That's a Record 'Cause of Mario

Mario Caldato, Jr chillin', one might say like Bob Dylan

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In my previous entry, Riddle Me This, My Brother: Deconstructing "Shadrach," I revisited Paul’s Boutique, and for the millionth time marveled at the Beastie Boys and Dust Brothers, who then included Matt Dike. However, Paul’s was a seven-man operation and like a dumbass, I overlooked producer, engineer, mixer, soundman, multi-instrumentalist, electronics whiz, security guard impersonator, and all-around fix-it man, Mario Caldato, Jr.

Caldato is credited as engineer on Paul’s Boutique, but that's kind of a misnomer. The album is almost entirely samples, so it wasn’t like he was miking drums, adjusting amps, and setting levels which are typical engineer tasks, and ironically, what he'd come to do on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, where he'd serve as producer. Outside of "Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun," there was no band on Paul's, and even on that it was only Ad-Rock's guitar and MCA's bass. In a way, Caldato’s job was more akin to film editing than it was traditional music engineering.

“Basically, we would find a groove, and we would loop it, and then we would print that to tape, and we would just go for five minutes on one track of the tape. And then we would find another loop, and we would spend hours getting that second loop to sync up with the first loop, and then once we had it in sync, we would print that for five minutes on another track. And we would just load up the tape like that.

“And once we had filled up the tape with loops, we would go in, and Mario had this early, early mixing board that had this very primitive form of automation. It was pretty complex, but if you knew which tracks you wanted playing at any given time, you typed the track numbers into this little Commodore computer hooked up to the mixing board. And each time you wanted a new track to come in, you’d have to type it in manually. It was just painful. It took so long. And there was so much trial and error … there was no visual interface (!!!) to show you what was going on. That was the main difficulty we faced.”
--Mike Simpson to Dan LeRoy, Paul’s Boutique 33 1/3 book, pp. 36-37 

What kind of MacGyver genius do you have to be to hotwire a Commodore for ANY task in 1989, let alone in creating one of the greatest albums ever??? And without a screen to look at?!?! Amazing. “Mario Caldato, many insist, was the unsung hero of the team, a tireless worker who slaved to translate brilliant concepts into great records” (LeRoy, p. 20). So, to the man they call the Mario, I offer my sincere apologies for not previously acknowledging your ample contributions to Paul’s Boutique.

The Paul's Boutique Studio Army L-R:
Matt Dike + horns, Adam Yauch, Mike Simpson, John King (obscured), Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Mario Caldato, Jr.
Photo: Ricky Powell

In fact, the story of Caldato entering the Beasties’ orbit includes one very significant, Adios Lounge-worthy twist. Let us go back three years to August 1986, three months before Licensed To Ill was released. The Beastie Boys spent that summer opening for Run-DMC, who were touring behind their monster album, Raising Hell. On one of two Saturdays, August 9 or August 16 - and I’m almost positive it’s the latter - the Beasties were scheduled to play a hip, underground LA club called Power Tools. Most accounts say this appearance occurred on August 9, but I have my doubts about that. The Raising Hell tour was scheduled for Long Beach Arena on Sunday, August 17 and the Hollywood Palladium on Monday, August 18. Why would there be a secret show a week before the groups hit town? No, August 16 is the only date that makes sense.

UPDATE (6/26): Thanks to an anonymous tipster, I received this flyer in my Adios Lounge inbox. I was assured that not only is it authentic, it actually comes from the collection of one the principals in this story. Of course, the main detail worth noting is the date: August 9. It may not make sense on paper, but if that's when the show was, then that's when it was.

FRONT OF FLYER

BACK OF FLYER

Power Tools was started by (Matt) Dike and Interview photographer, Brad Branson, “as a small intimate gathering,” recalls Pam Turbov, an A&R representative at Columbia Records who would later become an executive at Delicious Vinyl and manage several artists. “It was a pretty eclectic crowd.”

The club began at Branson’s loft on Crenshaw Avenue, with Dike, Branson, Turbov, and model Kathy Yeung as hosts. But, when Branson left California for Europe soon afterward, Dike and (Jon) Sidel decided to move the party to a bigger space downtown. Headquartered in the old Park Plaza Hotel, Power Tools began drawing 2,000 patrons a night. And in the summer of 1986, it hosted an accidentally momentous show which brought together most of the players responsible for Paul’s Boutique.

