Ad-Rock

You'd think that my acting in 'Lost Angels' would have been the reason why I gave up on it. But yeah, I'm just not that good at it. Auditioning is super weird, and I'm bad at it.

Champagne Jerry records are definitely, in one way, on the very far end of the weird spectrum of rap music, then, in another way, very far on the weird punk spectrum.

I don't use coconut enough - in food, on my body.

'Licensed to Ill' was like a cold, and we took so much vitamin C that we'd never get that cold again.

'Grand Royal' started because we were on the Lollapalooza tour, and we wanted to send this message to people that the mosh pit is corny. Stop doing that. MTV has ruined it, and it's dangerous, and girls are getting hurt.

That's what real punk is about - doing it yourself and building a community where people share ideas and share creativity.

We were from downtown, so we were rapping in Danceteria, in these white downtown clubs, really. Nobody downtown was rapping. Nobody we knew was rapping. So we were like, 'We should do it.' We weren't making fun of it; we loved it, and we wanted to be part of it.

I do dream. I mean, I must every night, right? But I only remember a couple a year.

I don't really get a lot of stuff sent to me, but I do get things given to me in person. One of my favorites was from a kid in the mid-'90s. He gave us all a bunch of pants he made.

I don't want to have a real job. No one wants to have a job.

'Alternative facts' is really one of the better things that's come out in a long time. 'Alternative facts?' It's brilliant! Really? Alternative facts? There are two different realities?

If I could sing, that would be cool. But I can't. I mean, I physically can, but I'm awful. It's weird to be really bad at singing.

I guess I'm the guy from the Beastie Boys. I'm one of the guys from the Beastie Boys. I guess that's what I'll always identify myself as.

I head a Salt-n-Pepa song one time, where they named every rapper in New York. And they didn't name us!

'The Squid and the Whale' was a really good movie.

We never thought we were musicians. We just thought we were in a band.

'Paul's Boutique' was a bust, right? That was a bummer. We didn't pause on it for a long time - we didn't go through therapy - but it was weird. And because it was a bust, we didn't go on tour.

Mike is the craziest person. He's scattered; he's all over the place. When you hold him down and tell him, 'This is what you're doing,' he's fantastic. But you have to hold him down. Like, when he had to write his verse for 'Hello Nasty,' we had to take his phone away to get him to do it.

Our music is weird. It's not pop. I don't know why so many people buy our records.

I make a little music every day just because it's fun.

Everybody wants to be a rapper - even country musicians.

Here's a thing that's going to drive me absolutely crazy: the trucks! They can put people on the moon, but they can't make a quiet truck!

I can literally walk around at our own shows, and nobody recognizes me.

A lot of people are trying to get me to go solo. It's just a thing I have to deal with a lot. Record labels are always trying to get me to go solo.

Hardcore bands were coming out with names like Urban Waste and The Mob, you know, a lot of kind of tough names. So Beastie Boys was the stupidest name we could come up with. And unfortunately, it stuck.

I know that when I get down or feel alone or depressed, I make music, and it makes me happy.

I feel like I have a big forehead.

If any fantastic filmmakers want to offer me roles, I'll consider it!

Chasing after the past is not going to lead you to the future you want.

When I was in a couple of movies in the '80s, I was winging it.

Some of the stuff that I say on 'License to Ill,' I say some real dumb stuff.

I grew up - my dad, every time I was with my dad, he was always - not always, but he wrote. He's a writer. So he was always in his office writing. He made a plan and, like, a point of, 'This is my work. I'm going to do this every day for these amount of hours.' So I think that's where I got, like, a work sort of ethic.

Part of me feels it's better we're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

What I work hardest at is just trying to not let things get me crazy.

Stuff used to get me really crazy, touring stuff. I used to hide. I hid from everybody. Back in '87, when things were so hectic, I'd run away. There was so much pressure.

I wonder what it would have been like if I could actually sing.

I love being in the Beastie Boys.

I would say think about the thing that makes you happiest, and do that. If it's drawing or dancing or listening to music or bowling, whatever it is that makes you happy, I would focus on that, and you'll definitely gain some confidence.

It takes a lot of guts to get on stage.

Boys, for the most part, are not very observant - or all that together smart, for that matter.

I was not thinking about getting into acting in any way.

I'd like to be in an action movie.

I've fallen to make people laugh. Often.

I trust anybody's memory more than I trust mine.

You know how there's all these rappers like Mike D and King T and Ice T and Cool C or something like that? Well, on Mayberry, on 'Andy Griffith,' they had Aunt B.

The tapes we were making would jump around with different styles, just quick parts of different songs. Hip-hop to jazz to funk to whatever else. And in a way, 'Check Your Head' ended up being like one of those pause-tapes.

I don't know why we sold a lot of records or why so many people came to see us. Like 'Sabotage' - would you put that song on, like, 'I'm gonna listen to that right now?' It's a weird choice.

Listening to the radio makes you hate every song.

I like Mike D. We kept trying to get him to go solo. He wouldn't do it.

If I had to say something, it would be 'Lighten up. Be cool.' There's just so many buffoons out there.