After the heavy themes and violent imagery of “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” and “Car Thief”, the boys are back to having plain old fun. “What Comes Around” is a goofy, lazily funky song about the power of karma . . .or something like that. Really, it’s just an ebullient three-minute track that highlights the Beastie Boys’ and Dust Brother’s incomparable ability to create pleasant irony through perfectly-placed samples and humorous turns-of-phrase.

Any discussion of “What Comes Around” has to start with that incredible groove. The Dust Brothers take the rhythm section part directly from the song “Put on Train” by Blue Note jazz pianist Gene Harris and his group the Three Sounds. It features a James Brownish choppy guitar rhythm, a tastefully minimalistic bass line, and some bluesy piano fills (the latter highlighted especially on the chorus). For the most part, the Boys and the Brothers do very little editing to the sample, letting its grooviness speak for itself. But about a minute into the song, they drop in the main guitar riff from Alice Cooper’s “It’s Hot Tonight”, which lines up perfectly with Harris’ rhythm. It’s a subtle touch, for sure. It shows, though, how good the artists really were at finding the right sample for the right moment. It’s amazing that a classic metal guitar riff and a jazz piano lick can coexist and sound like they were meant for each other.

“Car Thief” is a kind of sequel to “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun”, the continuing story of a man who likes to break windows, grow his own cheeba, and write poems. Although the lyrical content feels a bit repetitive from previous songs on Paul’s Boutique, the chill, soulful groove makes the track memorable.

The song begins with some melodic scratching. The first scratching sound is at a high pitch, and then each subsequent one gets lower and lower. This trick felt fresh in 1989, but is now heard all over pop radio (the instrumental hook on LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem”, for instance, is indebted to the scratches the Beasties and the Dust Brothers pioneered).

Side two of Paul’s Boutique begins with “5-Piece Chicken Dinner”, a 23-second, straightforward bluegrass number that samples “Shuckin’ the Corn”, a tune by Eric Weissberg of “Dueling Banjos” fame. It’s fast and celebratory, prominently featuring the fiddle and banjo. On top of this instrumental we hear whooping noises and downhome utterances like “Get away from the barbecue pit”. What an odd song to include on an otherwise relentlessly urban record.

Of course, the Beastie Boys know exactly what they’re up to. The name of the game is often “irony” with this group. They give us “5-Piece Chicken Dinner”, a brief, bright roll in the hay, only to juxtapose it with “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun”, one of the darkest, dirtiest tracks on Paul’s Boutique, and also one of the best.

“Hey Ladies” is the most famous track from Paul’s Boutique, the one most widely known by the general public, even by those who are not Beastie Boys enthusiasts. It only reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but was notable as the first single to chart in the top 20 of both the Hot Rap Singles and Modern Rock Tracks. Its disco-era inspired music video, complete with a cowbell-playing hand popping out of the ceiling, became a 1980s cultural touchstone, a campy, fun, retro-infused promo that solidified the Beasties’ reputation as rap music’s greatest jokesters. On “Hey Ladies”, the Beastie Boys prove that their hip-hop collage approach to making tunes is applicable to the four-minute single format, and can yield a track that is both technically accomplished and danceable. 

From the beginning, we notice how self-assured and “absolute” the groove is. With samples from the likes of the Commodores, Kool and the Gang, and Cameo, “Hey Ladies” might have the funkiest feel on Paul’s Boutique. Unlike several other tracks from the record, this one doesn’t vary that much rhythmically or incorporate asymmetrical, abrupt shifts in tempo (see “The Sounds of Science”, for example). Even as the sonic texture changes—during the famous “cowbell solo”, for instance—the relentless beat goes on. It’s not surprising that “Hey Ladies” was chosen as the record’s lead single, for its consistency makes it especially danceable.

“3-Minute Rule” starts with the sounds of a ping pong game. This opening sample seems apropos for a track that is relentlessly laid-back, almost lazy-sounding, in fact. Coming after the aggressive intensity of the end of “The Sounds of Science”, “3-Minute Rule” seems slight, like the Beasties went on a mini-vacation. It’s forgivable, though, since everyone needs a rest sometimes, including the listener. 

The texture of “3-Minute Rule” is remarkably sparse. The main samples are from Sly & the Family Stone, the Steve Miller Band, and Fancy. The groove settles into a mid-tempo, lethargic funk. Lyrical interaction between the three Beasties, the quality that characterizes so much of the group’s best music, is notably missing. Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock each contribute about a minute of rapping without any commentary from the other two. We realize how much the Beasties are dependent upon collective storytelling. When they try to each tell their own narrative, devoid of the other’s support, the result is slightly stilted verses. After Ad-Rock’s final “And I’m out”, the groove continues for another thirty seconds or so. This ending feels kind of tedious and perfunctory.