MOST influential hip-hop groups ever, combining punk and hip-hop and making it a mainstream force, this is a fact.So the news that Adam Yauch aka MCA lost his battle with cancer really saddens me. He was a musician,an icon, a humanitarian, and an educator, encouraging us to“Fight for our rights”. RIP MCA.
"Yauch was not only a musical pioneer with Beasties; he was an activist and humanitarian. When he converted from Judaism to Buddhism, he founded the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness to injustices on native Tibetans by the Chinese government and military forces. He then organized the Tibetan Freedom Concerts that started in 1996 and raised awareness with Live Aid style gigs in various cities around the world. In 1999, Beastie Boys along with Rage Against the Machine, staged a concert to raise money and awareness for incarcerated death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the wake of September 11, Milarepa and Beastie's staged a relief concert with proceeds going to New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA). Last fall, Yauch marched with Occupy Wall Street across the Brooklyn Bridge to raise awareness from the greed of big banks. Wherever there was injustice, there was Yauch, wherever there was a voice to be given to the voiceless, there was Yauch."
As a kid growing up in Winston-Salem...grunge was king and gangsta rap was all over the news, Beastie Boys were a breath of fresh air during the years of a massive, angst-filled sound. They taught us how to have fun, they taught us how to be ourselves and most of all, they taught us how to be "ill."
With roots in hardcore and punk, the trio tried hip-hop and made a career out of it, for some, including myself; it was our first exposure to something so urban. What once was a genre that did not belong to anyone that did not live in a major city became accessible. While they made their mark with their music, they also made their name with remarkable music videos. Never afraid to make fools out of themselves and showcase how much fun this business should be, Beastie Boys were innovators in the music video genre. Some of their most celebrated videos, "So Whatcha Want," "Intergalactic," "Body Movin" and "Ch-Check It Out," were directed by Yauch under the alias, Nathaniel Hornblower.
***They were much more than rappers, they were much more than musicians, they were innovators that evolved far beyond the years they were together. After all, a group like Beastie Boys could only come from a place as diverse as New York City. In the late-90's the trio started Capitol Records imprint, Grand Royal, which signed left-of-the-center artists At The Drive-In, Atari Teenage Riot, Ben Lee, Luscious Jackson, Mr. Lif and many others. Nearly any band that has formed in the last twenty years owes a debt to Beastie Boys.***
And WOW..."In a life as rich and fulfilled as Yauch's, when he announced his cancer diagnosis to the world via a YouTube video in the summer of 2009, there was a collective sigh in the music world. When the news broke that he was too sick to attend last month's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, there was a collective disappointment. As word got out on Friday May 4, 2012, they he had passed away, the sigh that everyone displayed three years ago turned to tears. We can all learn a lesson on how to live from Yauch -- live the life you want to have and do what you want to do because in the end you will leave with no regrets."
This is a lesson for all of us to learn! Seriously people... live the life you want to have and do what you want to do because in the end you will leave with no regrets." That is how I want to be able to leave this earth!
Thank you for your service to us Adam aka MCA, your music and the life you lived will live on for all of us.
