Beastie Boys’ Mike D on Beats 1 Radio Show, ‘Licensed to Ill’ at 30
When Mike D phones up Rolling Stone on a Tuesday afternoon he gives a one-word answer as to what he’s been up to: writing. “I’m taking a break to call you,” he says. The MC is deep in the process of crafting a long-promised Beastie Boys memoir with co-founder Adam Horowitz. “It’s getting there,” he says. “It takes some work, as you know. We don’t have a deadline, and books take so long to finish ’til when it comes out, but we’re getting there.”
In breaks from writing, the rapper has been recording with dance duo Cassius – their single with Cat Power, “Action,” came out earlier this year – and working on recordings with Slaves. He’s also gearing up to launch his latest passion project: a new radio show on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio network, where the likes of Dr. Dre, Corey Taylor and St. Vincent all have programs. He’ll be announcing the show later today on Zane Lowe’s program on the network.
The show, dubbed The Echo Chamber, will debut this Friday, July 15th, at 3 p.m. EST and will air biweekly at the same time with an encore airing the following Saturday at 3 a.m. EST. The way he describes it, The Echo Chamber will be a freeform program where he and other musicians play records they love – regardless of genre – and talk about music. Some of the artists he’ll be spinning include Chance the Rapper, Lil Yachty, ESG and Arthur Russell, and some of the guests he’ll have on the show will be Slaves, Cassius and Blood Orange. He recorded his first episode in his Malibu pool house.
In the typically funny and candid conversation that follows, Mike D reflects on his relationship with radio and where he expects the take it in the future.
Why did you want your own radio show?
In a way, it’s like a little bit like a fantasy that I’ve had since basically I started buying records as a 13-year-old. I’m still the same music fan. I would save my lunch money and go buy a seven-inch singles at the time, ’cause I was into punk rock. That evolved, ’cause I got turned on to different weird music like Liquid Liquid and ESG, different New York things, and then rap. So to actually be able to cut out the middle man and play records and have it be somehow part of a vocation is some weird wish fulfillment.
And ultimately, like any other musician, I feel like the shit that I like is better than the shit that anybody else likes [laughs].
So then what music will you be playing?
It will evolve over time. It’s heartbreaking sometimes, but I’m still fascinated with and stay rooted in current music. I vacillate between what’s current and things that I think have influenced me a lot. The show also depends on records that I’m working on at this moment as a producer. So if I have an artist that I’m working with, then we’ll play records that inspired us or that we were listening to in the studio and make it more about that.