Remembering MCA

Adam Yauch

August 5, 1964 - May 4, 2012 

Born and bred Brooklyn U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch but I'm M.C.A.
Like a lemon to a lime a lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women

It's been nearly a week since the passing of MCA and I'm still finding it hard to believe. With the recent deaths of so many musicians like Whitney Houston and the legendary Dick Clark, I worry Adam Yauch's demise will be lost in the mix. For me his departure proved to be the most poignant of them all since he's been apart of my music library steadily for over the past twenty-five years.

Whenever I think about The Beastie Boys I immediately conjure up the picture of them in their early 20s standing in front of the Globe in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens.

It was the inside cover image of their 1986 debut album "Licensed To Ill".  Back in the day there used to be vinyl records that opened up like a giant colorful book. The outside of the record had the ill fated crash of an airplane while the inside had this glossy over sized picture. I recall staring at that image for hours, weeks, and months. I thought they were the coolest looking bunch of guys I'd ever seen. Granted I was ten years old at the time and didn't have much to compare to, but nonetheless I was captivated by their look and sound. It was an odd mixture of rap, rock, comedy, drums, spinning records, and all around noise. I absolutely loved it. I think it was the lyrics and prose that drew me in more than anything else. They had a way of rapping about such juvenile topics while simultaneously showing their talent for writing catchy melodies and memorable rhymes. I must have listened to this album (along with my sister) at least a dozen times a week. I remember being amazed by how distinct all their voice were. Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) had the loudest and sometimes most screechy voice. It could shatter glass when he got going. Michael Diamond (Mike D) had a more nasally tone that happened to be my favorite voice of the trio. I'm not sure why that was. I guess I felt Mike D. was over looked hiding behind the shades and leather top hat. I always concentrated on his voice/lyrics more than the others though they each worked their harmony together like a fine symphony. Adam Yauch's (MCA) voice was very gravely and had a sandpaper quality to it. I found his lyrics to always be the most catchy. "I got a girl in the Castle and one in the pagoda / You know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda" and "If you try to knock me you'll get mocked, I'll stir fry you in my wok." Those lines make me chuckle, but also make me sing along every time. They were brilliant in their writing style and of course pioneers in the world of hip hop. They crossed the barriers and brought an entirely new type of mixture involving rock/rap/electronic and it skyrocketed straight to #1 on the Billboard charts. If I had to explain what it was about The Beastie Boys that worked so well in one simple word? It would be the word FUN. They were a riot to watch and a joy to listen to. Simple as that. Apparently many agreed since they went on to sell 40 million copies of their albums to date.

They became a little more serious as the years went on naturally. They left their home of New York City behind and stopped singing about White Castle and "girlies" and attempted to bring a more down to earth tone to their music. Once again it worked. With "Paul's Boutique" and even up to "To The 5 Boroughs" they continued to bring a new style of rap, this time infusing jazz and funk instead of rock. The days of fighting for their to party were long behind, but the talent never dimmed as evident with "Sabotage" and "Intergalactic" just to name a few! Meanwhile, Adam Yauch was becoming a human rights activist and studying Buddhism. In addition he also co-founded a distribution and production company called Oscilloscope Laboratories which helped launch a few films mainly one of my favorites from 2011 "We Need To Talk About Kevin". I never knew Yauch had contributed so much more beyond his days of being a Beastie Boy. He was a humanitarian and often organized a few benefit concerts supporting Buddhism.

In 2009, he was diagnosed with a cancerous gland and lymph node. I had heard about it on the news and I just assumed he was going to get through it. He was in his mid 40s and I just believed he'd come out winning in the end. There's no way this tough guy from Brooklyn with his leather jacket and five o'clock shadow could be defeated by cancer. I had no idea what kind of battle had truly laid before him.  Nobody does when they find out they have cancer. Ironically The Beastie Boys were inducted into The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame last month. Yauch was too sick to attend. I should have known then he wouldn't be able to return from such a defeat. For him to miss such a prestigious occasion proved how ill he must have been. To see pictures now of Mike D. and Ad-Rock up on stage without MCA is distressing, knowing full well it was a hint of what was to come. It would be just the two of them now. No longer the dynamic fun loving trio, but a duo of survivors. MCA was lost to the world on May 4, 2012 at the age of forty-seven. It was heartbreaking to hear. It also dawned on me at that precise time that in all the years I had been such a follower of the group I'd never once attempted to see them perform together. I lived (and still live) in their hometown of NYC and it pained me to know I'd lost my chance. The group is done as far as we're all concerned. They worked together as a unit and without any one member it's a house of cards with no structure. Perhaps I'm being melodramatic but I'm still angry that this disease is taking so many wonderful people and now it's starting to creep up on my generation and it's frightening. Still, the music lives on. Their songs remain on my iPod and the visions of listening to them on the turntable as a kid are still as strong as ever. Those memories cannot be taken away. I've been so pleased to see such an outpouring of support from fans and celebrities all around the world. The Beastie Boys music touched more lives than I'd been aware of. I anticipate and hope the early demise of MCA brings a new batch of followers and listeners to Beastie Boys music. That would be the most joyous outcome to such a tragic end.

I've seen this written many times over the last few days but I can't help but reiterate: MCA, I hope you're sleeping well in Brooklyn.