Licensed to Ill

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Outline:

On November 15, 1986 a record spearheaded by an up-and-coming producer named Rick Rubin was released by Def Jam and Columbia Records. While there is no doubt Run-DMC had laid the foundation for what was to come, three Jewish white kids from the Bronx known as the Beastie Boys changed everything with the debut of their first studio album…

Licensed to Ill would not only become the first rap LP to top the Billboards, but it sent a shockwave throughout the American landscape that is still being felt today. Because of the Beastie Boys, a culture largely associated with the inner-city, black community would make the leap into the suburbs! Rap would move into middle-America and become mainstream!

In a twist of the famous James Bond quip that 007 had a “license to kill” — in Licensed to Ill the Beastie Boys crafted an album that was on one hand light-hearted and fun, while at the same time specifically written to mock the establishment and challenge the status quo!

Though songs like Brass Monkey, Girls, or No Sleep till Brooklyn would garner play in radio stations across the world, the seventh song on the album would eventually become the anthem for a generation. You see for the first wave of teenagers seeking to rebel against parents who’d been directly influenced by the cultural revolution of the 1960’s — the catchy hook “you gotta fight — for your right — to p-a-r-t-y” became a rallying cry.

The Beastie Boys were loud, crude, funny and light, and yet oddly in your face. They were superficial, but at the same time deeply ironic and satyrical. In many ways the Beastie Boys, their album Licensed to Ill, and the hit Fight for Your Right perfectly typified Generation X.

Sadly, a Licensed to Ill is how many people view the amazing grace of God with the defense of such a radicle idea no more than being relegated to a fight for your right to party! Again, it’s tragic but the incredible liberty discovered in Christ’s permanent work at Calvary has gotten twisted into a license for people to do whatever they want free of penalty.

Author Kyle Strobel recently tweeted, “In Evangelical circles we’ve been so afraid of the heresy of Galatia that we’ve backed into the sin of Corinth without noticing it.” In our attempt to defend the freeing nature of grace, we’ve used this freedom to justify sinfulness!