyDee says:

      That bugged me because Da Brat is NOT doing vocal blackface like Iggy. I agree, let’s not compare the two. From now on I think Iggy should only be compared to the rapping granny from The Wedding Singer.

    • FingerBinger says:

      I don’t think it was a slam against Da Brat. I think he’s saying Iggy copied Da Brat’s rapping style.

    • claire says:

      I agree with FingerBinger. I think he’s saying she is ripping off Da Brat’s style. (and not doing it any justice, mind you)

    • AlmondJoy says:

      Finger and Claire: That’s a good point. Thanks! I can see that being the case, that he thinks Iggy is trying to copy Da Brat.

  19. jlee says:

    I will forever love the Beastie Boys. They are house parties, older brothers hot friends, smoking weed with my walkman on in the woods, feeling cool, amazing music. I genuinely feel bad for people who haven’t discovered them.

  20. BengalCat2000 says:

    His wife is my Spirit Animal.

  21. friday says:

    I highly recommend the documentary “The Punk Singer, about Kathleen Hanna. Adam makes a few appearances and their whole story (especially hers) is really interesting. It was on Netflix, but I’m not sure if it’s still up.

    • BengalCat2000 says:

      I watched that documentary a few years ago with my BFF. I couldn’t remember the name of it, thanks for posting!

  22. Asiyah says:

    He’s on point about Iggy and NYC. I love my city but sometimes I wonder if it’s time to leave. NYC has my heart but I don’t know if I have its heart.

    • Esmom says:

      It’s funny, my son loves their song “An open letter to NYC,” I think partly because we visited last year — saw all the boroughs — and he just loved it. It’s hard to explain to him how different things are today compared to back when the song was written and earlier when they were growing up.

  23. Monica says:

    Thank You, Thank You for a story about someone with talent (even though you had to use a flavor of the month in the headline) He doesn’t care for her music, so what? Has she even had a hit on her own?

  24. Happy21 says:

    The Beasties were probably the only rap music I even liked. Still to this day I know the whole License to Ill album by heart. I even recently picked it up on vinyl, which I believe is the format it should be heard on. You hear so much more than you do on CD or cassette.

    I have no opinion of Iggy except that I’ve heard Fancy, didn’t think it was Fancy and cannot stand the interviews she gives.

  25. Sumodo1 says:

    Squeeee! Kathleen Hanna is responsible for so much! Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Julie Ruin–and was the person whose graffito: “Kurt Cobain smells like teen spirit” helped Nirvana soar. My inner fangirl rages for this couple!

  26. MC2 says:

    Did anyone else listen to their punk albums before they went hip hop? Love them with all my heart! I also love that they grew up, matured & then talked about regretting some of their earlier lyrics (girls….). They are such a staple of my upbringing. Ad-rock married to Hanna?! I just went to heaven.

  27. nicegirl says:

    You’ve gotta fight for your right to PARTY

  28. damejulieandrews says:

    I am 80% convinced he checked me out walking around in the rain in Manhattan last October, it was either him or his doppelgänger. I will choose to believe it was him, and I love his wife btw.

  29. Fanny says:

    Adrock and Kathleen have a son now! They are being very low-key about it. Adam was photographed last year with a baby a few times and people were wondering whether it belonged to him. The kid is probably about two now. He confirmed it in the New York Times but I want details!

    Anyway, him not liking Iggy I’m sure has nothing to do with her being female. Adam is turbo-feminist and extremely supportive of female artists, particularly female rappers. I think the Beastie Boys wanted to take Santigold on tour with them (she guested on their last record) but it didn’t happen because of MCA’s health. If Adam has a bias against Iggy I think it would just be because she’s mainstream and not some unknown rapping in a Williamsburg warehouse for 5 people.

  30. Balitmom says:

    Yes!!! I want to know more about his kid. I saw that in the other article and was like what the? He’s not a dad! But I guess he is. We need details on that.

  31. Em says:

    I love Ad-Rock and will always miss the Beastie Boys, but it was hard to read the GQ interview. There was this wistful, but refreshingly honest vibe he gave off regarding the past and how it’s been hard to adjust to the group disbanding. It’s sad hearing about your favorite childhood musicians slowing down, however inevitable it may be. Not that I blame him for being sad, with his best friend dying and wife having Lyme disease.

  32. Tough Cookie says:

    I just happened to catch him on the Tonight Show last night….he is funny and intelligent and adorable!! It’s probably on You Tube or Hulu by now, watch if you get a chance.

  33. Jupiter says:

    Wow, I have to agree with him about NYC. I grew up in Manhattan, and I still live in the city. I don’t feel it is my home anymore because of the insane cost of living and do not know how much longer I can stay. NY has also lost its edge in many ways. The NY characters that were so prevalent when I was growing up — you just don’t see those kind of characters anymore. Probably because they can’t afford to live here. I find it really sad, too.

  34. polonoscopy says:

    “losing a battle with cancer”

    I’m not blaming you, Kaiser, because this phrase is everywhere, but it’s a terribly disrespectful thing to say after someone has died of cancer. Suggesting that there is a battle the win or lose suggests that the the person with cancer has some agency in whether they life or die. That the people who “win the battle with cancer” are somehow trying harder than the people who “lose”. That idea is so so so upsetting to people who have lost loved ones to cancer. It’s not about being strong or weak, being a winner or a loser, it’s about what your diagnosis is. If you have terminal cancer, you are not a loser. You are just going to die, and it’s no one’s fault.

  35. Juniper says:

    These interviews are such shit. I could understand if Adam Horovitz had a burning desire to tell you his opinion of Iggy A – but he doesn’t. The only thing that’s happened is some douche interviewer did their male equivalent of asking a female celeb if that are a feminist. ‘Hey – what do you think of this (typically female) rapper? And when the real answer is that he really isn’t qualified to answer but what he’s heard he doesn’t like – it instead becomes a headline a bunch of saddo haters can cleave to. This isn’t about the various wars in the world, or world poverty or global warming – it’s about entertainment. If you don’t like the f’in music – don’t listen and shut your trap about it.

  36. OTHER RENEE says:

    Just because someone sells a billion records doesn’t make them good. It means they were marketed well. It means radio stations got paid a bundle to play their songs. It means their PR team went into overdrive. It means they are a novelty act that caught the public’s fancy. 😉 (Oh, and he’s right. Iggy is absolutely abysmal.)

  37. Allie May says:

    Yeah, I am old enough to have lived through all the Beastie Boys years. Unfortunately. I do listen to Iggy Azalea, however.

  38. Jellybean says:

    Didn’t the beastie boys make rap fair game for every ethnicity, social class, financial background etc.. Etc.. Suck it up.. You are just pissed old man.

  39. krtmom says:

    I agree with Adam. Why the hell is this woman famous (along with many other artists today!)???

  40. emma says:

    I love him and I LOVE Kathleen Hanna. Would LOVE to hang with them.