This just sucks. Adam Yauch, better known as MCA from the seminal hip-hop group Beastie Boys, has passed away at the age of 47. According to Russell Simmons’s website, Global Grind, which broke the news, Yauch “passed this morning after a long bout with cancer.”
Yauch had been ill since 2009, when he was treated for a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland. He underwent surgery and released an eighth and final album with Beastie bandmates Mike D and Ad-Rock, the underrated Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. But he wasn’t able to appear at the group’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month, and now, well, this.
I usually don’t give two sh*ts about celebrities passing away, but between Yauch and Levon Helm, we’ve lost two great American musicians just this past month. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to listen to Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head for the rest of the day. I suggest you do the same.
RIP MCA.
