Yesterday we lost one of this generation's greats in Adam Yauch, aka MCA, after a long bout with cancer. As a member of The Beastie Boys he totally changed music... repeatedly, and American and world culture is definitely the better for it. Along with Run DMC and Aerosmith, the Beasties popularized hip hop music in the mid 80's with their debut album Licenced To Ill in 1986, selling that nascent art form to white America at exactly the right time for themselves and for the music. Brilliantly, instead of being a one trick pony and exploiters of hip hop music and African American culture, they returned with Paul's Boutique, a true masterpiece that celebrated hip hop and gave back to the music a testament to it's history and potential. They played their own instruments on Check Your Head and Ill Communication in the early and mid 90's and remained utterly blameless for the rap-metal craze that ruined music in the late 90's; closed last century with Hello Nasty, one of the purest and sweetest hip hop albums of all time; and became keepers of the (true) hip hop flame with Back To The Burroughs and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two this century. The Beastie Boys moved and grew from party rappers to righteous, socially conscious MC's seamlessly as they evolved gracefully through the years. They were also the only band, the only band that everybody liked when I went to UB in the early-mid 90's (at least in the Media Study Department). Even though I hope Adrock and Mike D continue is some form, The Beastie Boys will be missed.
Adam Yauch was also a brilliant filmmaker, responsible for some of the Beastie's most memorable music videos. Indeed, Nathaniel Hornblower was a memorable fixture on MTV during the 90's (back when MTV showed music videos). Later as founder of Oscilloscope Laboratories he became a force for independent film distribution, bringing films that would've languished otherwise to audiences. As a humanitarian, philanthropist, and practicing Buddhist, Yauch founded the Milarepa Fund in 1996 and helped organize the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco, elevating awareness worldwide about the plight of Tibet (especially on college campuses). After 9/11 Milarepa organized a benefit to raise funds for the New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) September 11th Fund. He is survived by his wife Dechen and daugher Tenzin.
As an artist, taste-maker, cultural icon, humanitarian, and as a human being, Adam Yauch is irreplaceable, and his loss, and ours is profound. Rest in peace Adam, and thanks.
Also recommended:
The New York Times obit for Adam.
An official statement from The Beastie Boys, via Brooklyn Vegan.
R.I.P big fan for a long time sad to see a great lost