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The 'Boys' are back in town

After a years long hiatus, the Beastie Boys, hip-hop's pioneers, have left the boroughs to take their pageant on the road

The Beastie Boys this year ended a six-year hiatus, an eternity in the world of hip-hop. Another rap group may have been written off, but not the pioneering three from New York who call their latest To the 5 Boroughs , an ode to their beloved hometown and one of 2004's most anticipated and critically acclaimed albums.

The rappers took an old-school route on the disc. Unlike their breakthrough, genre-bending Paul's Boutique (1989), or the group's innovative Check Your Head (1992), on which they played their own rock instruments, the Beasties concentrate this time out on simple rhymes and beats.

The messages on 5 Boroughs are decidely political, as have been many of the Beasties' albums since the Boys traded their mid 1980s party boy anthems for more socially conscious concerns.

Over his cell phone from a van in Manhattan, rapper Mike D answers 10 Pressing Questions about the group's obsession with rapping about food, Ad-Rock's love for The Odd Couple , and why more concerts should feature dogs jumping through hoops.

(1) How are you today, Mike D? I'm good, I'm good - (To someone else) Oh my God! Oh my God, Adam, look at this - there's like a Vin Diesel dude, all oiled up with a Walkman on, doing a crazy lambada dance in front of the van! Which Adam are you with? I'm with Horovitz. Yauch is finishing up working on one of our videos. He's in a top secret lair with Nathaniel Hornblower right now. So, he couldn't make it. Is the new show really starting with dogs jumping through hoops, or is that a joke? No, no, that's true. The show is more than a concert. It's a pageant. It's important to clarify. What better way to start a pageant off than with a bunch of dogs? And they aren't just any dogs. They are all rescue dogs. This guy Bob rescues them from different shelters and the dogs really love him. He gets them to do all crazy stuff. What kind of dogs are they? Honestly, you look at them all, and they are the cutest dogs, but they are all pound dogs. They are straight out of the pound! That's not a commentary on the entertainment industry, dogs jumping through hoops, is it? It's just sheer pageantry? Straight up pageantry. They jump through hoops a lot better than we do.

(2) You've got a whole track suit and tuxedo thing going on with this tour, correct? I cannot confirm nor deny what actual wardrobe we will be sporting. I will just say that we are showing up to the pageant to impress. We are trying to represent. How important is fashion to this tour? The tour isn't very important. It's important to the pageant, because it sets the mood. How you set the tone. And this is how you can help. We are encouraging everyone who's coming to take the pageant theme very seriously and consider that when dressing for the event. You'd like to see fans turn out in proper pageant garb? Exactly. That leaves a lot of leeway. There is an array of what might be appropriate for a pageant. Anything from your Renaissance fair type person to a cowboy to a ballerina to whatever one can come up with in their imagination.

(3) You guys are taking pageantry to arena level. To a whole new height. Is it important to have a big show after all those years of grunge and postgrunge when it was uncool to put on a big show? We need entertainment. James Brown doesn't just show up there, he doesn't just show up in a taxi. He makes sure he's turned out well. He's one of the greatest hip-hop showmen ever. We just did a thing with him for VH-1. He spent damn near 20 minutes in the bathroom getting his pageantry together.

(4) I know MCA is a Buddhist and the group has done some benefits for Tibet. Have you met the Dalai Lama? (Seriously) Yeah, I have. I had a really brief audience with him. He was - happy would be a total understatement. It's hard to articulate the feelings you get being in the company of a person like that.

(5) There are so few famous white rap stars in hip-hop history. Beastie Boys, Eminem, that's about it. He's a fan of yours. Do the Beastie Boys have an opinion of Eminem? (Silence) A sound bite, or a statement ? (Laughs) We should have a statement, we keep getting asked about him. I like Lose Yourself a lot. I don't know all his songs. I'm not going to front like, "Ah, I've been listening to Eminem forever."

I definitely think he's incredibly talented. It's interesting watching all the things he's gone through. He had to go through a period of people hating or doubting what he did and who he is. His talent has conquered all of that. He's a great recordmaker. He's one of the biggest stars in the world. I would have never imagined that 10 years ago, one of the biggest stars in the world, period, would be an MC. Are you shocked in general at how huge hip-hop has become, considering when you guys started out in the early 1980s it was a mere subculture of pop music and now it is pop music ? I would not have foreseen it. If you asked me, even 10 years ago, will hip-hop be the most commercially dominant music out there some day, I would not have said, "Yes, absolutely." But, here we are in 2004 and I don't think anyone would question that statement.

(6) Because the Beastie Boys have been at it now more than 20 years, you're considered akin to "elder statesmen" of hip-hop , yet all three of you are relatively young ; none of you are even 40 yet. Does that feel strange? It does feel strange. You're the "Grandaddies of Hip-Hop!" and you yourself are 37. Yeah, when you read it in articles and stuff, it's weird. But then it's kind of cool at award shows when younger artists come out to you and tell you they grew up on your records. That's kind of cool.

(7) You rap more than most about food. Are you guys obsessed? It's a big theme for us. To be honest, at the studio, instead of working, we spend a lot of time ordering lunch. The last album was so political and even still, it had a lot of references to cheese and sandwiches. A lot of lunch. How are you going to talk politics without lunch?

(8) Do you have a couplet or two you're most proud of? A couplet? (To Adam Horovitz) She wants to know if we have a "couplet." Well, what should I call it? No, no, "couplet's" cool! I'm impressed with one of Adam's rhymes: "I sneak a/Chicken tika" (Pause ) That's it?

(9) Okay, speaking of couplets, if Shakespeare were alive today, would he be drawn to hip-hop? You don't see anybody in hip-hop in skirts and tights, do you? Well, maybe Andre 3000. Maybe him and Shakespeare could do something. What would his MC name be? MC Willy Shake!

(10) What's the best TV show of all time? Adam Horovitz would say The Odd Couple . There's no TV show I could say I love as much as Adam Horovitz loves The Odd Couple . Was he really broken up the day Tony Randall died a few months ago? I was with him, in the studio on that day. Let's not even talk about that day.

- Gina Vivinetto can be reached at 727 893-8565 or gina@sptimes.com

The Beastie Boys perform with Talib Kweli at 7:30 tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $31.75-$42.75. (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.