Adam Yauch Passes

ADAM "MCA" YAUCH, 47, a founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, has died after a battle with cancer. Yauch was diagnosed after a tumor was discovered in his salivary gland in 2009. Rumors about his declining health intensified when he was unable to attend the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month in Cleveland, and treatments delayed the release of the group’s most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. The Beastie Boys had not performed since the summer of 2009, and the band didn’t film any music videos for their last album. Yauch co-founded the Beastie Boys with Mike “D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz in 1979. The group started off as a hard-core punk outfit. but quickly began to work hip-hop into their sound. They blasted onto the scene in 1986 with their debut, Licensed to Ill, and the frat-rap anthem, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).” The band’s Paul’s Boutique is considered the Sgt. Pepper’s of hip-hop. Yauch was very much involved in the movement to free Tibet, establishing the Milarepa Foundation and co-organizing the Tibetan Freedom Concerts of the late ‘90s. He also launched a film production and distribution company, Oscilloscope Laboratories, in 2002, which has released more than 50 films, including documentaries on Scott Walker, John Cazale, Maurice Sendak and William Burroughs as well as the critically acclaimed features Meek’s Cutoff, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Messenger, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Wendy & Lucy, Bellflower and The Maid. He directed a Beastie Boys documentary and several music videos under the alias Nathaniel Hornblower. Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen and his daughter Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents, Frances and Noel Yauch. (5/4p)