Incredulous, at best. When the Beastie Boys were introduced, they started as "heels" acting like bad boys and using that imagine to find a niche. They weren't accepted immediately by any means. In 1985 they toured with Madonna, to give you an idea of the music landscape they had to deal with at the time. When Licensed to Ill was released, they had already been popular along more of a pop-punk crowd, and after this release people began to take their hip-hop more seriously.