I was heartbroken last week when I heard a musician, who I have great respect and admiration for, died.
You may not know the name Adam Yauch, but you might know his moniker “MCA.”
Adam “MCA” Yauch was a founding member in the Beastie Boys, along with friends Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. Nearly everybody knows them as successful rap artists, and rightfully so.
They first topped the charts with their 1986 debut “License to Ill” on the success of singles “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” “Paul Revere,” “Brass Monkey,” “Girls” and “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party).” It was the first hip hop album to top the Billboard charts and more than nine million copies have been sold.
Not many people know that the Beastie Boys first began as a punk group in 1979 and switched to hip hop music just two years before releasing “License to Ill.” Somehow, they made a name for themselves and managed to tour as the opening act for Madonna during her “Like a Virgin” tour.
During this time, they hired Rick Rubin, then a New York University college student, as a D.J. The rest, they say, is history. Rubin produced “Ill” and would go on to become a founding member of the Def Jam Recordings music label and a successful music producer.
The Beasties followed “License to Ill” with what is considered one of the most innovative hip hop albums of all time, “Paul”s Boutique.”
In the aftermath of “License to Ill,” the group became estranged from Rubin and Def Jam. The music press had largely written them off as a flavor of the month. The men left their native New York City and exiled themselves to Los Angeles.
For most of 1988, the group worked on the album with producers the Dust Brothers, known for creating music that is sample-heavy, and emerged with the album. Initially derided by critics, the album sold more than two million copies and was listed at No. 156 in Rolling Stone”s List of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The Beasties cemented the band”s place in music with that album, now noted for its experimentation and creativity.
The group would venture back into incorporating live instruments into the sound on albums “Check Your Head” and “Ill Communication.” In 1998, the group returned to a more traditional hip hop sound, working with D.J. Mix Master Mike for the album “Hello Nasty.”
During the 1990s, the group became more politically minded. Yauch founded the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in 1995. A string of 20 concerts were held during the span of eight years in places such as San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Sydney, Australia and Taipei, Taiwan.
The shows raised more than $2.7 million for Tibetan independence from China and spurred the Students for a Free Tibet nonprofit network worldwide. The group also would speak out on issues such as the treatment of Muslims and women.
Following the Sept. 11th attacks, the Beasties organized and headlined the New Yorkers Against Violence Concert in October 2001. Funds raised from the concert benefited the New York Women”s Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans. During the run up to the Iraq War, the group released a protest song, “In a World Gone Mad,” which emphasized practicing non-violence and criticized politicians for authorizing the war. The band”s 2004 album, “To the 5 Boroughs,” featured a sketch of the New York skyline on the album cover, with the World Trade Center Twin Towers prominently displayed.
In 2009, it was discovered Yauch had a cancerous parotid gland, a form of oral cancer. He underwent surgery and radiation therapy. The treatment set the Beasties” new album release date back. The album was scrapped and “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” was released in April 2011.
In December, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch was too sick to attend. He died May 4 at the age of 47, after a three-year battle with the disease.
I regret that I was never able to see Yauch and the Beastie Boys perform. It is something that will eat at me. But I will always respect Yauch and his bandmates to the end.
“But like a dream I”m flowing without no stopping.”
“Because you can”t, you won”t and you don”t stop.”
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
