Too Many Rappers

Beastie Boys team up with their fellow New York City rapper Nas on this track, where they make the distinction between rappers - dilettante rhymers with no real skill - and MCs, who are the true artists. "It's one thing to be a master of ceremony, but it's another thing to just be playing a rapper and spitting eight bars on someone's track," Mike D of Beastie Boys explained.

The song started with a drum loop group member MCA put together. He wasn't a drummer, but would often sit the kit and play a "John Bonham-ish" beat that his bandmates got really sick of hearing. But on this song, it worked. "He must've felt so satisfied after years of playing that same sloppy off-time beat, to now have it so locke in sounding just the way he'd wanted it to," Ad-Rock wrote in the Beastie Boys Book. "That same thing that drove me and Mike crazy now sounded booming."

Beastie Boys sent the instrumental track to Nas when they finished it, knowing it was a log shot. To their surprise, Nas sent it back after a week or two with his vocals added. They didn't get to work with him in person, but were thrilled to have his contribution.