Beastie Boys Rapper Adam Yauch Has Died
MCA was one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group and sadly he has died today at the age of 47.
Back in 1987 at the age of 12 my Big Brother took me to my first concert at the Brixton Academy in South London. I could not have asked for a better introduction to live Hip Hop, the concert was Run DMC and the Beastie Boys. The performances were amazing, the energy was intense. Beers were being thrown into the crowd and there were naked ladies dancing in cages, what else could a 12-year-old boy want? It was an amazing night and has stayed in my memory ever since as the concert by which all others will be measured. At the time I was a major Beastie Boys fan and have been ever since. I even gave them the number one spot in my Hip Hop top ten of 2011. The Beasties were important for a number of reasons; their musical genius, integrity and creativity sit alongside their contributions to numerous charities through the years. However what holds them above many of their peers who have since fallen into irrelevance is that their music has always been about having fun. Whether they were getting No sleep Til Brooklyn, Sabotaging, going Intergalactic or chairing the Host Sauce Committee It was always fun something that is often lacking in todays music. Adam Yauch, MCA was one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group and sadly he has died at the age of 47. Yauch co-founded the Beastie Boys with Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horowitz in 1979. They originally started off as a punk group, but soon began experimenting with hip-hop. They first rose to prominence with their first proper album, Licensed to Ill, in 1986, and further albums Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head and Ill Communication cemented the band as a true superstar act. Yauch sat out the Beastie Boys' induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, and his treatments delayed the release of the group's most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. The Beastie Boys had not performed live since the summer of 2009, and Yauch's illness prevented the group from appearing in music videos for Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. Yauch was strongly committed to the Free Tibet movement and organised the Tibetan Freedom series of concerts in the late nineties. He also directed a number of the Beastie Boys videos under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower. Yauch had been in treatment for cancer since 2009 when a tumour had been discovered in his salivary gland. He passed away on the 4th of May 2012. His family and loved ones are in our thoughts. Fight for your right to party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oM3VMhbxN8&feature=related Sabotage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE&feature=branded 3 MCs and one DJ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XflfiylNNXY&feature=relmfu Body Movin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvRBUw_Ls2o&feature=relmfu Dont play no game that I cant win http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-QIiVS_7Hs&feature=player_embedded