10 Non Rock Albums That Rock Music Fans Love

10. Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys

Throughout most of the their career, the Beastie Boys were never that far away from rock and roll. There were just as many metalheads that were bumping Licensed to Ill as there were hip hop fans, but everyone in the audience seemed to look at the album as more of a joke record done by a couple of wise guys out of New York. This was more than just a joke though, and Paul's Boutique took us to places that we didn't even realize hip hop was capable of at the time.

Working with the Dust Brothers and leaving Rick Rubin behind, what turns up on here is some of the most psychedelic sounding hip hop ever made, making each of the backing tracks out of different layers of samples crashing in on one another. While the Beasties are still their charismatic selves over most of the record, you can also hear them getting more nuanced with their delivery, borrowing as much from classic rock as they did from Grandmaster Flash on songs like Hey Ladies and Shake Your Rump.

The album even features a sort of smorgasbord of sound towards the end, making a medley of tracks that go on for 19 minutes, giving you a subtle taste of just about everything the Beasties were capable of at the time. This was just a teaser of what was bound to happen a few years down the line on records like Check Your Head, but not too bad for a couple of snot nosed kids.