The Beastie Boys‘ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” was unquestionably a pivotal track when it comes the history of the union of the genres metal and rap. Unlike many of the other cuts from the early Beastie Boys‘ catalog, the enduring knucklehead rap anthem escaped being retired in the early 90s as group’s collective consciousness shifted away from their past hard partying ways.
Thanks to a shared connection with producer Rick Rubin at the time, the Beastie Boys invited Slayer guitarist Kerry King to lend a guest solo to that track in the studio, with King later reprising his part in the official music video.
That song was released as the sixth single from the Beastie Boys‘ explosive 1986 debut studio album, “Licensed To Ill“, which made history in becoming the first rap album to ever top the Billboard 200.
The group’s popularity would skyrocket with that record, which was already certified 4x multi-platinum before the end of 1987. It was last certified diamond, signifying 10 million copies shifted in the United States, back in March of 2015.
Unfortunately for King, he only received a few hundred dollars upfront for his work on that cut, which remains the fourth most popular track in the Beastie Boys‘ catalog to this day. A recent conversation with Border City Rock Talk found King lamenting his lack of financial foresight in the collaboration. Speaking on how it came about, and his payout from it, he offered:
“The simplicity of it is what’s funny about it. We [Slayer] were doing what became the ‘Reign In Blood‘ album and the [Beastie Boys] were doing ‘Licensed To Ill‘ in the same studio, like down the hall from each other. And [producer] Rick Rubin was doing both projects. So they needed a lead on that particular song, ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn‘. So I thought about it, and I went, ‘Yeah, why not? I can use a couple hundred bucks.’ I certainly wasn’t well to do back then. So, that’s what I did. I went in there and I did it. And in hindsight, I wish I didn’t get paid. I wish I took a quarter point or something, ’cause now I would be a rich man. [Laughs]”
While there’s often a lot of math and deductions in place depending on the various parties involved, a point essentially translates to a percentage of all net profits generated by a song or album. In the case of a record a popular as “Licensed To Ill“, even a quarter point could have translated to a very lucrative arrangement for King.
[via Blabbermouth.net]