“It was so intense and so crazy. The energy was like a rock show,” remembers Turbov of the pre-concert atmosphere. “There hadn’t been that before on a hip hop level.” An impressed Run-DMC offered to perform their current single, “My Adidas,” which Sidel wistfully says “would have been the ultimate for us.”

It never happened. The Beastie Boys’ brief set, based around the songs “Hold It Now, Hit It” and “The New Style,” ended prematurely with a blown PA. Sidel had already pleaded with Dike, who he says was “cheap as shit,” about upgrading the club’s equipment, powered only by a home stereo amplifier. Now they would have no choice. And as the club began to empty, an angry patron came to bend Sidel’s ear about the failure.
--Dan LeRoy, Paul’s Boutique 33 1/3 book, pp. 12-13

In March 2001, Caldato was interviewed by TapeOp, a magazine dedicated to music recording. When asked how he initially got involved with the Beastie Boys, he admitted that he wasn't just at Power Tools that hot August night, he was the angry patron.

I was there one night and the Beastie Boys were coming to play. They didn’t have an album out, they just had a single, I think it was “Slow And Low”. So, these guys were up on the stage ready to perform. They had three mics and a DJ setup and were testin' the mics - one-two, one-two. DJ Hurricane was testin' out the turntables and cueing up the first record - chukka-chukka-chukka-bowm. When he hit the first note, the 808 bass sound, the whole sound system shut-off! So (the Beastie Boys) said, “Fuck this!” threw their mics down and walked off the stage.

It really sucked cause 1500 people were there. I was like, “Damn, this PA is bullshit.” It was four speakers and a 200-watt stereo power amp, you know, like a home stereo amp. It just collapsed. The setup sucked, the speakers were on the ground [instead of raised up]. I was so mad. I had to find out who runs this place, who owns this club. I found the owner and said, this is embarrassing, you know your sound system just doesn't work. He said if I had the equipment I could come back next week with it. So, I got some wires and some amps, I raised the speakers up. The owner was so impressed, I got the gig."
--Interview with Mario Caldato, Jr. by Darron Burke (PDF), TapeOp, January 2002, pp. 4-5

Caldato addressed this same Power Tools gig in the second issue of Grand Royal, the Beastie Boys’ publication that was, well, the Paul’s Boutique of magazines in the mid-‘90s. While the debut Grand Royal (with the Bruce Lee/Enter The Dragon cover) fetches the highest prices on eBay, the follow-up is probably the most fully realized issue of the six published.

Grand Royal 2 came out in the summer of 1995 and features a 24-page Lee Perry primer, the history of the mullet (the first large-scale examination of that awful hairstyle), GR editor Bob Mack baiting Ted Nugent, Ricky Powell's awkward interactions at the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, Matt Lukin of Mudhoney eating pot before visiting the White House, and in retrospect, maybe the most insider moment in the 'zine’s run, a four-page interview with Mario Caldato, Jr. conducted by a far less contentious Mack.

THEY ALWAYS SAY THAT NUTHIN'S PERFECT

And now for the unique twist. Unlike the interview from TapeOp, the Grand Royal version adds an important detail about the Power Tools performance, otherwise lacking in every other account. And that detail just happens to be one of the patron saints of The Adios Lounge.

How’d you hook up with the Boys?
I was going to this club called Power Tools and it was the only place that had anything original happening.

Who was running it?
Matt Dike was the DJ (and partner). Jon Sidel and Sean Macpherson were also partners. I was going down there and one night everyone was saying, "Oh, the Beastie Boys are gonna be playing." This is before their first album came out, but they had a couple singles and the vibe was happening.

