Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies

What this video is

Released in 1989 as the lead single from Paul's Boutique—the Beastie Boys' first album on Capitol Records and their debut with producers the Dust Brothers—'Hey Ladies' arrived at a pivotal moment for hip-hop's crossover ambitions. The track was historically notable as the first single to chart in the Top 20 of both Billboard Hot Rap Singles (#10) and Modern Rock Tracks (#18), signaling hip-hop's expanding genre…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of hip-hop's late-1980s postmodern turn, 'Hey Ladies' demonstrated that rap could engage in sophisticated genre parody and visual pastiche. Its cross-chart performance bridged rap and alternative rock audiences, previewing hip-hop's genre-blurring ascendancy in the 1990s. The…

The director

Adam Bernstein (born May 7, 1960, Princeton, NJ) began his career as an animator and at age 26 produced the first original programming for the Nickelodeon Network. He directed over seventy music videos and is the recipient of an Emmy Award (30 Rock), a…