Adam Yauch, gravelly voiced rapper who helped make the Beastie Boys one of the key groups in hip-hop, died on Friday. He was the 47th
Yauch, also known as MCA, died in New York after nearly three-year battle with cancer, his agent said. He was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer in 2009.
At the time, Yauch expressed the hope that it was "very treatable," but his illness forced the band to cancel concerts and delayed the release of their 2011 album "Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2".
Yauch, also known as MCA, died in New York after nearly three-year battle with cancer, his agent said. He was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer in 2009.
At the time, Yauch expressed the hope that it was "very treatable," but his illness forced the band to cancel concerts and delayed the release of their 2011 album "Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2".
He had performed in public since 2009 and was present when the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.
Yauch was an integral, a founding member of the trio still weaving: three Jewish kids from New York who found widespread respect in the hip-hop world with a few trusty white artists.
The 25-year span, the four No. 1 albums and more than 40 million records sold, The Beastie Boys play a joker and a pioneer of the revolutionary act that helped bring hip-hop into the mainstream.
"The band's music crossed genres and color lines and helped rap to a wider audience," said Neil Portnow, president of the Academy record. "Yauch was a huge talent and creative visionary."
Reserved, gray-haired Yauch was not the most boastful B-Boy, was thoughtful and a constant source of innovative spirit of the trio. He Buddhist, he led the group in concert version in favor of Tibet, and as a filmmaker, he helped grow their images.
Rapper Q-Tip, a member of another great 90th years in New York hip-hop group, recalled that the Beastie Boys' show us how it goes. " Sean "Diddy" Combs says Yauch, "a true pioneer and creative force that paved the way for many of us." Rapper Nas lamented the loss of "brother".
"I think it is obvious to everyone how much influence the Beastie Boys were on me and many others," said Eminem. "They are pioneers and Trailblazers and Adam will be very missed."
Brooklyn-born Yauch formed the Beastie Boys with high school friend of Michael "Mike D" Diamond. Originally conceived as a hardcore punk band, they played their first show on the 17th Yauch's birthday.
In a letter read Yauch of the Beastie colleague Adam "Ad-Rock Horovitz in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Yauch recalled his beginnings in his parents' home in Brooklyn," where we used to train in the hot summer days after a Brooklyn school, interfere with the windows open surroundings. "
The group has become a hip-hop trio soon after Horowitz joined Yauch and coalesced after dropping out of Bard College, two years into his studies. They released their chart-topping debut "Licensed to Ill" in 1986 and rough album, led by the anthem "(you gotta) Fight for Right (to Party!)". It was the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard chart.
"Adam was incredibly kind and sensitive artist who I loved dearly," Russell Simmons, whose Def Jam label released "Licensed to Ill," said on its website.
At seven studio albums that followed, the Beastie Boys sound expanded and became more musically ambitious.
Their observation, 1989's "Paul Boutique" ended any suggestion that the band was once hit wonder. Extremes in sampling and carefully layered, the album (produced by the Dust Brothers) ranked 156th greatest album ever Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.
Beastie Boys would later have their own tools - a rarity in hip-hop - the album Check Your Head "and subsequent editions. Yauch on bass.
The "Pass the Mic," he rapped, "If you feel what I feel, it's a musical work / If you hear what I deal with it is the least cool / What's running through my mind goes through in my walk / True feelings are shown from how I speak. "