To the 5 Boroughs
Studio album by
Beastie Boys
ReleasedJune 15, 2004 (2004-06-15)
Recorded2002–2004
StudioOscilloscope Laboratories, Tribeca, New York City
Genre
Length44:37
LabelCapitol
ProducerBeastie Boys
Beastie Boys chronology
Hello Nasty
(1998) 		To the 5 Boroughs
(2004) 		The Mix-Up
(2007)
Singles from To the 5 Boroughs
  1. "Ch-Check It Out"
    Released: March 2004
  2. "Triple Trouble"
    Released: September 2004
  3. "Right Right Now Now"
    Released: 2004
  4. "An Open Letter to NYC"
    Released: November 2004

To the 5 Boroughs is the sixth studio album by the American hip-hop group, Beastie Boys. The album was released on June 14, 2004 internationally, and a day later in the United States. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the group's third consecutive album to do so, with 360,000 copies sold in its first week and is certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1,000,000 in the U.S. It was the group's first major release after the September 11 attacks on New York City and reflects on the after-effects.[3]

Release and promotion

The album's lead single "Ch-Check It Out" debuted on The O.C. in "The Strip" from Season 1, airing on April 28, 2004.[4] The album was the cause of some controversy with allegations that it installed spyware when inserted into the CD-ROM of a computer.[5] The band has denied this allegation saying there is no copy protection software on the albums sold in the U.S. and in the U.K. While there is Macrovision CDS-200 copy protection software installed on European copies of the album this is standard practice for all European releases on EMI/Capitol Records released in Europe and it does not install spyware or any form of permanent software.[6]

Singles

The album's first single "Ch-Check It Out" was released on April 28, 2004. The album's second single "Triple Trouble" was released in July 2004.[7] The album's third single "Right Right Now Now" was released in 2004.[8] The album's fourth single "An Open Letter to NYC" was released in November 2004.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[10]
The Guardian[1]
Los Angeles Times[11]
NME8/10[12]
Pitchfork7.9/10[13]
Q[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Uncut[16]
The Village VoiceA−[17]

The album was met with positive reviews, with an aggregated score of 71 on Metacritic.[9] Playlouder said "To the 5 Boroughs is a triumph."[18] Rolling Stone said "To the 5 Boroughs is an exciting, astonishing balancing act: fast, funny and sobering."[15] Jason Thompson of PopMatters called To the 5 Boroughs "their best album since Paul's Boutique".[19] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "The beats are[...] simple and effective, with a welcome lack of bells and whistles that made Hello Nasty so distracting."[10] AllMusic said: "It's rather impressive that they're maturing gracefully turning into expert craftsmen who can deliver a satisfying listen like this".[2] The NME said: "Like Missy Elliott, the Beasties are re-examining hip hop—what it was, what it is, what it can be".[12] The Onion AV Club said: "With To the 5 Boroughs, Beastie Boys' members discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent era, affording listeners the exuberance of youth along with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience."[20] E! Online rated the album as a B− saying it was "fun but hardly fresh.[21]

Track listing

To the 5 Boroughs track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Ch-Check It Out"3:12
2."Right Right Now Now"2:46
3."3 the Hard Way"2:48
4."It Takes Time to Build"3:11
5."Rhyme the Rhyme Well"2:47
6."Triple Trouble"2:43
7."Hey Fuck You"2:21
8."Oh Word?"2:59
9."That's It That's All"2:28
10."All Lifestyles"2:33
11."Shazam!"2:26
12."An Open Letter to NYC"4:18
13."Crawlspace"2:53
14."The Brouhaha"2:13
15."We Got The"2:27
16."Now Get Busy" (Japan bonus track)2:25
Australian 2CD Tour Edition bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."An Open Letter to NYC" 
2."Rizzle Rizzle Nizzle Nizzle" (Remix for "Right Right Now Now") 
3."MTL Reppin for the 514" (Remix for "Right Right Now Now") 
4."Sabotage" (Live) 
5."Brr Stick Em" 

B-sides

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[52] Gold 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[53] Platinum 100,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[54] Gold 100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[55] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[56] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  2. ^ a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "To the 5 Boroughs – Beastie Boys". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
  3. ^ "Beastie Boys – An Open Letter To NYC". YouTube. Beastie Boys. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
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  9. ^ a b "Reviews for To The 5 Boroughs by Beastie Boys". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 23, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  10. ^ a b Sinclair, Tom (June 18, 2004). "To the 5 Boroughs". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  11. ^ Kuipers, Dean (June 13, 2004). "Absent an anthem". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
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  54. ^ "Japanese album certifications – Beastie Boys – To the 5 Boroughs" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2004年6月 on the drop-down menu
  55. ^ "British album certifications – Beastie Boys – To the 5 Boroughs". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 27, 2023.Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type To the 5 Boroughs in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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External links

Beastie Boys
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