My favourite band is the American hip hop group from New York... the Beastie Boys!!! Know of them?
I have heard of them before - are they popular now or were they popular several years back?
Well they were formed in the 80's, 1981 to be exact and are no longer active as a group.
Ah, I see.  That would explain why I have heard of them because I was really into regular music back then.  Now I mostly listen to Christian contemporary and so am not "up with the times" so to speak.
So funny, speaking of genres, the Beastie Boys actually started as a hard core punk band! How do you go from punk to hip hop? 
Maybe they thought they would get more of a following that way?  That is pretty different genres!
graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records (or synthesized beats and sounds), and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term "hip hop music" is sometimes used synonymously with the term "rap music", though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing,
Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City formed in 1981. The group comprised Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass) and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar).
The Beastie Boys were formed as a four-piece hardcore punk band, the Young Aborigines, in 1979 by Mike D (vocals), MCA (bass), John Berry (guitar) and Kate Schellenbach