Paul’s Boutique, one of hip hop’s finest sonic hours by The Beastie Boys, especially in terms of its adventurous approach to the genre, is now available in MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.00.

The follow-up release to their wildly successful License to Ill album, while Paul’s Boutique didn’t hit the same targets its predecessor did in terms of sales, it instantly became an album which raised eyebrows in the hip hop/rap community for its almost Sgt. Pepper-like approach to the sounds and styles. For one of the first times during that Golden Age of rap music in the mid to late 1980s, here was a record which seemed to have as much importance on the musicality as the lyrics and beats did. Mining from an endless well of sampling, spontaneous drum lines that seem to weave their way around this musical labyrinth, and bass lines that punctuate and illuminate each song, the trio with the wacky swagger still has their pseudo-juvenile delinquent punk style still firmly in place, but one can clearly hear a change in direction and an advancement in sound overall. Paul’s Boutique remains a huge checkpoint in the history of not only hip hop and rap, but music in general.

Browse over 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each!