Check Your Head

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Check Your Head
Studio album by The Beastie Boys
Released	April 21, 1992
Recorded	1991 - 1992
Length	53:29
Label	Capitol Records
Producer(s)	Mario Caldato, Jr.
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Thisisrealmusic.com link
The Beastie Boys chronology
Paul's Boutique (1989)	Check Your Head (1992)	Ill Communication (1994)

Check Your Head is an album by the Beastie Boys. It was released on April 21, 1992 (see 1992 in music).

Three years elapsed between the release of the band's second album, Paul's Boutique and their recording of this album and all songs were cut at the G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, California in 1991. The album features the popular hits "So Whatcha Want" and "Pass the Mic"; the music videos for both songs are available on the Criterion Collection Beastie Boys Video Anthology DVD set.

In contrast to their previous album, Paul's Boutique, the Boys returned stylistically to their punk rock roots on Check Your Head, playing their own instruments for the first time on record since their early EPs. Hence photographer Glen E. Friedman's idea to shoot photos with their instument cases (one of which became the cover). The album was their first collaboration with Mario Caldato Jr..

The last non-instrumental song on the album, "Professor Booty," features MCA delivering a diss rap aimed at MC Serch from 3rd Bass for insulting the Beastie Boys on The Cactus Album. For example:

But one big oaf whose faker than plastic
A dictionary definition of the word spastic
You should have never started something
That you couldn't finish
'Cause writin' rhymes to me
Is like Popeye to spinach

The Beastie Boys toured with the Rollins Band in the fall of 1992 to support Check Your Head.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Partial List of Samples 3 Chart positions 3.1 Album 3.2 Singles 4 Footnotes

[edit] Track listing

1. "Jimmy James" – 3:14
2. "Funky Boss" – 1:35
3. "Pass the Mic" – 4:17
4. "Gratitude" – 2:45
5. "Lighten Up" – 2:41
6. "Finger Lickin' Good" – 3:39
7. "So What'cha Want" – 3:37
8. "The Biz Vs. The Nuge" – :33
9. "Time for Livin'" – 1:48
10. "Something's Got to Give" – 3:28
11. "The Blue Nun" – :32
12. "Stand Together"– 2:47
13. "Pow" – 2:13
14. "The Maestro" – 2:52
15. "Groove Holmes" – 2:33
16. "Live at P.J.'s" – 3:18
17. "Mark on the Bus" – 1:05
18. "Professor Booty" – 4:13
19. "In 3's" – 2:23
20. "Namasté" – 4:01

[edit] Partial List of Samples

The following lists some songs and sounds sampled for Check Your Head.

Jimmy James

• "Rockin' It" by Fearless Four
• "Fresh is the Word" by Mantronix
• "Beat Bop" by Rammelzee vs. K Rob
• "Surrender" by Cheap Trick (Live version from At Budokan)
• "I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)" by The Turtles
• "3rd Stone from the Sun", "Foxy Lady", "Happy Birthday", & "Still Raining, Still Dreaming" by Jimi Hendrix

Funky Boss

• "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players
• "Under Mi Sensei" by Barrington Levy
• "Anywhere But Nowhere" by K.C. White
• "Acid", & "Bicentennial Nigger" by Richard Pryor
• "Duppy Conqueror" by Bob Marley & the Wailers

Pass the Mic

• "Choir" by James Newton
• "Big Take Over" by Bad Brains
• "So What'cha Sayin'?" by EPMD
• "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" by Dr. John
• "Big Sur Suite" by Johnny "Hammond" Smith
• "The Black Prince Has Arrived" by Jimmie Walker

Finger Lickin' Good

• "Aquarius" by 5th Dimension
• "Breakout" by Johnny "Hammond" Smith
• "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" by Bob Dylan^[1]
• "Dance to the Music" by Sly & the Family Stone
• "Freaks for the Festival" by Rahsaan Roland Kirk

So What'Cha Want

• "Just Rhymin' With Biz" by Big Daddy Kane
• "I've Been Watching You" by Southside Movement

The Biz vs. The Nuge

• "Homebound" by Ted Nugent

The Blue Nun

• "Hector" by The Village Callers

Stand Together

• "Silvadiv" by Back Door

Live at P.J.'s

• "Change Le Beat" by Fab Five Freddy

Mark on the Bus

• Dialogue from Wild Style (A hip-hop graffiti movie)
• "Mr. Roberts #1" from National Lampoon's That's Not Funny, That's Sick! (1977)

Professor Booty

• Dialogue from Wild Style (A hip-hop graffiti movie)
• "Give it Up" by Kool & the Gang
• "Loose Booty" by Funkadelic
• "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Babe" by Jimmy Smith

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Year	Chart	Position
1992	The Billboard 200	10
1992	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	37

[edit] Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1992	So What'cha Want	The Billboard Hot 100	93
1992	So What'cha Want	Hot Dance Music/Max-Singles Sales	26
1992	So What'cha Want	Hot Rap Singles	18
1992	So What'cha Want	Modern Rock Tracks	22
1992	Pass The Mic	Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	38

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ "Seven hundred bucks, but he asked for two thousand dollars. I thought it was kind of fly that he asked for $2000.00, and I bartered Bob Dylan down. That's my proudest sampling deal." BeastieMania.com - Song Spotlight: Finger Lickin' Good. Retrieved on February 14, 2007. This site has cited Boston Rock, June 1992, Issue 123 as the original source.

Beastie Boys

Mike D - Adrock - MCA

Discography

Albums: Licensed to Ill - Paul's Boutique - Check Your Head - Ill Communication - Hello Nasty - To the 5 Boroughs

EPs and compilations: Pollywog Stew - Cooky Puss - Rock Hard - Some Old Bullshit - Aglio e Olio - The In Sound from Way Out! - The Sounds of Science - Solid Gold Hits

Singles: Brass Monkey - Fight for Your Right - Hey Ladies - Sabotage - Intergalactic - Ch-Check It Out - Triple Trouble - Right Right Now Now

Related articles

Old school rap - Capitol Records - Mix Master Mike - Money Mark - DJ Hurricane - Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! - Grand Royal

This box: view • talk • edit