Were they squirrely?
Very New York, y'know? Mackin' in their own way. They were gonna try to do a song. They had a real small system, like a disco system, and it was barely loud enough to cover the room. Bob Forrest of Thelonious Monster was doing sound. So, they tried to check the mics and they were just barely working. They started to play the record, but as soon as the first big "boom" came on, the whole shit cut off. It just wasn't gonna work. The guys could tell and were like, "Fuck this!" So, they just threw their mics. People in the audience were really buggin'. Then Bob Forrest goes up to the mics and says, "These mics work, the problem is with your rap!" Anyways, they were just talking shit, being ill, like they were known to be back in the day.
--Interview with Mario Caldato, Jr. by Bob Mack, Grand Royal, 1995, p. 104

That the Beastie Boys, Matt Dike, and Mario Caldato, Jr. were at the same LA club in August 1986 makes sense. If anything, it seems like destiny. Dike and Caldato began working together at Power Tools, then at Delicious Vinyl, and ultimately, on Paul’s Boutique. However, Bob Forrest in this context is a straight up WTF. And actually, I forgot I knew this. I’ve had this issue of Grand Royal since the day it came out in mid-1995 and I remember being astounded at this Forresty factoid. I wasn’t on bulletin boards or newsgroups back in the steam engine internet days of 1995, otherwise Thelonious Monster traffic would’ve spiked that day. At least until I got kicked off my stupid dialup connection.

Bob is now semi-famous as the drug dependency counselor (with the hat) on Celebrity Rehab and the subject of Keirda Bahruth’s documentary, Bob And The Monster. In 1986, he was semi-famous (in Los Angeles) as both scenester and lead singer of Thelonious Monster, whose debut album I should note also came out in 1986. Obviously, Baby, You're Bummin' My Life Out In A Supreme Fashion was a blip on the cultural radar compared to Licensed To Ill, but in the special confines of the Adios Lounge, the Monster and the Beasties more or less carry equal weight. (Incidentally, both bands sound like homages to Maurice Sendak, author of Where The Wild Things Are, who passed away four days after Yauch.)

In an interesting sub-twist, Bob recently discussed this fateful night on his awesome internet radio show, All Up In The Interweb. It was the first show following Yauch’s death, so Bob played “Sabotage,” and then followed up with both story and song. Yes, you are about to be privy to a document long since thought lost. Here is the Beastie Boys’ aborted performance from Power Tools, with Bob Forrest on preamble and postamble.

FYI, this sounds like shit because a) It sounded like shit at the time and b) This is probably a 3rd or 4th generation cassette dub. But, it exists, so be thankful.

Bob Forrest + The Beastie Boys
Power Tools, Los Angeles
August 16, 1986
Excerpt from the May 9 broadcast of All Up In The Interweb

Alcohol + frustration + public embarrassment has been known to lead to fisticuffs. Oh well, it was 26 years ago. Bob brings up a valid point, though. When was he going to have experience running sound for a rap show? That’s truly a comical image. I mean, I know it sucked in the moment, but what did Dike expect to happen? He was only yelling at Bob because he could, shit rolleth downhill and whatnot. Of course, no shitty sound, means no Mario Caldato, Jr., and extrapolating from there is a hideous alternate reality from which there’s no escape. So, let’s just admit that everything worked out the way it was supposed to.

On a related note, y'all really should check out Bob’s show, All Up In The Interweb. He rants, raves, plays good music, and tells hilarious stories, which are often indistinguishable from this rants. As a matter of fact, on the show from which the Power Tools story comes, Bob talks about meeting Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, living in filth with John Frusciante, drying out (not really) on a road trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Peter Case, and an epic story involving David Lee Roth, New Order, and Nile Rodgers, cocaine, and a broken broom closet.

All Up In The Interweb is on Wednesdays, 8-10 pm PST, rebroadcasts Saturday 1-3 pm PST, and within a week or two, the shows are all archived on Bob's website. Frankly, I recommend downloading a few shows (starting with the one linked above), putting them on your phones or ipods, and listen to them when you’re walking around or stuck in traffic.

THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON

The twists of this story don’t quite stop with Bob. The other thing rarely addressed in accounts of August 16, 1986, is August 17, 1986. The fact is, the Hollywood Palladium gig mentioned by Ad-Rock (“Y’all come down to the fuckin’ Palladium on Monday”) never happened. The reason why is because on Saturday the Raising Hell tour hit Long Beach … and Long Beach hit back.

