Sabotage Picks its Beastie Faves

Flow Tribe's K.C. O'Rorke and Jealous Monk's Nick Pino name their favorite Beastie Boys tracks before paying tribute live Wednesday night.

Wednesday night, members of Flow Tribe, Jealous Monk, Gravity A and more will come together to reprise “Sabotage: A NOLA Tribute to the Beastie Boys” at Freret Street Publiq House. For Matt Zarba of The M@ Peoples Collective, The Beastie Boys were part of his introduction to the rock ’n’ roll world.

"Licensed to Ill, Queen’s Greatest Hits, and Pearl Jam’s Ten were the first three records I bought as a kid. I told my grandmother that the “Parental Advisory” sticker meant it ‘was advised by parents that kids should buy it.’ She bought it.”

Flow Tribe’s K.C. O’Rorke picked three of his favorite Beastie Boys tracks:

“Sure Shot” from Ill Communication
“I love the intro to this song. The interplay between the flute and bass kills me every time. There are also Dr. John and Lee Dorsey references, which I thought was interesting showing the impact on these New Orleans funk legends on the Beasties. This one is a blast live.”

“Body Moving” from Hello Nasty
“This song is pure joy to perform. It brings in the crowd and is a killer party anthem. "Let me get some action from the back section" is a hook you can't forget. Also, the steel drums in the song really set it off.”

“Don't Play No Game I Can't Win” from Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
“One of the last singles the Beasties put out after the untimely death of MCA. This song shows the direction they were heading in. This song features a collaboration with Santigold and the menacing reggae vibe is infectious. The song really encapsulates the diverse influences of The Beastie Boys and how they were always pushing boundaries of their sound even late into their career.”

Nick Pino from Jealous Monk named two of his favorite Beastie Boys tracks:

"Sabotage" from Ill Communication
“The namesake song of our collaboration, “Sabotage” is remembered for its iconic video which is a parody of a 1980s cop drama. With the three Beastie Boys playing the instruments for the track, combined with the humor and energy of the video, I feel that this song embodies how our group interprets the Beastie Boys spirit and style.”

“The New Style” from Licensed to Ill
“The second single off of their 1986 debut record, License to Ill, “The New Style” contains one of the most recognizable and most sampled vocal phrases in hip-hop. ‘Mmmmmmmm drop’ has been used by Outkast, Pharcyde, Ice Cube, as well as the Beastie Boys themselves a few times. You don’t hear many beat drops like that in hip-hop, and that is definitely the most classic.

It’s easy to think of The Beastie Boys as part of the early ’90s alternative rock moment, but the first time I saw them was at a disco in Toronto in 1986 when “Hold It, Now Hit It” was released as a single before Licensed to Ill. At the time, their style was very punk, but “She’s On It” from the Krush Groove soundtrack was a dance club hit.

The audience for the show was half punks who knew the Beasties from “Cookie Puss” and half denizens of the disco who were used to them as a staple on the dance floor. The show was only a half-hour long as they only had six or seven songs at the time, but they wore, drank or threw more than a case of beer in that time, breaking some of the neon lights over the stage when Mike D lobbed a full beer over his shoulder. Despite all the mayhem, everybody danced--some with more style and control than others.