When the Beastie Boys released the third single from their 1994 album Ill Communication “Sure Shot”- Adam MCA Yauch explicitly rapped away from sexist behavior of their past and straight into our feminist hearts:
“I’m gonna say a little something that’s long overdue
The disrespect of women has got to be through
To all our mothers and our sisters and our wives and friends
I want to offer my love and respect to the end”
By including this verse, the Beasties not only became men, they turned into allies and humans that grow and learn.
It made me feel warm and excited.
In a Tricycle interview from the same year, Yauch further explained:
”It’s just seeing things from a different perspective.
There was a time when we would joke around and say things that were disrespectful of women and think that it was funny, or that it wouldn’t hurt anybody, or that it would be taken with a grain of salt.
Then it became clear that that wasn’t the case, and we had to go through the process of taking a step back and realizing how those things affect other people.”
It wasn’t just words that the Beastie Boys shared, they continually went on to fight for rights..women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, human rights, both in their songs and in their public appearances.
Thumbnail photograph: Beastie Boys in Los Angeles, 1998 by Danny Clinch
Overdue /əʊvəˈdjuː/
1. Not having arrived, happened, or been done by the expected time.
2. Having been needed for some time.
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