While Whodini was warning concertgoers that “The Freaks Come Out At Night,” gang members swept through Long Beach Arena, swinging fists, chains, chair legs, and pretty much anything else that could be used as a weapon. Eventually, 42 people were injured and according to Greg Mack, operations manager and program director for KDAY (1580 AM), “People that were inside couldn’t get out as quickly as I did because they had to go through the regular doors. As you can imagine, there was mass hysteria. It was the last rap concert Long Beach ever had. It was a real sad time for rap, period.”

In fact, the Beastie Boys came back to Los Angeles six months later, actually playing the Hollywood Palladium on February 7, 1987. That show was noteworthy for having Run-DMC as special guests and Fishbone as opener. Yeah, I’m sure that was no fun at all. For those of you into bootlegs of historically relevant events, check out this sweet download from It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold This Sac.

On that note, let’s finish up with classic video footage from 1987 of the Beasties and Run-DMC on CBS News Nightwatch. Here they discuss media representations of hip hop culture in the wake of the Long Beach riot. Beyond that, there is pure gold all up in this clip. Mike D choosing to appear on TV in shorts, Mike D doing the Jerry Lewis (7:55), an off-the-cuff version of “My Adidas” (8:29), and I believe MCA off-camera referring to the Beasties’ songwriting technique as a “bouillabaisse” (9:14), three years before they’d conclude Paul’s Boutique with a medley bearing that moniker.



Incidentally, Power Tools closed on April 4, 1987, eight months after the Beasties' set that barely was, and probably around the time this CBS segment was filmed. It wasn't legal hassles or pending bankruptcy or anything remotely nefarious. When asked by the LA Times why he was shuttering the successful club, Jon Sidel said, "We're bored and want to get on to something new. The club isn't what it once was. We started playing a certain kind of music and now everyone's started doing they're own version of it, so it's on to something else." Added  partner, Matt Dike, "We're also burnt out. We felt we did everything we had to do."

Within a year's time, the Beastie Boys would have similar feelings about being the Beastie Boys.

Riddle Me This, My Brother: Deconstructing "Shadrach"

"Shadrach" was the Beastie Boys' third single from Paul's Boutique (said single pictured above), but it's best known as an album cut. In his excellent 33 1/3 treatise on Paul's, Dan LeRoy calls "Shadrach" the album's most important track (p. 97), and its importance is inherently bound up in the importance of the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego mythology. If you're unfamiliar with the Bible, let me break it down for you.

And the man upstairs, well I hope that he cares

Nebuchadnezzar ("Nez to my friends, only I ain't got no friends") was king of Babylon in the 6th century BC. He basically did three things: built skyscrapers, started wars, and one day decided, "Fuck it, I'm building myself a big ass statue of gold." Being king, he ordered everyone to get on their knees and worship the statue "as soon as I press play on this boom box and 'Hotel California' kicks in. Everyone got that???"

Everyone did as they were told, except for three Jewish boys: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were busy sippin' on wine and mackin', rockin' on the stage with all the hands clappin'. There was also that matter of not worshiping false idols and maintaining faith in one true God, all of which made Nez so furious he went home and bit his pillow. He also ordered guards to throw the three boys into a fiery furnace because that's what kings do.

So, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tossed into the furnace and ... nothing happened. Miraculously, the flames didn't hurt them. If anything, they totally added to their hash buzz. It was their faith in God, not gold, that saved their lives. Well, that and the fact that God knew these knuckleheads were gonna get themselves in trouble, so he had a secret service angel assigned to them.

When Nez saw this he correctly surmised, "If these fuckers can't be hurt by fire, then they must be seriously connected." He made a big song and dance about Jewish faith and the great Jewish god, but really he was just protecting his ass. He may have been King of Babylon with armies at his command, but even he couldn't control fire. Well played, Judeo-Christian deity.

L-R: Ad Rock, DJ Hurricane, MCA, and Mike D circa 1986

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You don't pay the band, your friends, yo that's weak

"What happened was they didn't get paid by their former record company so they went to Capitol. The story has a good ending."
--Adam Yauch on the original Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 1989

The parallels between the Beastie Boys and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are obviously limited. But, the story of three Jewish boys taking on the establishment and not only surviving, but thriving, continues to resonate. Of course, where the biblical trio survived because of their faith in God, the Beasties survived (and thrived) because of their faith in each other. This is no small difference.

