Sure Shot

Adam "King Ad-rock" Horovitz talks about "Sure Shot" in the liner notes of the Beastie Boys anthology: "I like this cut a lot. Just straight up hip-hop. Like a lot of our songs, it's arranged like a hardcore [punk] song. Mathematical. Intro - verse - chorus - verse - chorus - break - chorus - verse - chorus - end. Nice. The flute line is from the elusive Jeremy Steig. Off the SP1200 it sounds nice."

This is a rare rap song that prominently features a flute. It was sampled from the 1970 song "Howlin' For Judy" by Jazz flautist Jeremy Steig. Although he has released more than 20 albums, these few seconds of work gave Steig his biggest payday. "I looked at it like winning the lottery," he told The Guardian of being sampled. "I don't know what it did for my career – I haven't really seen any signs of it. But they paid me pretty well, and it helped me through some hard times, so I was really happy."

In "Sure Shot," the Beastie Boys make amends for their boorish attitudes toward women that manifested in the late '80s when they became a (highly successful) posturing rap trio: I want to say a little something that's long overdue The disrespect to women has got to be through To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends I want to offer my love and respect to the end The apotheosis of this disrespectful behavior came on their first headlining tour when they erected a 20-foot penis on stage (the original "dick in a box") every time they performed their hit "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)." Kate Shellenbach probably got the worst of it. She was an original member of the group when they were a punk band. In 1984, when they signed to Def Jam Records, they became rappers and started to act the part of insolent brats. They froze out Shellenbach, who was devastated. Later, they signed Shellenbach's group, Luscious Jackson, to their Grand Royal label.