Read A Book: Beastie Boys Memoir Coming in 2015

In a recent announcement from publishing house Spiegel & Grau, Beastie Boys Mike D and Ad-Rock are committing their legacy of the spoken word down to paper in a forthcoming memoir, due out in 2015. An official announcement of the deal signing is expected to come from the publisher later this week, but NY Times blog Media Decoder has reported some of the details. The book, to be edited by ego trip's own Sasha Jenkins, will not follow your typical story-of-our-lives format - similar to Jay-Z's coffee table book/memoir Decoded, also published by Spiegel & Grau, it will span the group's influential career via a combination of oral histories, images, and contributions from other writers and contemporaries. According to the Times,

The Beastie Boys are “interested in challenging the form and making the book a multidimensional experience,” [publisher] Ms. Grau said in an interview. “There is a kaleidoscopic frame of reference, and it asks a reader to keep up.”

Any homage to a group as trailblazing and important as the Beasties would have to follow an equally dynamic format if it wishes to accurately memorialize them, and it sounds like this project will accomplish just that. Of course, the release will come with more than a little wistful sadness at the loss of founding member MCA and his not being here to contribute to the book, but we're sure the memoir will do his memory - and the greater legacy he was a part of - justice. For those fans old enough to remember (or tech-savvy enough to Google) amazing Grand Royalmagazine --founded by the Beastie Boys and spanning the years 1993 - 1997--the forthcoming memoir will draw heavily upon the zine's innovative pastiche of cultural references, from kung-fu flicks to dub music. Hopefully the official announcement will come with more information, but until then, the details we have so far already have us on board full force. Stay tuned for more information and check out the full NY Times article here.