Mike D made this beat. He chopped it up, etc. It’s funky.

The music was something that I made just messing around with my sampler at home, just a real simple but ill moog loop and some simple beats. I remember this being a really fun time, when we would all be working somewhat on stuff at home and then bring it into the studio, and we would all build on it. We would just write, record, and play ball. Q-Tip would usually stop by when he was in town, just to hang out, listen to music, and play some ball. We’d been wanting Tip to get on a track for a while, so one night we played him the track and he was like, “This shit is funky, I could rhyme on this.” So Mario, as usual, wasted no time in handing him the mic. Tip freestyled a few takes, and then we fit our rhymes around his… – Mike Diamond, in the liner notes/(book) for Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science.

(Most funky beats come out orange if you freak them properly.)

Running home to watch channel 11, The CW in NY, which used to be (and is now once again) WPIX.

“Playing PIXX” refers to the station’s 80s promotion. Kids sent in a post card, and the station would call them to participate in a tv-video game, where you “shot” by saying,“PIXX! PIXX! PIXX!” to win prizes. This was the time of Atari, so it was awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BkmQ54bYW4

A reference to being intoxicated on stimulants, i.e., methamphetamine (crank) or even crack cocaine. People who abuse meth may exhibit frantic & compuslive behaviors, unable to stop a particular activity, such as searching drawers, worrying, having sex, or taking things apart. This is called tweaking… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dlzv9inoqk However, Yauch was proudly drug-free by this point, and the word has other connotations: to touch something up, fiddle with finishing touches and make tiny little changes, or otherwise perfect in a compulsive manner.

Famous late actor, who played the eponymous role of Ironside, a wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives. Adrock explains Mike’s lyric for John Del Signore in this 8.7.2007 Gothamist interview (pre-RapGenius):

JDS: Something’s always puzzled me. I don’t think this was your lyric but maybe you can shed some light on it because it haunts me: “Ride around town like Raymond Burr.”

Adrock: Yeah, ride around like Raymond Burr! Remember, he was in a wheelchair, when he played a cop. [Ironside]

JDS: All right thank you!

Adrock: Yeah, funny right.

The drum break immediately after this line is a sample from “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” a 1968 song by Scottish musician, Donovan Leitch.
At the time of this recording, Ad-Rock was together with Donovan’s daughter, actress Ione Skye. They were married from 1992-1999.

Ricky Powell, the “fourth Beastie Boy”, is a photographer who hung around with the Beasties a lot in the 80s and early 90s. He’s also the nerd from the “Fight For Your Right“ video. Whose girl(s) he dicked in this particular lyric is unknown, but in the clip below, he describes the Beasties penchant for interrupting his sexual escapades, circa License to Ill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTmXkCwbgC0

Afrika Bambaataa (b. Kevin Donovan, 4.19.1957) is an American DJ from the South Bronx, who pioneered the early development of hip-hop. Bambaataa is known as:

• One of the 3 originators of break-beat deejaying
• the “Grandfather” & Amen Ra of Universal Hip-Hop Culture
• the Father of The Electro Funk Sound.

In co-opting the street gang, the Black Spades, into the music & culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation, he was instrumental in disseminating hip-hop throughout the world. Jazzy Jay was a protégé of Afrika Bambaataa, and an erstwhile Def Jam labelmate of the Beasties. Reference ties the song’s lyrics to New York, also the setting of the music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpIKX1sxFoQ This is footage from Nickelodeon’s Livewire, a show hosted by Fred Newman that aired from 1980 to ‘85. It was the network’s highest rating program back in '82, netting Nickelodeon’s very first CableACE Award. Here they are in action in 1984. Check out the kid in the audience at 4:20…

In 1999, Beastie Boys were still working to counter the homophobic, misogynistic reputation surrounding their early work. A review of the career anthology, The Sounds of Science, in Time Out New York magazine called out the band’s history of intolerance, noting that, while offensive License-era lyrics were altered in concert, bandmembers had said little about the derogatory content on the album. In fact, early interviews had quoted the trio identifying the working title for License as “Don’t Be a Faggot.” In response, Adrock wrote a letter for the December 16, 1999 issue of Time Out NY:

“I would like to … formally apologize to the entire gay and lesbian community for the shitty and ignorant things we said on our first record, 1986’s Licensed to Ill. There are no excuses. But time has healed our stupidity. … We hope that you’ll accept this long overdue apology.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyceYhn1jk&feature=player_embedded
Credit: Porkys1982