BY DANA SCOTT • JULY 14, 2018

1998 was a changing time for Hip-Hop. The attitude of the period was recovering from the killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Groups like The Fugees and A Tribe Called Quest separated for solo pursuits. Meanwhile Black Star emerged. Master P’s No Limit Records led a marketing battalion that put Bounce-based music from artists like Silkk The Shocker and Mystikal near the top of the charts. Death Row was on its final descent, and Bad Boy was flying high, with Roc-A-Fella and Ruff Ryders in its tailwinds. DMX, JAY-Z, and Method Man were New York City MCs that took their respective brands of New York Hip-Hop to #1, writing a new chapter for the genre’s birthplace.

However, perhaps one of the most memorable releases of that period came from 15-year-veterans, The Beastie Boys care of Hello Nasty. That album, released 20 years ago today (July 14), gave Hip-Hop something familiar and fundamental to hold onto a time when things in the Rap space seemed to be changing at a drastic pace.

The New York City-born trio was known for their rambunctious energy, diverse inspirations, and Punk Rock aesthetic in making dynamic music. From their diamond-selling 1986 debut album Licensed To Ill through their ’90s MTV heyday, the Beastie Boys always made their music peers play catch-up upon their next move. On their fourth studio album Hello Nasty, released on July 14, 1998, they were in their bag to push the boundaries of a market-segmented music community. The trifecta took a different approach with the highest first-week sales of any Rap album that year. True to an older song title, the Beasties urged their peers to lighten up. Hello Nasty carried that message to Hip-Hop’s prevailing hardcore and self-indulgent imagery. The O.G.’s from the mid-’80s fought to throw a new party, one that united people from all walks of life in the name of having fun.

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