I feel remiss for not posting about this on Friday, but I suppose the old edict of "better late than never" applies here.
The music world lost a giant that day. As a member of the Beastie Boys, MCA helped ignite an appreciation for insight within a generation—my generation—and gave voice to its disenfranchised passions. Though his battle with cancer was first announced in 2009, a sense of hope—one which we learned all-too-late was a false one—remained that he would eventually beat the disease with the same rebellious spirit that had bellowed forth every time he gripped the mic.
When life's plans aren't in line with your self-interests, you're left feeling betrayed. Losing Yauch, an older brother to millions of Beastie fans and billions of hip-hop fans, at the age of 47 elicits one word in my mind: Unfair.
Sasha Frere-Jones wrote a beautiful and personal column for The New Yorker:
The ideal memorial is written from distance, a generous calculation of merit that proceeds honorably without abandoning accuracy. I have to apologize right now for being unable to give you that—Adam Yauch was a part of my childhood, an ambassador to America from our New York, which is now gone, as is he.
The Smoking Jacket posted this video, which shows part of MCA's last performance.
In 2009, Adam Yauch revealed, on the Beastie Boys website, that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. That summer, 30 years after the band had formed, Yauch played his last show. The band was as good as ever.
We'll miss you, MCA.
