expiration badman: Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock Pays Tribute To Adam Yauch

Monday, May 7, 2012

Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock Pays Tribute To Adam Yauch

'Saturday Night Live,' Dalai Lama, Thom Yorke and fun. also honor Beasties rapper MCA.
By Gil Kaufman

Michael 'Mike D' Diamond, Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz and Adam 'MCA' Yauch of The Beastie Boys
Photo: WireImage

Two days after losing his life-long friend and band mate of 30 years, Adam "MCA" Yauch , Beastie Boys rapper Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz posted a heartfelt note on the band's Tumblr page about his late comrade.

"As you can imagine, s--- is just fkd up right now," he wrote in the blog, which was accompanied by a picture of a hand with the message, "PWR 2 MCA" in front of a bank of CDs. "But I wanna say thank you to all our friends and family (which are kinda one in the same) for all the love and support. I'm glad to know that all the love that Yauch has put out into the world is coming right back at him."

Yauch, who died at age 47 on Friday after a three-year battle with cancer, was shouted out by many of his friends, admirers and acts he'd influenced over the weekend. Fun. threw in a verse of "Sabotage" as part of their encore at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club on Friday night and "Saturday Night Live" played a clip of the group's 1994 performance of "Sure Shot" on the show featuring Rihanna  as a musical guest. HBO dedicated the broadcast of last month's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony into its broadcast of the proceedings, where the B-Boys were inducted as only the third rap group to enter the the Hall.

Among the luminaries weighing in was exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, who released a statement in which he said, "Adam had helped us raise awareness on the plight of the Tibetan people by organizing various freedom Tibet concerts and he will be remembered by his holiness and the Tibetan people." Yauch, a Buddhist who was behind the landmark all-star Tibetan Freedom concerts  of the late 1990s, was blessed by the Dalai Lama last year.

MTV News also took to the airwaves to express our appreciation for the influential artist with the one-hour special "Adam Yauch: Remembering a Beastie Boy," during which we reflected on the legendary MC's career and the indelible mark he made on music as a whole, as well as on society.

Kim Gordon, former bassist for Sonic Youth, who were big supporters of the Tibetan Freedom shows, issued a statement to England's New Musical Express, in which she praised Yauch's lyrical abilities, "He told me once that he really liked the lyrics to [Sonic Youth's] 'Bull In The Heather'. It surprised me that he had even listened to it. It meant a lot to me that he went out of his way to tell me that, coming from such a great rapper and lyricist."

Another Tibetan Freedom supporter and performer, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, posted a remembrance on the band's website, in which he wrote, "I was very sad to hear the news of Adam Yauch's death yesterday.  We looked up to the Beastie Boys a lot when we were starting out and how they maintained artistic control making wicked records but still were on a major label, and the Tibetan Freedom Concerts they organized had a very big influence on me personally and the way Adam conducted himself and dealt with it all impressed me a lot. He was a mellow and v smart guy. May he rest in peace."

The tributes followed earlier ones from the likes of Madonna , the B-Boys' longtime DJ, Mix Master Mike and Justin Timberlake  as well as in-concert shout-outs from Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Share your memories of Adam on Twitter using the hashtag #RIPMCA.

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