15 years ago, Beastie Boys gave a perfect farewell

By the 2010s, Beastie Boys had built up a legendary legacy. Licensed to Ill was the first rap album to ever reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The trio won Grammys and MTV Video Music Awards. They rhymed “such a drag” with “porno mag” on a top-10 single, “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!).” Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz), MCA (Adam Yauch), and Mike D (Michael Diamond) were silly, but they were, above all, artists. They produced much of their own music (with the help of Rick Rubin and Mario...