But Mike D. wasn't dead. And Paul's Boutique wasn't just some odds-n-ends pastiche of recycled rhymes about frat boy buffoonery culled from demo tapes, thoughtlessly slapped on top of random beats—despite what some music critics and gossip-mongers claimed.
It was a groundbreaking exploration of sound that took sampling to new heights.
One of the key tracks on the album is "Shadrach," a stanky chunk of funk, primarily built upon a sample from Sly & The Family Stone's 1974 single "Loose Booty," that features tag-team rhyming and mile-a-minute pop culture/autobiographical references.
The title, "Shadrach," not only refers to the chant that Sly and Freddie Stone repeat, ad infinitum, in "Loose Booty" (Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego...), it's also an allusion to the three Biblical brothers (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) who were saved by an angel of God after being thrown in Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II's furnace for refusing to bow to an idol.
It's actually the latter that has the most to do with the Beasties' lyrics.
They were three guys who'd been vilified by the mainstream media across the globe for their (satirically) offensive rhymes and (comedically) loutish behavior. At the same time, they had sold tons of records based on their "scream loud/drink beer/break shit" image—an image that Def Jam Records chief Russell Simmons wanted them to perpetuate to keep the cash wagon rolling. Thing was, the Beasties were tired of playing drunken caricatures of themselves, so they broke their contract with Def Jam and Simmons's Rush Management, which led to years of legal wrangling. Nevertheless, they gained artistic autonomy and started over in LA with producer Mario Caldato, Jr., and crate-diggers extraordinaire The Dust Brothers (John King and Mike Simpson) helping them chart a new course.
So they had been through the fire, and they had not only survived, but they'd also remained true to themselves.
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