MCA & Burzootie’s “Drum Machine”

MCA & Burzootie’s “Drum Machine” is the only one of Def Jam’s first eight singles that wasn’t produced, at least in part, by Rick Rubin. It’s also probably the only solo record ever made by the Beastie Boys’s Adam “MCA” Yauch.

It came about primarily because MCA and Jay Burnett (a/k/a Burzootie) were then working together at Arthur Baker’s Shakedown Studios. Arthur and Jay had teamed up a couple of years earlier, as producer and engineer, respectively, on Afrika Bambaataa’s blockbusting “Planet Rock.” (That’s Jay’s voice you hear intoning, “Rock rock the planet rock.”)

It was still 1982 when Jay cut a record called “Drum Machine” for his very own Jayco Records. All the Beastie Boys, including DJ Double R (better known today as Rick Rubin) were fans of that first version of “Drum Machine,” which they sampled in “Beastie Groove.” They were also fans of Jay’s work as an engineer. It was Jay who engineered LL’s “I Need a Beat” and the Beastie’s “Rock Hard.” It was also Jay who found the Beastie Boys their loft on Chrystie Street in New York’s Chinatown, conveniently situated on the floor just below him.

In October of 1984, Jay decided to remake “Drum Machine,” but this time featuring rap vocals by MCA. MCA’s lyrics expanded on the admirable qualities of the drum machine, which had been crowding flesh-and-blood musicians out of recording studios for several years by then. “Now there’s a thing called the drum machine/You don’t need good rhythm to sound real mean,” he rapped. And, along the same lines, “In the mix you use tricks/If it don’t sound good, it can still be fixed.”

At first, Jay planned to cut a deal for the distribution of this new version of “Drum Machine” with Arthur Baker’s Streetwise label. It ended up on Def Jam after Rick put $5000 in cash into Jay’s hands.

This contact sheet (photographer unknown), featuring thumbnail photos of Jay and MCA, was given to Bill Adler in 1984 by Kate Hyman. Credited as a consultant on the record’s label copy, Kate was then Jay’s manager.

And, by the way, who pinned the nickname Burzootie on Jay Burnett? None other than Rick Rubin, who made sure to emblazon the sobriquet on the Def Jam jacket he gave to Jay before the year was out. Jay, who has lived in London for many years, sent this photograph of the jacket to Bill Adler. His work has ranged from records for the German techno scene during the Nineties and beyond to dates with Hall & Oates, Katrina and the Waves, and Bert Jansch.

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