In the Beastie Boys book they go into it...
Without giving it all away, they had a rough time recording it and mixing it and thought it came out shitty compared to the original demos from the Dust Brothers' apartment. Mike D especially doesn't care for it. Adrock says it takes him back to a bad period in his life where he was struggling with substance abuse.

On top of that, nobody thought it was great (except us weirdos) when it was released and they got laughed at and written off as has beens.

I think it's a masterpiece and according to them it's the album they get the most street love for.