It's the rallying cry of bands on their way home after a long tour. The drunken chorus of newly minted New Yorkers as they roll over the Brooklyn Bridge at 3 a.m. And now, nearly 30 years after the Beastie Boys dropped the seminal album Licensed To Ill, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" is the official anthem of the 2013 Video Music Awards.
The Beastie Boys' debut studio album, Licensed to Ill, dropped in 1986, fresh from the new Def Jam Recordings, which was headed up at the time by Rick Rubin and the Boys' then-manager Russell Simmons. The record contains some of the band's biggest hits, including "Fight for Your Right" and the tribute to the borough that many of the guys called home: "No Sleep Till Brooklyn."
A battle cry, a debaucherous ode to BK embraced New Yorkers and non-natives alike, the song also represented a shift in music — a merging of hip-hop and rock that the guys pulled off with their trademark tongue-in-cheek swagger. The accompanying video, featuring the Beasties' friends and co-directed by Def Jam pal Ric Menello — who passed away in March — captured that same spirit.
In celebration of the jam's history — and to get pumped for the Video Music Awards' first time in Brooklyn — MTV News spoke with the people behind the song and video. They gave us a heartfelt and hilarious new-before-seen peek at Brooklyn's own unofficial anthem.
A 'Very New York Song'
Russell Simmons, Def Jam Recordings founder:
"It was perfect, you know, 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn.' It was ...