“Sure Shot” by Beastie Boys

"Sure Shot" is the third single the Beastie Boys pulled from Ill Communication, their fourth album, released by Grand Royal and Capitol in November 1994, and it's a victory lap disguised as a jam session. The group wrote it with Mario Caldato Jr., who co-produced it with them and engineered it.

The hook is a looped flute line from jazz flautist Jeremy Steig's "Howlin' for Judy", off his 1970 album Legwork, a breathy, fluttering figure that sounds like it's floating a foot off the ground. Underneath, the players keep it loose: Mike D on drums, Adam Yauch on bass and double bass, Ad-Rock on guitar, Money Mark on keys and Eric Correa on percussion. Over the top the rhymes fly in rapid-fire tag-team verses, bouncing off each other like pinballs, and after the second verse a snippet from a Moms Mabley comedy record drops in for a laugh.

It's alternative hip-hop that sounds like a bunch of friends having the time of their lives, which is exactly what made Ill Communication such a treat.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.