Songfacts®:

• "Slow And Low" started out as a Run-DMC song they wrote in 1984 and planned to record for their 1985 King Of Rock album, but they ended up giving it to the Beastie Boys, who included it on their debut album Licensed To Ill in 1986. "We thought it was great and were completely baffled that they'd left it off their album, so we covered it," Mike Diamond of the Beastie Boys wrote in the Beastie Boys Book. "Their lost track was our gold mine."
  
  The Beasties customized the lyrics, changing lines like "Run-DMC not Cheech and Chong" to "Beastie Boys not Cheech and Chong."
• The connection between Beastie Boys and Run-DMC was Rick Rubin, who produced both acts and ran their label, Def Jam Records. Beastie Boys started out as a hardcore punk band but moved into hip-hop after connecting with Rubin. Run-DMC was the template for their flow, with the MCs trading lines back and forth.
• Slow and low is indeed the tempo for this song, which threw a changeup from the frantic songs that make up the rest of the album. Rick Rubin created the track, which used a grab bag of bells, guitar stabs and drum loops. Many of these elements showed up on Run-DMC's 1986 Raising Hell album.
• The writing credits on this one go to Rick Rubin, who built the track, and to Run-DMC rappers Run (Joseph Simmons), and DMC (Darryl McDaniels). Run and DMC have credits on another Licensed To Ill track as well, "Paul Revere" - they wrote the first few lines and provided the song's concept. The album ended up selling over 10 million copies just in America, which is more than the entire Run-DMC catalog. The Beastie Boys embarked on a headlining tour, then did a co-headlining tour with Run-DMC called the Together Forever tour.
• Harold and Kumar are the only guys more obsessed with White Castle than the Beastie Boys. "Slow And Low" is one of five Licensed To Ill songs that mentions the hamburger chain in the lyric ("White Castle fries only come in one size").