Their early albums, such as Licensed
to Ill, are fairly misogynistic – like most hip-hop, the songs make
various references to date rape, “bitches” and what a total drag
chicks are in general. Though in fairness, even in the 'Hey
Ladies'/'To All The Girls'/on-stage cage dancers days, they were
speaking against domestic violence - “Why you gotta treat your girl
like that?” True, this isn't exactly a strong anti-violence against
women line to take but it was certainly more than a lot of rappers at
the time were saying on the issue. And they did make genuine steps to
correcting, and apologising for, their formerly held views.
At the 1998 Reading Festival, the band
asked Prodigy not to sing 'Smack My Bitch Up' as it “clearly
promotes violence against women”. Howlett responded with “they
should respect other people's freedom to express themselves” (and
went home feeling terribly accomplished, I'm sure). Then just over a
year later, in December 1999, they wrote an open letter to Time Out
New York, apologising for their “stupidity” and the “shitty...
and ignorant things” directed at homosexuals and women in their
earlier work. They wrote, “There are no excuses, but time has
healed our stupidity... We have learned and sincerely changed since
the 80s. We hope that you'll accept this long overdue apology.” Not
to mention that for a long time now, they've refused to play or talk
about their older songs like 'Girls' and 'Brass Monkey'.
Performing a complete one eighty like
that, especially in the public eye, is something that takes a whole
heap of courage and conviction, and deserves so much respect.
Particularly in the world of hip-hop, coming out against sexism and
homophobia is not expected of you. Unlike other musical genres, when
a rapper states publicly that they support the rights of women and
homosexuals – and actually follows through on that statement –
it's (unfortunately) kind of a big deal. As was written on
Philolzophy this time last year, “They may not use the word
‘androcentric’ or know what a ‘cis male’ is but they seem to
have taken an earnest and personal journey to thinking that
respecting women is important. I like this a lot more than douchey
self-identifying feminists that know the right words because it’s
cool in their social circle. For Beastie Boys, feminism is not the
path of least resistance. They exist in a world where no one gives a
shit if they are self-aware or culturally conscious.”
I think this is an important point –
MCA wasn't a Women's Studies major, he didn't write songs about
Gertrude Stein or Julia Kristeva. What he, and the Beastie Boys, did
was recognise the flaws in their way of thinking and made an
unaffected move to change, without pretension or entitlement. Which
is worthy of recognition, whatever side of the fence you sit on. Plus
Ad-Rock is married to Kathleen Hanna.
Anyway, let's all pour one out as we
listen to 'Sure Shot' and know that Yauch is surely sitting easy in
the big skate park in the sky.
