When they met for the first time in Los Angeles in 1993, the Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze were rising stars of their respective fields – the golden ages of both east coast hip-hop and MTV. Immediately a connection formed between the three MCs and the young filmmaker, which has lasted throughout their careers.
Twenty-five years later, this book collects for the first time more than two hundred of Spike Jonze’s personal photographs of his time spent with the Beastie Boys. Edited and with an afterword by Jonze, and including new texts by the Beastie Boys themselves Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz, this book shows the greatest act of the hip-hop generation in their truest colours as only a close friend could see them – from going on stage at Lollapalooza to writing together at Mike D’s apartment; getting into character for a video to dressing up as old men to hit the basketball court; recording an album in the studio in Los Angeles to goofing around the streets of New York. From the music video for ‘Sabotage’ to the cover of the Sounds of Science album, Spike Jonze is responsible for some of the most iconic images of the band ever made – but here, the emphasis is on the candid, the unexpected, the behind-the-scenes, and the real.