To The 5 Boroughs - Critical Reaction

Critical Reaction

• Metacritic.com reviews of the album showed that the album rated 71 out of 100 meaning that the album received a generally positive response from critics. A summary of reviews and suggested tracks for legal downloading from each review is below.

• Playlouder said "To the 5 Boroughs is a triumph." Best tracks "An Open Letter to NYC", "Ch-Check It Out" "3 The Hard Way" 5 stars out of 5

• Rolling Stone Magazine said "To the 5 Boroughs is an exciting, astonishing balancing act: fast, funny and sobering." Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Right Right Now Now" "It Takes Time to Build" 5 stars out of 5

• Popmatters said "In fact, it's their best album since Paul's Boutique. Best tracks: "Right Right Now Now", "Crawl Space", "Hey F*** You" "The Hard Way"

• Entertainment Weekly said: "The beats are (...) simple and effective, with a welcome lack of bells and whistles that made Hello Nasty so distracting." (18 June 2003, p 83)

• Allmusic said: "It's rather impressive that they're maturing gracefully turning into expert craftsmen who can deliver a satisfying listen like this". Best Tracks: "Ch-Check It Out", "Time to Build", "Triple Trouble" "An Open Letter to NYC", "The Brouhaha" Rating 4 stars out of 5

• The NME said: "Like Missy Elliott, the Beasties are re-examining hip hop — what it was, what it is, what it can be". (12 June 2004, page 47).

• The Onion AV Club said: "With To the 5 Boroughs Beastie boys discover a musical entryway to an earlier, more innocent era, affording listeners the exuberance of youth together with the hard-won wisdom that can only come with experience. Best tracks: "Ch-Check It Out" "Time to Build" "Triple Trouble".

• Urb said the album "signals something of a rebirth of their signature creativity." (July/August 2004 page 123)

• E! Online rated the album as a B- saying it was "fun but hardly fresh.