The following interview was done on 4/30/92, the day after the L.A. riots. With a lot of hostility and tension in the air, The Beastie Boys are about to embark on their first tour in four years supporting the "Check Your Head" album. J. spoke with Mike D. over the phone. He was at his Los Angeles home.
Mike D: Between you and me we're gonna take 'em out (referring to the media).
Dog Collar: It sounds like you've adopted some new influences on this record.
Mike D: Funkadelic are my boys. Ohio Players are my boys. Bar-Kaye are bad ass. Uh-oh, someone's at the door. It might be a looter. Oh yeah, come up right away.
Dog Collar: Who's doing the skateboarding in your new video?
Mike D: Most of it is Christian Hosoi.
Dog Collar: How will you execute the new songs live?
Mike D: Well, it breaks down into different sections of the show. First, we start out with bass, drums, and guitar. I rock the Don Henley thing a little bit. You'd be surprised. I'm gonna fight Don Henley. I'm taking Don Henley out.
Dog Collar: Why did you part ways with Rick Rubin and Def Jam?
Mike D: Well, he's into some shit we're really not into--like trouble.
Dog Collar: How do you feel about all the racial tension? Do you think it can be worked out?
Mike D: I don't know. I hope so. It would be nice. Right now there's a lot of tension and to a degree rightfully so. Obviously we're at a point where the courts do not at all reflect justice for the people at all. If you look at the Rodney King verdict, the system is obviously unjust. I was so fucking angry when I heard that verdict. I was so mad and I knew what people were gonna do because I even felt really violent as soon as that verdict came in. I felt like fucking going out and destroying things.
Dog Collar: Do you think there's any way to break the stereotypes races place on one another?
Mike D: For anyone to be categorized, stereotyped, and labeled because of skin color or anything is negative. But what everyone's got to understand is at the juncture we're at right now in Los Angeles, the police and judicial systems we pay for are not helping the people. Knowing you can go out in your car, get pulled over and get fucked up by the cops and the courts say it's okay--what the fuck does that say? This has been going on in Los Angeles for so long. At any gathering punk rock shows, every punk rock show would end in a riot because police would end up coming in and just whaling kids, you know, and if that's going to be accepted, I think we have a really big problem here.