Ill Communication

"Sabotage" was the first single taken from Ill Communication. It was released to radio on May 9, 1994.^[5] The backing track of the song was laid down by the band members, driven by MCA's fuzzed and twangy bass, at Tin Pan Alley Studios in New York, and then sat unused for a year, with the working title of "Chris Rock", before vocals were added. According to Ad-Rock in the 2020 documentary Beastie Boys Story, the lyrics are a fictitious rant about how their producer "was the worst person ever and how he was always sabotaging us and holding us back."

It was released together with "Get It Together", which samples The Moog Machine's cover of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In".

"Sure Shot" features a sample taken from jazz flautist Jeremy Steig's song "Howlin' For Judy" from the 1970 album Legwork as the main instrumental part of the song, and was released as a single in November 1994. The album's fourth single, "Root Down", was released in May 1995 as its own EP.

Mike D and MCA collaborated with Gibran Evans, son of the artist and designer Jim Evans (who designed a hand-drawn typeface specifically for Ill Communication that was used throughout the promotion of the album), to create the album's packaging.^[6] The photograph they chose for the front cover was taken by Bruce Davidson in 1964 at a Los Angeles drive-in diner called Tiny Naylor's^[7] as part of an assignment for Esquire, but the magazine ultimately did not publish the photos.^[8] Although Davidson had not heard the Beastie Boys' music and did not understand it once he did—he later recalled thinking it sounded like a "secret language" when they sent him a demo tape—he agreed to let the band use his photo.^[9]

The booklet that came with the album features the artwork "Gaia" by Alex Grey on the middle pages.

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
The A.V. Club	A−[11]
Entertainment Weekly	B[12]
Los Angeles Times	[13]
NME	8/10[14]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[15]
Q	[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
Select	4/5[18]
The Village Voice	A−[19]

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Ill Communication received critical acclaim, placing at number 15 on The Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop critics' poll,^[20] number 19 on Spin's list of the "20 Best Albums of '94",^[21] number three on NME's list of the "Top 50 Albums of 1994",^[22] and number 13 on The Wire's annual critics' poll.^[23] Guitar World included the album in its "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.^[24] Rolling Stone included the album in its list of "Essential Recordings of the 90s",^[25] and Q included the album in its list of the "90 Best Albums of the 1990s".^[26] Mojo ranked the album number 54 on its list of "100 Modern Classics".^[27] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[28]

All tracks produced by Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr.

• Beastie Boys – producers
  • Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz – vocals, guitar
  • Adam "MCA" Yauch – vocals, electric bass, double bass
  • Michael "Mike D" Diamond – vocals, drums
• Money Mark – keyboards, organ
• Eric Bobo – percussion; drums on "Ricky's Theme"
• Amery Smith – drums on "Tough Guy" & "Heart Attack Man"
• Eugene Gore – violin on "Eugene's Lament"
• Q-Tip – vocals on "Get It Together"
• Biz Markie – vocals on "Do It"
• Mario Caldato, Jr. – producer

• List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1994