"So What'cha Want" is the second single from the album ''

Check Your Head ''Check Your Head'' is the third studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Grand Royal and Capitol Records on April 21, 1992. Three years elapsed between the releases of the band's second studio album ''Paul's Boutique'' ...

'', the third studio album by American

rap rock Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...

group the

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

. Released on June 2, 1992, the song samples "Just Rhymin' With Biz", by

Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hi ...

featuring

Biz Markie Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...

, and "I've Been Watching You" by

Southside Movement The Southside Movement was an American Soul music, soul and funk musical group from Chicago, Illinois. Composed of vocalist Melvin Moore, guitarist Bobby Pointer (June 19, 1945 - December 26, 2016), keyboardist Morris Beeks, bassist Ronald Simmons, ...

. The song also appears in the video game '' Rock Band 2''.

Music video

The music video, directed by Nathanial Hörnblowér, simply has the Beastie Boys recite the song in a

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

, addressing the viewer by looking down at the camera which is at ground level, with clips of

DJ Hurricane Wendell Timothy Fite, also known as DJ Hurricane (born January 12, 1965) is an American hip hop DJ, producer and rapper. He is best known for his work with the Beastie Boys. He was a member of the groups Solo Sounds and The Afros and recorde ...

and

Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

interspersed throughout. It was one of the first music videos to feature slow motion action while the artists' lips remained in sync with the sound track, an effect that would later become a mainstay of music videos. The sky has a

photo negative In photography, a negative is an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest. This reversed order occurs because th ...

effect which was created by visualist Ash Beck, a direct allusion to the werewolf point-of-view in

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'' Wolfen''. Similarly, the

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

style incorporated during the band cutaways are a homage to the hunter vision in ''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

''. The video was also featured on the 1993 "No Laughing" episode of ''

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

''.

Track listing

#"So What'cha Want" (Single version) – 3:37 #"The Skills to Pay the Bills" (Original version) – 3:14 #"So What'cha Want" (Soul Assassin Remix version) – 4:06 #"Groove Holmes" (LP version) – 2:34 #"So What'cha Want" (Butt Naked version) – 3:25 #"Groove Holmes" (Live vs. the Biz) – 6:10 #"So What'cha Want" (All the Way Live Freestyle version) – 3:37

Charts

References

1992 singles 1992 songs Beastie Boys songs Capitol Records singles Songs written by Ad-Rock Songs written by Mike D Songs written by Adam Yauch Songs written by Mario Caldato Jr. Song recordings produced by Mario Caldato Jr. {{1990s-single-stub