The Beastie Boys have been mixing it up for more than 30 years by putting all their pop culture influences into a blender. So it makes sense that when surviving members Mike D (Michael Diamond) and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) signed a deal to write a memoir they promised that it would be delivered in an unconventional format.
According to the New York Times, the duo have signed a deal with an imprint of Random House for a book that will celebrate their history and unique aesthetic. The book doesn't have a title yet, but it is slated for release in 2015.
Ad Rock and Mike D (founding member Adam Yauch passed in 2012 at age 47 after a battle with salivary gland cancer) are interested in "challenging the form and making the book a multidimensional experience," said Julie Grau, publisher at the Spiegel & Grau imprint that will release the book. "There is a kaleidoscopic frame of reference, and it asks a reader to keep up." The book will be released by the same imprint that issued Jay-Z's lauded lyric book "Decoded."
The book will be edited by "Ego-Trip" co-founder and veteran hip-hop journalist Sacha Jenkins and will be loosely structured as an oral history of their career. Other writers may also contribute and Grau said it may remind some readers of the band's highly-visual, joke-filled 1990s "Grand Royal" magazine.
"The first words out of Mike's mouth were, 'I don't want to do a straight memoir,'" said the group's book agent, Luke Janklow. The project has been in talks for years, but was shelved when Yauch fell ill.
"After Yauch died, I didn't push them," Janklow said, "but I think that Adam and Mike ended up realizing that it was the right time for them."