BEASTIE BOYS BOOK

This excellent band memoir features more than 40 mostly celebrity narrators—a diverse crew ranging from Snoop Dogg to Rachel Maddow. Most of the narrators add value to the audiobook experience, but the pass-the-mic structure sometimes distracts from the great content. Some of the most stirring sections occur when the Beastie Boys co-authors narrate, especially when they talk about their bandmate Adam Yauch, who passed away in 2012. Like their albums, this audiobook is both stupid (there's a fictional oral history of Cooky Puss) and smart (the backstory of Grand Royal records is explained), as well as eclectic (there are recipes, mixtapes, equipment lists) and historical (the evolution of downtown hip-hop and New York City before 9/11 are described). R.W.S. 2019 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2018]