Beastie Boys were one of the hip-hop acts that brought the genre to the mainstream, had the first rap album at the top on the Billboard Top 200 with Licensed to Ill, and are absolute music legends. So when their founding member Mike D says that rappers became “Lionel Richies of their day,” you pay attention.
Mike D recently spoke with Vulture in a lengthy piece about the state of rap and hip-hop music in present time.
“I always felt like rap would become popular, but I didn’t foresee it becoming as mainstream as it is,” Mike D told Vulture. “With current rap, there’s nothing that makes it not pop. Obviously, certain rappers are going to make poppier records and certain rappers are going to be more esoteric, but I never would’ve thought that rappers could be the Lionel Richies of their day.”
He also said he never thought Jay-Z and Migos will be in the same position “in terms of universal acceptance.”
“I did foresee that we’d get something like an OutKast — rap that could sell millions and still feel not pop. But now we’re in a stage where rap isn’t separate from pop, which is amazing,” he added.
After Beastie Boys’ Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away in 2012, Mike D and Ad-Rock decided they will not continue using the group’s name. In the meantime, Mike D turned to producing business, serving as a producer for American rock band Portugal. The Man and British punkers Slaves.