That faith in each other led to the most pugnacious element of Paul's Boutique, its deliberate uncommerciality. This wasn't just Capitol's predictable response to their expensive new acquisition ("I DON'T HEAR A SINGLE!"). This was also the opinion of the Dust Brothers, who consisted then of Mike Simpson, John King, and Matt Dike, the other trio of geniuses responsible for Paul's. Dike confessed to LeRoy that he half-seriously suggested a follow-up (of sorts) to "Brass Monkey." Yauch's response was unequivocal. "Fuck 'Brass Monkey!' None of that fast-rapping commercial shit!" (p. 57).

It should be noted that the Beasties' defiance of the marketplace was also a reaction to their dissolving relationship with Russell Simmons and Def Jam. Licensed To Ill sold millions of records (the very definition of commercial, I'd say), the Beasties toured behind it for months, and yet they weren't paid royalties. Def Jam sued the Beasties, the Beasties sued Def Jam, suffice to say everyone involved got more suits than Jacoby & Meyers. According to Beastiemania.com, "When Simmons learned the band had been looking at offers from other labels, he terminated their contract with Def Jam. Beastie Boys eventually signed with Capitol Records, ending all ties with Def Jam." If the Beasties were gonna go out like the Titanic, they were gonna sink (or swim) on their terms.

The Beasties on the Capitol Records Tower, June 29, 1989

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Three MCs and we're on the go

"We like things that people recognize, but don't know who or what it is. We'll be listening to something and have a few tracks made and then, all of a sudden, somebody will remember a Tito Puente record or a Sammy Davis, Jr. record. We were mixing shit like Black Oak Arkansas with Sly & The Family Stone, or Alice Cooper with the Crash Crew. To get just the right sound, we used a blue bong, high quality indica buds, hash, hash oil, freebase, red wine, cigarettes, LSD, coffee, and whippets."

--Mike Simpson in Angus Batey's, Rhyming & Stealing: A History Of The Beastie Boys, p. 105

So, let us return to "Shadrach."

Beastie Boys - Shadrach
Paul's Boutique, 1989
Amazon

LeRoy believes that "Shadrach" is "as punk rock a moment as anything in the Beastie Boys catalog" (p. 98), mostly because it's a symbolic declaration of independence from Def Jam, Licensed To Ill, and expectations for a sequel, which actually could've been called Ill II. While I don't disagree with any of that, I'm not sure it's anymore punk rock than a 12:30 medley that doubles as a history of (and love letter to) old-school, NYC-based hip hop or a song based around Beatles samples that couldn't have been made at any other time in history, for no other reason due to expense.

"Shadrach" is musically genius, but not because it's an explosion of beats like "Shake Your Rump" or "B-Boy Bouillabaise." "Shadrach" is fairly simple. It's largely based on Sly & The Family Stone's "Loose Booty" because why wouldn't you base a song on this jam? That's just good science.

Sly & the Family Stone - Loose Booty
Small Talk
1974
Amazon

So much here that's fundamental to "Shadrach": Rustee Allen's killer bassline, the horny horns, and of course Sly's "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego" refrain. There's also Rose Stone's distinctive wail. Not to read too much into this, but the way her voice is looped makes her "Hey-hey-hey-hey" sound less like an R&B singer and more like a cantor at a Jewish temple. Given the biblical backstory and the enormous cultural reach of both the Beastie Boys and Dust Bros, is it totally out of the realm of possibility that this was the desired effect?

I find it curious that the Beasties would sample/cover two Sly Stone songs and both were from the unheralded Small Talk album. "Loose Booty" here and "Time For Livin'" on Check Your Head. By the way, if you're new to Sly, here's my advice on what to buy and in what order: 1) Anthology, 2) Fresh, 3) There's A Riot Goin' On, and then 4) Small Talk. Some of the most inventive funk songs ever committed to wax.

