Beastie Boys' Mike D Went Solo and His Sons Got Him There
For most artists, a creative restart means a new label, and maybe new bandmates. For Mike D, (Michael Diamond) it meant walking into a studio he already shared with his kids and figuring out how to press record.
The Beastie Boys co-founder released his debut solo single 'Switch Up' in May, the first new music connected to any member of Beastie Boys since the group's final studio album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, in 2011. For fans who have waited since the death of Adam 'MCA' Yauch in 2012, the arrival of solo work from Mike D is a much bigger deal than just a standard release.
In a conversation withHanuman Welch on ALT CTRL Radio on Apple Music, Mike D described how the project began, and it hardly seems like the result of a grand plan. 'It was very, very much like family,' he said. 'We started at my, our home studio. I share a studio with Davis and Skylar, with my two sons.' He admitted he didn't know much about modern equipment. 'I'm dependent,' he said, laughing at his own predicament. 'I walk in there, I'm like... how do I press record? And they're like, Dad, we got you, don't worry.'
Skyler and Davis Diamond are the siblings behind the alternative act Very Nice Person, and their electronic-infused indie-dance-pop is, in Davis's own telling, part of what pulled their father back toward making music himself. Mike D described watching from the sidelines, keeping a mental catalog of their collaborators. 'I was kind of just always sort of making this mental note of like, oh, one day if I do something, it'd be cool to do something with this guy or do something with that person,' he told Welch. 'And then that ended up being the reality.'
'Switch Up,' produced by Skyler and Davis, blends UK jungle beats, and Lee 'Scratch' Perry-style sonic collage, somewhat of a departure from the Beastie Boys catalog and a clear indication that this isn't just a play for nostalgia. A second solo single, 'What We Got,' followed, and Mike D has since announced his first-ever UK and European headline shows, with dates beginning in London in June.
Beastie Boys broke commercially with 1986's Licensed to Ill, the Def Jam release that became the first rap album to top the Billboard 200. The group spent the following decades expanding hip-hop in their own creative style.
By his own account, he wasn't ready to step into the studio until his sons made it possible to do so on his own terms. 'It took me a minute before I started kind of like doing vocals, he told Welch, 'and what I did, I wasn't like completely sure of myself.' That hesitation is gone now. 'I'm ready,' he said. 'Put me in the ring, put me in the cipher, I love it.'
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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 5:12 AM.