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Beastie Boys - Song of the Week - Three MC's and One DJ from Hello Nasty

In 1998, the Beastie Boys finally put out a new album.  It seemed like an eternity to me, as they had put out two albums when I was in high school, but it took nearly my entire college career until a new album hit.  It is not their strongest album to date, nor since.  But, it was unique and new.  The highlight was their return to scratching and the abundance of samples, who else could be so awesome that they could sample a their own song from over a decade ago? (3:19 of 'The New Style' from Licensed to Ill sampled in 'Body Movin'). 

The return to heavy mixing coincided with worldwide introduction of Mix Master Mike as a Beastie Boy partner.  I can't say 4th Beastie Boy as that title has been held by numerous others, Mario C, Bobo, Biz Markie, Money Mark, etc) and really there are only 3 Beastie Boys. 

Excerpt from 'Three MC's and One DJ' from Hello Nasty 

"Hey yo, Adam, what's up?  This is Mix Master Mike calling from
Sacramento.  Um...ah, I've been wanting to hook up with you, maybe on 
some tracks...I've got some shit right here, if you could-
[Scratching]
My turntable's through a wah-wah pedal...
[Scratching continues]
It's called the tweak scratch.")
 
Cause nobody can do it like Mix Master can! 
Come on
I've got the D double O, D double O style
Here we go again because it's been awhile
Do me a favor don't touch that dial
I rock from Manhattan to the Miracle Mile
My name's Mike D and I'm the ladies choice
I want to get next to you like Rose Royce
Y'all gather round to hear my golden voice
Cause when it's time to rhyme you know I get noice
Cruising like a fan boat on the glade 
He'll tweak ass your ass across the cross fade
So watch your back when he takes the stage
Or he'll send you off on a naked rampage

Three MCs and one DJ
We be getting down with no delay
Mix Master Mike, what cha got to say?
("Bug out!" "To!" "The mic" "All the time!")
  
lyrics compiled by elyrics.net

The Beastie Boys kick it "live" on 'Three MC's and One DJ' possibly in their basement studio.  Mix Master Mike enters the studio with (left to right) Mike D, Adrock, and MCA waiting frozen ready to rock the mic.  The "live" version is fantastic as you can see up close and personally the techniques used by Mix Master Mike to do his tweaks.  You can also see how much fun the Beastie Boys still have especially MCA on his comical lyrics:
Well my name is Adrock I'm a Scorpio
Don't ask me cause I just don't know
I'm known to mop I'm known to glow 
But don't get mad cause I gots to go

"live" 'Three MC's and One DJ'  "B side" to 'Remote Control' from Hello Nasty


For an extra awesome version of 'Three MC's and One DJ', check out: Awesome I... Shot ThatChapter 19
Try Chapters 2 & 11 for more Mix Master Mike awesomeness

For more on the Beastie Boys check out BeastieBoys.com

To purchase Hello Nasty
or Awesome I... Shot That

Enjoy!

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