Adam Yauch (d. 2012)

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Biography

Adam Nathaniel Yauch, also known by the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bassist, filmmaker, and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed many of the band's music videos and did much of their promotional photography, often using the pseudonym Nathanial Hörnblowér for such work.

Timeline

The story of Adam Yauch, told in moments.

1986 Event

Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys' debut, became the first rap album to top the Billboard 200. Yauch was 22. The trio had started as a hardcore punk band.

How does a hardcore punk band make the first rap album to top the Billboard 200? Was Licensed to Ill a joke that worked or a serious artistic statement?

1996 Event

Organized the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco. Over 100,000 people attended across two days. He'd converted to Buddhism two years earlier after a trip to Nepal.

What did Buddhism give you that Brooklyn couldn't? Was the Tibetan Freedom Concert activism or art? Did Nepal change you?

2012 Death

Died of parotid cancer at 47. His will stipulated that his music could never be used in advertising. The Beastie Boys disbanded permanently.

Was the will stipulating no advertising your final artistic statement? Did you know the Beastie Boys would end with you?

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