The Beastie Boys were a group who seemed omnipresent in my youth. There was never a time where I got "into" them, because they had always seemed to be there. Early on, I remember songs like "Fight for Your Right" and "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" being local radio staples and catching their music videos on MTV was as easy as just turning the television to MTV. I remember rapping along to "So Wat'cha Want" from the car stereo of an older camp counselor at summer camp in the summer of either '92 or '93. I remember seeing the video for "Sabotage" for the first time and wanting for there to be an actual Sabotage TV show that looked just like that video. I remember waiting outside of my tiny local record store on the day that Hello Nasty came out, incredibly eager to get my hands on the then new album.
When I think about artists and bands that've never let me down, I think the Beastie Boys may very well be at the top of that short list. The amount of talent in this group, whether it was rapping, rocking, funking or just being experimental, was always just astronomical. Even with their latest album, last year's Hot Sauce Committee Part 2, the group was continuing to simultaneously impress and satisfy music fans.
Which is exactly why it's so hard to believe that MCA, Adam Yauch, has passed away at age 47 from cancer.
MCA had always been my favorite of the group. Sometimes it seemed easy to call him the "serious one," but we're also talking about the same guy who directed most of the insane videos from Hello Nasty on. If anything, he was the most well-defined of the Boys, I always thought. His gravely rapping was always a welcome counterpoint to Mike D and Ad-Rock's more nasally approach.
There's little to say that hasn't already been said, outside of personal reflections on MCA and the Beastie Boys. Honestly, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Beasties, especially MCA, for all the years of perfect music and amazing talent. No matter what the future brings for the remaining Boys, I will forever be thankful for what we've already been given.
RIP, MCA.
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