RIP Beastie Boy MCA (Adam Yauch)

Cafe Society
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I found out today that he frequently hung around at my favorite bike shop. A friend of mine had a 20 minute conversation with him about bikes, favorite rides on Cape Ann*, and all sorts of other stuff. Dave didn’t realize who he was talking to until Scott (the store owner) pulled him out back and was all “Dude, that’s MCA!” Dave was blown away, as he is a huge Beasties fan, and was wondering, “How do I know this guy? School? Cycling? He looks totally familiar…”

He was a crazy super talented guy, but he was also just people.

I was at Seaside Cycle at all the wrong times, I guess.

*Ad-Rock’s dad founded the Gloucester Stage Company, so it makes sense that the Beasties would be hanging around the North Shore. Ad-Rock’s uncle is also my dad’s accountant. Blah, blah, blah…Kevin Bacon.

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At last night’s Mets game, all of the batters walked to the plate to Beasties tunes as a tribute.

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Why MCA?

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I’ve never been a fan, but I have to give the Beasties mad props. They filled in for Beck at the last minute at a stadium show I saw about 10 years ago, and they were great.

Way too young.

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Although I’m a little more advanced in age than the rest of you, I loved “License To Ill” and use it to set my cadence when I’m on my bicycle. Although I did buy a couple of their succeeding cd’s, it wasn’t till “Interplanetary” that I found another of their tunes I liked.

I won’t belabor the point, y’all have said it better than I ever could, but I do respect those of you who will miss Adam and I wish him a peaceful rest.

Quasi

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I was there, too. I wish that hadn’t been the only time I saw them, but I’m glad I caught them live once.

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The lineup:

Ruben Tejada, SS, “Intergalactic”
Daniel Murphy, 2B, “No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn”
David Wright, 3B, “Brass Monkey”
Lucas Duda, RF, “The New Style”
Scott Hairston, LF, “Root Down”
Ike Davis, 1B, “Fight For Your Right (To Party)”
Andres Torres, CF, “So Whatcha Want”
John Thole, Catcher, “Make Some Noise”
Dillon Gee, Pitcher, “Body Movin’”

I guess what gets me about this isn’t just that he was one of my favourite musicians, though he was, but that he was, to be honest, someone I’d very much want to be like. Not in all the details - I’m not interested in being a Buddhist. But he was a dedicated husband and father. He had a little girl, like I do, and loved her very much, like I do. And more than that, he worked hard, harder than I ever have or could, growing and becoming even more than he was, learning and trying new things and, by God, succeeding. He was a consummate professional, never feuding with his bandmates, ignoring the nastiness directed their way (people don’t remember that the rap giants of the day in the late 80’s/ early 90’s, who now praise them, oftensneered at them) and forgetting every insult while remembering every act of kindness. He was a star at 22 and, despite that, didn’t let it wreck him, as it does so many; instead he just spent a quarter of a century pumping out brilliant works of art.

He stood up for what he believed in, even if it didn’t necessarily sell another record or go with the flow in hip-hop. He was thoughtful and kind and decent, and instead of retreating into a mension built with bricks of $50 bills, which he could have done, he went out of his way to try to help people. He was a family man. He never forgot that while he was MCA to millions, he was still Adam Yauch.

He only lived 47 years, which is terribly unfair, but he got every last goddamned ounce out of those 47 years a man could get.

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I assume this was in their punk days? I think 1983 was around when they transitioned.

You’ll be missed, gravelly Beastie. And I hope this isn’t too morbid, but gallows humor has its place sometimes. If he isn’t cremated or anything, his epitaph should read:

“MCA where have you been?”
“Packed like a sardine in a tin”

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This is the MCA playlist I came up with - some of my favorite lines by (and in a few cases about) the guy and the Beasties. I didn’t notice the lyric about his daughter until after I put that track on the list, so that felt fitting.

*Paul Revere [My name is MCA/I got a license to kill/I think you know what time it is/It’s time to get ill."]

*Sure Shot [“I strap on my ear goggles and I’m ready to go”]

*B-Boys Makin’ with the Freak Freak [“Might be a hack at the stand-up/But I’m workin’ at it”]

*Shadrach [“Got more suits that Jacoby & Meyers”]

*Three MC’s and One DJ [“I never wanna let a bad day slip by”]

*Hey Ladies [“We were cutting up the rug/She started cutting up the carpet/
In my apartment/I begged her please stop it”]

*No Sleep til Brooklyn [“Born and bred in Brooklyn in the USA/They call me Adam Yauch but I’m MCA.”]

*Egg Man [“Pulled out the jammy he thought it was a joke/The trigger/I pulled/His face/The yolk”]

*Triple Trouble [“We’re triple trouble ya’ll”]

*Hold It Now, Hit It [“King of the Ave./With the def female”]

*The Grasshopper Unit (Keep Movin’) [“This one goes out to Tenzin”]

*Pass the Mic ["My name is MCA/I’ve been coming to where I am from the get-go/Find that I can groove with the beat when I let go "]

*Shake Your Rump [“Nothing wrong with my leg, I’m just b-boy limpin’”]

*Long Burn the Fire [“My book is my shield and my mic is my sword, sword, sword”]

*Time to Get Ill [“I got more rhymes than Phyllis Diller!”]

*Intergalactic [“If you try to knock me, you’ll get mocked/I’ll stir fry you in my wok…”]

*Make Some Noise [“I burn the competition like a flamethrower/My rhymes age like wine as I get older”]

*Body Movin’ [“MCA where have you been?/Packed like sardines in the tin”]

*She’s Crafty [“I think I thought I seen her on Eighth and Forty-Deuce”]

*So What’cha Want [“Sweeter than a cherry-powered Reddi-Wip topping”]

*The Sounds of Science [“I’m going out first class/Not going out coach”]

*Shambala [instrumental]

*Bodhisattva Vow [“The bodhisattva path is one of power and strength/A strength from within to go the length”]

*Transitions [instrumental]

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I guess the Fight for Your Right Revisited video stands as MCA and the Beasties’ last major work (he directed) - and the fact that it’s a comprehensive look at and parody of their past makes it touching in a way, despite Will Ferrell and that very long scene where everybody’s peeing on each other. Reading the credits again I see MCA’s daughter was the girl on the skateboard.

Looking at the Beasties Boys in what I guess is the past tense, it occurs to me they’re a band that was only possible in New York and one of the ultimate local bands in a way - the fact that some of their best work was made in LA notwithstanding. As much as their music changed over the decades, one of the key factors was their background in a city where all of these different musical scenes like rap and punk and Latin and jazz and disco and cultural groups like art schools and skateboarders lived right on top of each other and interacted with each other. I can only talk about those things in a really general way but they obviously had very specific ideas about what each of them looked and sounded like and how they went together.

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I assume: Emcee A(dam)

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And now he’s haging out with Maurice Sendak. Boy, I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting. Well … except for the fact that I’d have to be dead. And a fly.