Black Oak Arkansas - Hot And Nasty (excerpt)
Black Oak Arkansas
1971
Amazon

And herein lies the genius of Paul's Boutique, which is to say, the genius of the Beastie Boys and Dust Bros. They were instinctively able to zero in on the best parts of songs and then turn those parts into mind-blowing new songs. Granted, that generally describes the hip hop mission statement, but only BB/DB were able to "mix shit like Black Oak Arkansas with Sly & The Family Stone," and have it make perfect sense. Black Oak Arkansas was a mostly terrible band with a lead singer (Jim Dandy Mangrum) who sounded like Captain Beefheart on a gas-huffing binge. And while "Hot And Nasty" isn't that bad, Wayne Evans on drums and Pat Daugherty on bass bring undeniable funk and are easily the best part of the song. I'm not sure how much Daugherty makes the cut, but Evans'  opening drum lick is all over "Shadrach," perfectly combining with "Loose Booty" to form the song's foundation. In all ways, just a brilliant sample.

The music washes over and you're one with the sound

Here are the rest of "Shadrach's" known samples. I've listed them in order of appearance, time when they appear, and though excerpts, I tried to include a little more than just the sampled section, so you can get a flavor of the song. There are also numerous cultural references, which you can read about on the Paul's Boutique Samples and References List and Beastiemania.com.

Rose Royce - Do Your Dance (Intro) - Drum beat/handclap (:00-:09)
Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom
1977
Amazon

The intro to "Shadrach" is taken from the intro to "Do Your Dance," a Top 10 R&B hit for Rose Royce in 1977. If you know the name Rose Royce at all, it's for the previous year's Car Wash soundtrack, an album that produced a #1 pop hit (the badass title track), three R&B Top 10s, and provided "Shake Your Rump" with four separate samples. I'm not a particular fan of disco, but I'll give Car Wash a free pass, in large part because of producer, Norman Whitfield (links to Adios Lounge post from Oct 2008).


Sugarhill Gang - Sugarhill Groove (Excerpt) - Chord (:16, :26,  1:42, 1:51, and 2:54)
The Sugarhill Gang
1980
Amazon

"Hit the guitar and then the bass/Then hit that chord that'll shake this place."

Everyone knows The Sugarhill Gang because of "Rapper's Delight." To capitalize on the unexpected success of that 1979 single, Sugar Hill Records cobbled together six tracks for the group's self-titled debut album, released the following year. As a rap song, "Sugarhill Groove" is nothing special. But, as an example of hip hop incorporating live instruments, it's the earliest template for groups like the Beastie Boys. The underrated Sugar Hill Records house band featured Skip McDonald on guitar, Keith LeBlanc on drums, and Doug Wimbish on bass, later to join Living Colour.

Here's a cool profile of the other Sugar Hill gang [via Last Days of Man on Earth, Sept 2007].

Ballin' Jack - Never Let 'Em Say (Excerpt) - "Never gonna let 'em say that I don't love you" (2:36)
Ballin' Jack
1970
Amazon

Ballin' Jack was a late '60s/early '70s rock group from Seattle, largely inspired by their childhood friend and fellow Seattleite, Jimi Hendrix. "Never Let 'Em Say" was actually the B-side to a 1970 single, released just prior to their self-titled debut. The A-side was "Found A Child," which you don't think you know. However, that tune was appropriated by Matt Dike to form the basis of Young MC's "Bust A Move," a record that sold approximately 5 billion copies to white people worldwide.

Trouble Funk - Say What? (Excerpt) - "And we love the hot butter (say what?) the popcorn!" (3:04)
In Times Of Trouble
1983
Amazon

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Paul's Boutique Samples and References List and Beastiemania.com are wrong, and Wikipedia is right. There is a Trouble Funk sample in "Shadrach," but it's not from "Good To Go," it's from the opening moments of "Say What?" I think the confusion may have come from "say what" being shouted several times during "Good To Go." One listen to "Say What?" should clear up any confusion.

Now's probably a good time to mention that Trouble Funk's record label, Tuf America, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Beastie Boys on May 3, the day before Yauch died of cancer. Classy move, dickheads. You've had well over 20 years to address this and didn't. Best case scenario, you'll receive a nominal pittance and everyone outside of DC hates you. Worst case scenario, the lawsuit is dropped and everyone outside of DC hates you. Hope it was worth it.

