My favorite band is The Beastie Boys. If you can’t understand my crazy obsession for them, we can’t be friends. They had always been around my life, because I grew up in New York City. However, it wasn’t until Mr. Gottesman told me to look them up in 2011, that they became a major part of my life. To say that this band is my favorite… Is an understatement! This band is my life. Now I know what you’re thinking “you’re just a crazy fan.” Well you’re right- I am a crazy fan. But for all the right reasons. Some people, when hearing the name Beastie Boys, immediately think of their hit (and horrible) single, Fight For Your Right. But, they were much more than three crazy meatheads that got drunk. Each had their own crazy personality.
Adam “MCA” Yauch was a father, Buddhist, musician, activist, and feminist. He was all of these things, but he was most recognized as one third of the Beastie Boys. They began in 1982, at first as punk rock band. In 1983-1985 they transitioned into the slowly evolving rap/hip hop scene. The band consisted of Adam “Adrock” Horovitz, Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “MCA” Yauch. Although my favorite had always been Mike, I always had been drawn to Yauch.
Adam was a brilliant man. He spent his childhood in the park or at home with his parents. He was full of ideas. He came up with the idea to put a fisheye lens into their music videos. He was the one to think of their Licensed to Ill tour ideas- putting girls inside cages and having beer on stage. He was also the one to realize that it was time to grow-up and stop that. Over the years, his demeanor changed, and he stopped using drugs as an outlet. It was their song Sure Shot that really showed how much they had changed, “I got to say something long over-due, the disrespect to women has got to be through.” They were no longer those crazy idiotic kids who created Licensed to Ill. They grew up. Adam began to consider himself a true Buddhist. He looked deeply into the problems of Tibet and started to raise money and awareness for their cause. He started the Miralepa Fund, a charity for Tibet and even sampled the “chantings” of monks for his music, bringing them along with him to tour.
Not long after their hit album Ill Communications, they released Hello Nasty. It was a different sound from their last, containing more sampling and it was more mixing than instruments. One song stood out the most, named I Don’t Know. It was Yauch singing. His voice sounding surprisingly mellow and different than his normal gruff sound. He sang about finding himself and through that song you could see that Yauch was still finding himself. A 6 year hiatus passed and they released another album named To The 5 Boroughs it’s entire sounds were about New York and 9/11. They rapped about the war and about the U.S.’s biggest problems. It was nominated for many awards and it gave them much praise. Their music had much more meaning than everyone thought it did. Although their first album had been nothing but terrible, they quickly set to change that image they had given themselves. They spoke about love and peace and hatred and war. They tried to unite the world through their music.
Tragically, in 2009 Adam announced he had been diagnosed with cancer. The next three years were his last. Although his last, those years were not to be forgotten. In 2011 (a month after I had been introduced to them) they released their last album, Hot Sauce Committee Part II. They released a short movie featuring many famous faces lasting a mere 30 minutes. April 14th 2012 marks the day they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Adam was too ill to attend the ceremony, and on that day he was admitted into the hospital. He had spent his last days in the hospital, passing away on May 4th. When he passed away, it felt like I lost a part of myself. Which is weird, I know, but he was a major part of my life. It was because of him that I had changed my outlook on life, and it was because of him that I never gave up on my dreams. I never met Adam, and now I never will, but I wrote this to show you that this band had more to them than their music.
Through him I met the most amazing people, their fans. Their fandom is like none other. In a crazy way, we’re like a family and we keep in touch. I have even met some of them with supervision (no worries)! But Adam gave me much more than his music and the Beastie Community. He taught me that “if it don’t hurt to be nobody else, then don’t be afraid to be yourself.” he taught me that “white castle fries only come in one size” which is pretty random. But for me, Yauch was not just some artist whose music I loved. He was someone that I loved, because he showed the world that no matter what- it’s your destiny and you shape it. Despite being put down and told that he wouldn’t make it as a musician, he did. When he passed away, I was flooded with sorrow but what helped me the most were the fans. There were people from all over the world reaching out to me, because they knew how I was feeling. They knew what I was going through. Yauch had always wanted the world to unite and come together as one and through him, we stood together and united. We gave him what he had been fighting for. I could go on for hours, I could even write a book, but I don’t have enough time. Even though I’ll always miss Yauch, I’ll always thank him for being the best teacher I never had. It’s called Gratitude.
Rest in peace Adam MCA Yauch ..