The Beasties continue to dominate the category, even though the Root Down EP wasn't exactly new, the Aglio e Olio EP was all hardcore, and their instrumental compilation, The In Sound from Way Out! (all Grand Royal/Capitol), didn't even hit stores till after the ballots were counted. And remember, this was a year that saw hip-hop fighting itself -- and the courts -- for its conscience/destiny, as the Jesse Helms-Newt Gingrich-Bob Dole censorship axis gears up for its next big offensive. Even if the Wu-Tang cartel split their vote three ways (Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwan, and the Genius/Gza all busted open the charts), why no mention of the Fugees, who by all rights should win the Beastie Boys Memorial Crossover award of 1996? Perhaps the answer is tied to the fact that the Beasties, Cypress Hill, and Dre are about the only rap performers who have been able to make it inside the city limits in recent years. But even by that scenario, the Roots and Pharcyde shoulda gotten props, and that didn't happen.

Nonetheless, a year after the release of the Beasties' Ill Communication, their most deft aesthetic statement to date, there are still outtakes from the sessions pouring out of the trio's Grand Royal offices. Through remixes, live versions, and alternate takes, the Beasties have proven to be amazing interpreters of their own material, reinventing themselves and their tunes at the drop of a beat or the hint of a groove left unturned. If you needed any further evidence that the Beasts have ascended to a plane of musical consciousness above the rest of the hip-hop world, these post-Communication breakdowns should do the trick.

-- Carly Carioli