In 1986 the Beastie Boys took the popular music world by storm with their debut album License To Ill and the single "Fight For Your Right (To Party)." The album was co-produced with fledgling hiphop label Def Jam producer Rick Rubin. License to Ill became the fastest selling debut album in Columbia Records' history, going platinum within two months, and becoming the first rap album to reach number one on the charts.

Critics derided the Beastie Boys as one-hit wonder material, and as New York "white-boy rappers" who were leeching off African American street music forms known as "rap" and hip-hop, both of which were in their early stages of development. Licensed To Ill also relied heavily on a new technique called "sampling." Sampling is the act of lifting all or part of the music from another artist's song. This sample is then used to...