Licensed to Ill is released

Why it matters

Licensed to Ill came out November 15, 1986, on Def Jam. The Beastie Boys at this point were three white teenagers from downtown New York (Adam Yauch, Adam Horovitz, Michael Diamond) who had been a hardcore punk band before they had been a rap group. Rick Rubin co-produced. The album leans on Rubin's signature, which at this point was a Roland TR-808 plus loud rock guitar, and adds the Beasties' specific contribution, which was sneering frat-bro adolescent humor delivered in three nasal Brooklyn voices. The album went to number one on the Billboard 200. It is the first rap album to top the Billboard 200, which is a chart that includes every album sold in America that week, of every genre. "Fight for Your Right (To Party)" was the breakout single and an MTV staple for most of 1987. The album eventually sold ten million copies. The Beasties would, by the next decade, evolve into one of the most interesting groups in popular music. None of that happens without this album, and a lot of what happens to rap commercially in the late 80s does not happen without this album either, since this is the one that proved a rap LP could be the biggest-selling LP in America in a given month. You should let that one sit for a second.