Picture this: it’s 1987. The Beastie Boys, three of hip hop’s most prominent advocates, are coming up on a year since the release of their massive Def Jam debut, Licensed To Ill. The irreverent rap-rock LP gave popular culture unforgettable refrains with singles “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!),” all whilst proving that three unlikely punk-rock emcees could hold their own on the mic. That was a year ago: now, in the infancy of rap’s golden age, the three Beastie Boys were stone cold broke, and the group was on the verge of breaking up.

The trio were scattered in the wind: Michael “Mike D” Diamond started another group, as did Adam “MCA” Yaunch, whilst Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz headed to LA to appear in Hugh Hudson’s Lost Angels. Though Licensed To Ill brought them no small amount of critical and commercial success, it also threatened to eclipse any subsequent work, with the ‘frat-rap’ affiliation more a burden to bear than a badge of honour.

Making matters worse was their tortured relationship with Def Jam Records, namely producer Rick Rubin and manager Russell Simmons. Though those two industry players had been integral in getting the trio some of their biggest breaks – a supporting slot alongside Madonna, as well as their entire first LP – the relationship soured, at least partially due to the pressures exerted by Simmons. It was only once the far-flung trio had reunited, this time in Los Angeles, that the group left Def Jam, inking a new deal with Capitol Records.

“They had heard about our studio, so they came by and stuck their heads in,” recalled Mike Simpson of production duo The Dust Brothers. It was here that the two sampler-savvy innovators were piecing together what’s come to be known as plunderphonics or sampledelia: rich sonic collages assembled from prerecorded sounds, incorporating cultural history into new-yet-familiar instrumental jams. Perhaps “sampledelia” is the most suitable term – after all, as photographer Ricky Powell once said, “Paul’s Boutique was definitely Mother Nature’s candy-influenced, if you know what I mean.”

The Beasties, enamoured by this dense sound, asked after the beats, and what was once a project of its own became the basis for a new record. MCA recalled the first tape they heard, which included the instrumentals that would eventually underpin “Shake Your Rump” and “Car Thief.” “Actually, that’s too much music, but we could strip it down to beats,” offered the Brothers. The Beasties refused. The recording sessions happened at Matt Dike’s apartment – Dike was a co-founder of Delicious Vinyl – and at the famed Record Plant, LA.

The result has been called many things: “a poetic tornado of imagery” and “clever and hilarious bullshit,” an “electrifying blast of cool,” “a celebration of American junk culture” and, perhaps most endearingly, “the Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop.” In his AllMusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine argued that Paul’s Boutique “stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment.” There’s naturally something to be said for the mainstream acceptance of a hip-hop record in the late ‘80s, and some thought to be given to the racial elements that might be at play, but Paul’s Boutique is technically beyond reproach. It helped redefine the possibilities of sampling culture whilst reaffirming the talent of the three unlikely emcees, and now, thirty years on, there’s no doubt that making an album as sonically ambitious as Paul’s Boutique would be all but impossible.

Praise notwithstanding, Paul’s Boutique wasn’t a runaway success: it burned slow, overcoming disheartening numbers and label abandonment to eventually be regarded as the apex of legally-unbridled sampling. On the eve of the record’s thirtieth anniversary, we’re breaking down all the samples on that LP, one which was almost entirely comprised of prerecorded sounds.