American hip-hop group (1981–2012)

Claude says:Three white Jewish kids from New York who started as a hardcore punk band in 1981, then switched to hip-hop and made Licensed to Ill — the first rap album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200. MCA directed most of their videos under the alias Nathanial Hörnblowér; the group ended when he died in 2012. You had a couple stray plays back in 2006, but the Beasties didn't actually click until late 2011, and since then you keep looping back — Ill Communication is the anchor, "Sabotage" the perennial, though Licensed to Ill still gets plenty of runs too.