- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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BlenderThis formula wears thin over the 15 cuts here. [#27, p.137]
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Q MagazineThe Beastie Boys have always been at their best when gleefully rhyming and stealing from a variety of sources--both musically and lyrically--and the self-imposed adherence to hip hop traditionalism here, and indeed musically on the album as a whole, rather subdues their famously free-form sonic palette. [Jul 2004, p.108]
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The lyrics on To The 5 Boroughs are, with a few exceptions, a dismal failure.
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Alternative PressMost of Boroughs feels like they're sampling themselves. [Aug 2004, p.120]
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To the 5 Boroughs is continuously distracted from its titular dedication by political concerns, severely dampening not only its replay factor but also proving to be the least fun album the normally surefire trio has made.
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They sound old. They sound past it. They sound, and this is one word that nobody would have ever thought could be used to describe the Beasties, irrelevant.
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Imagine "Hello Nasty" if it had entirely consisted of "Three MCs And One DJ" and you're close to understanding exactly how "To The 5 Boroughs" sounds.
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Mostly they just sound dated and out of it.
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The tracks crackle and swing with a wit that the lyrics rarely match.
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The beats bounce along happily enough... but the stripped-down sound focuses attention on the anti-Bush lyrics, and that proves to be the album's undoing.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 59 out of 75
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Mixed: 8 out of 75
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Negative: 8 out of 75
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Aug 15, 2011
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Aug 10, 2011
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RG.Oct 26, 2007