Mike D 5D – “Crypto”

I'll admit: The song title had me worried. As in, what would we do if we found out that either of the surviving Beastie Boys was really into crypto? Or if they owned companies that built AI data centers or some shit like that? Doesn't that at least seem plausible? Mike D is obviously a cool guy, but he's also old and rich. With plenty of our aging gen-X icons, we're starting to see the "old and rich" tendencies win out over the "cool" ones. It fucking sucks. Thankfully, though, this is not one of those cases. Mike D has a new song that is both called "Crypto" and about crypto, and I'm happy to tell you that it's about how crypto is bad.

Next month, Mike D will become the first Beastie Boy ever to release a solo album. There's a crucial caveat there, though: His upcoming LP Thank You is credited to Mike D 5D, his project with his sons Skyler and Davis Diamond and their band Very Nice Person. (Also, DJ Hurricane and Money Mark both have multiple solo albums. Those guys were never official Beastie Boys or anything, but while we're talking caveats, I figured maybe I should mention them.) We've already posted Mike D's singles "Switch Up," "True Colors," and "What We Got." Today, he shares "Crypto."

On "Crypto," Mike D raps about the kind of internet speculator freak who makes tons of money on mirages and who threatens to bring the economy down all around us: "Is it enough or not a lot?/ You are not what you got." The music, a kind of lo-fi dance-rock situation, is extremely '90s, and so is Mike's distorted, echoing delivery. It's so sad that a fucking Beastie Boy has to think about fucking crypto. Listen below.

Thank You is out 8/28 on Capitol.