Our review on the Beastie Boys x Opening Ceremony and how it made us jam 'Sabotage' for 48 hours.
The first time I heard the Beastie Boys had to be in the late 80's early 90's. After my love of Transformers, Voltron and Thundercats, 80's hip hop was right there with them. My older cousins played "Fight For Your Right" and "Hold It Now" while my chubby 7 year-old self not knowing who it was, was thinking "hey these motherfuckers sound pretty good!" (I don't think I cursed but I'll leave it in).
I remember in high school listening to "Sabotage" over and over again and after watching the music video on MTV, I wanted to do some type of version for this for a school project with some friends. But, pro-wrestling was also hot at the time so we ended up doing a skit with me as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin instead. (Sidenote: I ended up giving my friend Calvin the stunner and put him in the sharpshooter. We got an A for the project).
Fast forward a few decades, I'm older, fatter, more wrinkly, but still into sneakers and streetwear, and I see that Opening Ceremony did a capsule collection with the Beastie Boys this past September (I'm late, yes I know). I'm gonna have to say, it gets a 10/10 from me.
People will always remember their music, but not a lot of people will remember their influence on marrying punk rock style and hip hop fashion. Alongside RUN DMC, I felt like these groups were genuine. What they wore was who they were. No lying, not trying too hard to stand out, just being real. Sometimes it was grungy, sometimes it was streetwear-ish, sometimes it was to be irreverent. Nowadays, people try too hard to look cool.
With the capsule collection, Spike Jonze chose artists that fit the same bill. Musicians and artists like Raymond Pettibon, Geoff McFetridge, Kim Gordon, Bill McMullen and Nejc Prah all chipped in. It's got a nice homage to the band across short sleeve, long sleeve, hoodies and even a boiler suit – a wink to their 90's music videos. All of this was coinciding with the release of their Apple TV+ documentary directed by Spike Jonze. Go check it out. If not, buy their book it's a good piece of nostalgia that'll make you want to break out the karaoke machine. For those of you who were born in the 2000's, this is a singing machine that baby boomers fell in love with and tried to live out their rock star dreams in the 90's. I, for one, don't have said machine, but instead started to jam hard in my car to 'Sabotage' no less than 2 days straight. Suffice to say, the vein in my neck almost popped and I was spied on by cars next to me who thought I was going to drop a large deuce while driving.
Anyway, back to the collection. To some, it may be not the most innovative designs especially when you're talking about famous artists like Raymond Pettibon, Bill McMullen and Nejc Prah, but damn, knowing that these cats helped craft something to honor one of my favorite bands of all time gets high marks. Do me a favor and look up these artists, you will not be disappointed. Buy their art, commission something if you can afford it, these guys are on par with the famous Frank Kozik in my opinion. Look him up to you lazy asses.
I'm kicking myself for not being able to cop one piece of this collection. I'd pay for a large t-shirt! I could definitely see MCA rocking this in the heavens right now. RIP man!