More than anything, To the 5 Boroughs is the Beasties’ valentine to the city where they, and rap, were born. It is a brash, passionate toast to what we lost on 9/11 (in the cover illustration, the Twin Towers are still standing) and what survives: in memory, on the ground. The raps are packed with local cuisine (Blimpies, Murray’s Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street) and nostalgia (Yauch: “Used to ride the D to beat the morning bell at Edward R. Murrow [High School] out on Avenue L”). And in “An Open Letter to NYC,” the Beasties celebrate the city “that blends and mends and tests,” mixing prayer and pride with sampled shots of 50 Cent, RZA and Nas over the killer riff from the Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer.” It’s a dark whirl, but never maudlin: “2 towers down but you’re still in the game,” Diamond crows, a line that also has everything to do with the state and fate of the nation. The Beasties are New York from head to heel, but they’ve made To the 5 Boroughs for the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island in all of us.