Funky 4 + 1 - That's The Joint (Excerpt) - "Being very proud of being MCs" (3:13)
1980 single
Amazon

The Funky 4 + 1 occupy an important place in hip hop. They were the first rap group to feature a female MC (Sha Rock), the first rap group to perform on national TV (SNL, Feb 14, 1981), and the first Bronx rappers to sign to a label (Enjoy). The Beasties were particularly fond of "That's The Joint," sampling it both here and on "Shake Your Rump."

Incidentally, I've listened to "Shadrach" probably 1000 times and always assumed this sample was, "Being very proud to be an MC." It's printed that way everywhere, including the Paul's Boutique liner notes. However, that's not what the rapper -- who I believe is Lil' Rodney Cee -- actually says. He says "MCs," plural. You can hear the 's.' Lyrically, the preceding references to 'we' means "MCs" is grammatically correct.

"We'll be busting in and we'll be turning it out
While we rock to any beat without a doubt
Just chilling hard, living in luxury
And being very proud of being MCs."

Like Galileo dropped the orange.

James Brown - Funky Drummer (Outro) - Drum break (4:05-4:07)
1970 single
Amazon

We conclude our Beasties appreciation with quite possibly the most sampled drum break in hip hop history. Clyde Stubblefield learnin' fools. Which brings me back to the issue of sampling and copyright. While formal royalties should certainly be paid, usually one guy is getting paid, and it's not always the guy who created the music. For example, when the Beasties pay for the use of "Funky Drummer," it ain't going to Clyde Stubblefield, the drummer who invented that beat. It's going to James Brown. Clyde got paid a session fee in 1969 (hopefully) and that's the extent of his investment. Why is that acceptable? Because some lawyers said so? Lawyers are asshats. I think the James Brown estate should do what's right and annuitize a fair stipend for Stubblefield. After all, it was on "Funky Drummer" that JB directed us to "give the drummer some." I think giving should begin with JB. Then again, what do I know? If I had a penny for my thoughts I'd be a millionaire.

Now we're gonna bust with the Putney Swope sequel

As it turns out, the Beasties and Sly Stone were only the latest musicians to jump on the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bandwagon. In the 1930s, a Louisiana composer named Robert MacGimsey wrote "Shadrack," and it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1938. That version begat numerous vocal quartet covers (Ames Brothers, Golden Gate Quartet) and jazz covers (Benny Goodman, Sonny Rollins). Here are two of my favorites.



The Larks are obviously in the vocal quartet tradition with this amazing gospel rendition from 1954. They shot this for an early version of the "Showtime At The Apollo" TV series and previously released it as a single on Apollo Records ("Shadrack" b/w "Honey In The Rock", January 1952). I love how the four voices all blend together, the lead singer riding just on top of the mesmerizing backup vocals. It's chanting as much as it is singing, and you can trace those rhythms and harmonies all the way back to West Africa. In other words, don't expect any Beach Boys comparisons.

Which brings us back to the man who started all this Shadraching: Louis Armstrong, arguably the first significant American musician of the 20th century.

UPDATE: In my original version of this post, I included a video of Armstrong here. Unfortunately, that version was removed from YouTube and the only other version available isn't capable of being embedded. However, if you visit the link below, you can watch this timeless artifact.

Louis Armstrong - Shadrach (click "Watch on YouTube")

Though he originally recorded "Shadrach" in '38, the clip is from the 1951 film, The Strip. Starring Mickey Rooney, the movie features Armstrong, Jack Teagarden (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), and the rest of Louis' All-Stars. Clearly they're having a big time in the house of Babylon.

In terms of vocals alone, I don't think people realize how important Louis Armstrong was to the development of blues and jazz singing ... and by extension, rock 'n' roll and hip hop. Armstrong didn't necessarily invent slurs, scatting, and singing over and behind the beat. However, he definitely popularized those affectations and made it acceptable for every singer and rapper who came after him to sing and rap how they damn well pleased.

But the children of Israel would not bow down ... Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego ...