Adam "MCA" Yauch, RIP

Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys has died of cancer. He was 48. Yauch was a hip hop pioneer and a tireless supporter of the Tibetan people. We'll miss him. "Beastie Boys Co-Founder Adam Yauch Dead at 48" (Rolling Stone)

• [nvlady]

  The creators always die so young. Too much creativity to last a ‘normal’ long  life, I guess.

  • [taintofevil]

    Mark Twain, 75; Pablo Picasso, 91; JS Bach, 65; Albert Einstein, 76; Isaac Newton, 84; Isaac Asimov, 72; Ansel Adams, 82; Saul Bellow, 90.  Thomas Kinkade, 54.  I’m not seeing the “always die so young.”

    • [ChicagoD]

      Bunch of hacks.

    • [nvlady]

      Okay, you win, I am completely and utterly wrong. Thanks for taking a rather innocent moment of reflection and turning it into a debate stance. “preciate it.

      • [taintofevil]

        Sorry.

    • [Carpeteria]

      Would you prefer “Many creators die so young”?

    • [Strabo]

      I’m sorry.  Did you just include Thomas Kinkade in that list?

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        Did you look at the ages?

• [Genre Slur]

  What a day, sigh. ugh. weep. sniff. Gahhh.

• [Commodore Crush]

  Surprisingly, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.  Cancer stinks.

  • [Itsumishi]

    Unsurprisingly, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.  Cancer stinks.

• [Timothy Krause]

  So sad. :(

• [franko]

  gate, gate, para gate…
  he’ll be kickin’ down the bardo gate for sure.
  RIP MCA

• [Mona Tara Morgan]

  Beastie Boys/RUN-DMC Together 4-Ever was my first concert. Thanks for all the great music.

• [workin]

  As I Develop The Awakening Mind I Praise The Buddha As They Shine
  I Bow Before You As I Travel My Path To Join Your Ranks,
  I Make My Full Time Task
  For The Sake Of All Beings I Seek
  The Enlighted Mind That I Know I’ll Reap
  Respect To Shantideva And All The Others
  Who Brought Down The Darma For Sisters And Brothers
  I Give Thanks For This World As A Place To Learn
  And For This Human Body That I’m Glad To Have Earned

  • [franko]

    best adaptation of the bodhisattva vow EVER.

• [andre paris]

  he will be sadly missed, he was a great artist

• [monkeygirl]

  So sad. He was my favorite Beastie. sniff. :(

• [autark]

  when you say RIP, you mean Reincarnate Immediately Please, right?

  the sentiment ‘rest in peace’ means more to the grieving than it would have to him.

  • [franko]

    well yes, exactly. : )

• [Mister44]

  “No! Sleep! ‘Til heaven!”

• [mariancisar]

  Damn. Thanks, Dave, first I had heard it. Remember listening to BB with you and Truelove in a cramped, smoky room.

• [Noctilucent Studios]

  Joined the ancestors.

  Dropped his body.

  Walked west.

• [Chang Terhune]

  FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

• [dunnright]

  Oh man. 1st Junior Seau, and now MCA.

  Not a good week for some of my heroes…

• [UnholyMoses]

  I really don’t have the emotional strength to fight for my right to party.

  You’ll be missed, MCA. Truly.

• [i_prefer_yeti]

  That’s some fucking rough news right there. MCA’s work is permanently embedded in the happy parts of my brain.

• [thehighandlow]

  We, as a human race really need to start doing something about this cancer thing. Like kick its ass hard for taking so many loved ones from us. Xeni would certainly agree with me.

  This is a sad day. :(

• [Preston Sturges]

  It’s a shame too because he was really aging well, keeping it real and looking good.  I’m sure he would have been a big help to young talent. 

• [wingo shackleford]

  Celebrity deaths never really affect me.  But I am actually super bummed out right now.  Gonna pour out some of my Brass Monkey in honor tonight.

  • [dunnright]

    Me too, but as you will see from my comment above, this is the second time this week that I’ve been holding back tears for a “celebrity”.

• [Cowicide]

  Sad.

• [spatley]

  Thank you MCA. Thank you for giving us the best there was, the best there is. Thank you for making the world a better place to live in, to rock in. And thank you especially for Paul’s Boutique.

  • [Itsumishi]

    You’ve said it much better than I could have. 

• [Aaron Swain]

  That makes me so sad.

• [Benjamin Terry]

  I’m so glad I got to see them when I did.  Just after “In Sound From Way Out” they did a tour of half regular shows, half “Gala Events” where they asked you to dress up real nice.  Somehow, the Beastie Boys are the only reason I own a suit today.  The people of 1988 would never believe it, I tell you.

  Yeah… maybe I’ll kick on the fuzz and jam along to “Gratitude” on bass.  I really was looking forward to the Beastie Boys in their 70s.  It would have been hilarious and great.

  :-(

• [Crunt]

  Yauch and Cancer. Something so positive and lovable against something so vile and destructive. The norms will wonder what all the fuss is about and observe that it’s just another dead rapper. It’s a good day to be sad.

• [pox]

  Wikipedia says he was 47, 48 in August.

• [theSamLowry]

  Unfortunately I never saw them live but the fact that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk10OY-bcqs happened is really one of the most awesome moments in music history. Great talent in MCA.

  • [Mister44]

     Who was their DJ back then?  I know Biz Markey(sp) worked with them, the Dust Brothers, and Mix Master Mike.

    Licensed to Ill was awesome and I think between that and RunDMC introduced me to rap.

    Pauls Boutique is one of those one-in-a-lifetime albums that would be impossible to make today from a samples standpoint alone.

    • [noah django]

       ”Hurricane’s
      got clout
      the other DJs
      he’ll put their head out”

  • [noah django]

     He was fucking stage-diving at Soul Train!

• [ray9x]

  This Beasties megamix from mash-up pioneer Z-Trip is a fitting tribute to MCA and his crew. 28 minutes of lovely Beasties glory…

  I’ve been playing it all day: http://ztrip.bandcamp.com/album/z-trip-presents-all-access-a-beastie-boys-megamix

• [noah django]

  pretty broken up over it at my household.  you are missed, Mr. Yauch

• [jahshuwah]

  like a lemon to a lime, a lime to a lemon…i’m supa-def-ill sittin up in heaven

• [Kainoa Raymond]

  I only got to see The Beastie Boys twice but godDAMN if they weren’t a huge part of my life for many years. Important years.

  I knew all the words to “Paul Revere” before I knew how to roll a joint and before I got drunk for the first time. I didn’t find out what a “Brass Monkey” was for years, but I knew I wanted one the first time I heard it. I wanted to be a part of that song. ALL their songs really.

  I wanted to be that hard and that funny and that clever. I wanted to be able to rhyme and drink and fuck and tell the world all about it like they did. I’d rewind their tapes over and over to learn certain lines and be able to rap along with their shit.

  MCA was always my guy. He seemed like the “me” of the group. A little older, a little wiser, and clever, but somewhat reserved. It wasn’t until “Ill Communication” came out that I really drew that line from me to him, but he was always my guy. The Beastie I wanted to hear the most in every song, and the one who seemed to be a little distant, but also on point with all I wanted to say, wished I could say, and simply… agreed with. Stylistically he came hard, but his message was always softer than the delivery. He was a FUCKING HERO.

  He lived an amazing life, and though he died far too young, his empire, his legacy, and his words will live on forever. He killed it. He was a game changer and he used his powers for good.

  I’m sad MCA is gone, but I am ecstatic he lived long enough to affect so much good in the world. I think he knew it too, but was too humble to ever recognize it. He was a champion and an icon and FUCK I’m sad he’s gone.

  Adam was a Buddhist, and if he believed in the cycle of reincarnation, I hope he’s on his way back to this earth in the form of something beautiful.