Adam Yauch, one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, has died at the age of 47, Rolling Stone has learned. Yauch, also known as MCA, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009. The rapper was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.
I've been listening to the Beastie Boys since 1987 and would rate have to rate them as my number one group.
I saw them live a few times. The most memorable was in 1992 at some crappy joint under Queen Street Mall, awesome concert though as it was so small and intimate (plus I was 17 and was over 18's gig - the bouncers announced if you're not over 18 you're not getting in, I got to the door and they didn't even ask to see my fake ID - score!!)
Stunned to hear the news this morning. The Beastie Boys had a huge influence on me; I grew up with them from Licensed to Ill onwards. Every album is different from the last and they just didn't do a bad one in my opinion, but for me Paul's Boutique is as good as music gets.
Saw them at Metropolis with mission back in 92 and at Livid in 94 and I am sure there was at least one other time that escapes my memory at this point in time. BDO maybe?
I've never really felt personally affected by an famous musician's/actor's/artist's death before - obviously any untimely death is sad, but it's not like you personally know them - but Adam Yauch's passing has made me feel a bit like I've lost someone I know.
Adam Yauch was a phenomenal creative artist - director, musician and lyricist, as well as a humantarian and an all round decent human being. The Beastie Boys paved the way for diversity in hip hop, took sampling and live instruments to place hip hop culture had never been and were always ahead of the game. They should be truly considered pioneers and their legacy will live on.
The world is a bit colder without MCA, and a lot less funky. :(
I sent an email off to nbc this morning requesting they repost the interview Jimmy Fallon did with the Beastie Boys a few years ago, at the end of the interview Jimmy asked them to do a song which they were hesitant to do at first but The Roots (the house band) started playing the music for Whatya Want so they got up and performed it. So awesome and coincidentally my favorite song of there's. Here hoping NBC put it up.
Mixmaster Mike is nuts on that scratch pattern in 3 MCs and 1 DJ.
What vinyl you got Cemax?
On wax in my collection:
Paul's Boutique
Paul's Boutique Double album 8 gatefold
Ill Communication
Alive - Japanese 10"
Love American Style EP
Licensed to Ill
She's Crafty/No Sleep till Brooklyn 7" (unfortunately the record got a bit chunk chipped out of it but I can't bring myself to throw it out)
Plus a couple of bootleg acapella/instra records
Wish I had bought that Hot Sauce Committee dealy with the vinyl etc.
Jimmy asked them to do a song which they were hesitant to do at first but The Roots (the house band) started playing the music for Whatya Want so they got up and performed it.
so staged but yeah. awesome performance by all concerned
Oh awesome, thanks. I always tried searching with Fallon / Beastie Boys in the search field because i was looking for the whole interview plus the song, perhaps thats why it didn't come up... but the song was mainly what I was after anyway.
If you have OG 7"'s or 12"'s released on Def Jam and ever want to sell em let me know.
In fact if you have any vinyl you want to offload let me know :)
And yer Mixmaster Mike is a freak. mission and I saw him do a DJ set at The Zoo years ago (from memory it was a side show from BDO or similar) and it was like nothing I had ever seen. We were literally standing there with our jaws dropped for most of the set. He was a machine, cuts and breaks were flying in every direction and the precision and energy was unmatched by any DJ I seen before of since.
Check out the Scratch doco for more info on MMM and hip hop DJing in general if you're interested.
There is a few milk crates there, I could never sell any. I know there is some old school shit, a lot of singles on 12" too and all original releases, for instance Rapper's Delight goes for 15 minutes :P
Yeah, though you can tell even there that Adam isn't in anywhere near as good health as the other two, very different performance to say what they did at the MTV VMA's in 98 when they performed a mixture of 3 MC's and 1 DJ & Intergalactic.
I've been away all weekend and just saw this, I had no idea he was sick especially after just releasing a kickarse album, good to go out on a high I guess.
I haven't really listened to any of their stuff pre Hello Nasty which was my introduction to them, although I wasn't super into Hello Nasty I really loved To the 5 Boroughs and Hot Sauce Committee
For anyone interested, looks like they're playing all of the Beastie Boys stuff on Rage tonight. A scattering of songs between midnight and 2am, then a solid block between 2 and 4.30am. Reckon i need to reinstall my tv tuner card again tonight and schedule a cap.
I haven't really listened to any of their stuff pre Hello Nasty which was my introduction to them
Hey Wet do me a favour and check out Paul's Boutique, I mean give it a good listen, cos it's just eyepoppingly good.
Also tspec, thanks for the heads up on Rage, will check it out if I am in the vicinity of a TV.
edit: for those that are interested there's two really good books on the Beasties: Skills to Pay the Bills by Alan Light ISBN: 9780609604786 and Paul's Boutique by Dan LeRoy ISBN: 9780826417411 (part of the 33 1/3 series published by Continuum which if you're a music fan is a great series - each book focusses on a particular album, I have DJ Shadow - Endtroducing and James Brown - Live at the Apollo as well as the Paul's Boutique one).
last edited by IncrEdible_vEgetable at 15:11:12 11/May/12
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