Beastie Boys Founding Member Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, Dead at 47
Adam Yauch, better known to music fans as MCA of the legendary hip hop triumvirate Beastie Boys, passed away today at the age of 47 following a hard-fought battle with cancer.

Russell Simmons' Global Grind confirmed the tragic news this afternoon.

In 2009 Yauch announced that he was being treated for a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland. In 2011, Yauch posted an update on the Beastie Boys' website telling friends and fans he was not cancer-free as reported, but was "staying optimistic and hoping to be cancer free in the near future."

Yauch was absent at the Beastie Boys' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction last month, but the band's official statement did not reveal why.

He is survived by wife Dechen Wangdu and their daughter Tenzin Losel Yauch.

Adam Yauch • 1964-2012

It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam "MCA" Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Yauch taught himself to play bass in high school, forming a band for his 17th birthday party that would later become known the world over as Beastie Boys.

With fellow members Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Adrock" Horovitz, Beastie Boys would go on to sell over 40 million records, release four #1 albums–including the first hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200, the band's 1986 debut full length, Licensed To Ill–win three Grammys, and the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award. Last month Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Diamond and Horovitz reading an acceptance speech on behalf of Yauch, who was unable to attend.

In addition to his hand in creating such historic Beastie Boys albums as Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty and more, Yauch was a founder of the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and activism regarding the injustices perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational government and military forces. In 1996, Milarepa produced the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which was attended by 100,000 people, making it the biggest benefit concert on U.S. soil since 1985's Live Aid. The Tibetan Freedom Concert series would continue to stage some of the most significant benefit shows in the world for nearly a decade following in New York City, Washington DC, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Taipei and other cities.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, Milarepa organized New Yorkers Against Violence, a benefit headlined by Beastie Boys at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, with net proceeds disbursed to the New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) September 11th Fund for New Americans–each chosen for their efforts on behalf of 9/11 victims least likely to receive help from other sources.

Under the alias of Nathanial Hörnblowér, Yauch directed iconic Beastie Boys videos including "So Whatcha Want," "Intergalactic," "Body Movin" and "Ch-Check It Out." Under his own name, Yauch directed last year's Fight For Your Right Revisited, an extended video for "Make Some Noise" from Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, starring Elijah Wood, Danny McBride and Seth Rogen as the 1986 Beastie Boys, making their way through a half hour of cameo-studded misadventures before squaring off against Jack Black, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as Beastie Boys of the future.

Yauch's passion and talent for filmmaking led to his founding of Oscilloscope Laboratories, which in 2008 released his directorial film debut, the basketball documentary Gunnin' For That #1 Spot and has since become a major force in independent video distribution, amassing a catalogue of such acclaimed titles as Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy, Oren Moverman's The Messenger, Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop, Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze's Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait Of Maurice Sendak, and many more.

Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen and his daughter Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents Frances and Noel Yauch.

EXCLUSIVE: Beastie Boys Sued Over Tracks On “Licensed To Ill,” “Paul’s Boutique”
by Nolan Strong and Grandmaster Grouchy Greg May 7th, 2012 @ 10:30pm

(AllHipHop News) The Beastie Boys have been hit with lawsuit over four tracks, two on their landmark debut album Licensed To Ill and two from their follow-up, Paul’s Boutique.

HipHop/R&B label Tuf America filed the lawsuit against all members of the Beastie Boys on May 3, just one day before member Adam “MCA” Yauch died from cancer on May 4.

Tuf America filed the lawsuit in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit claims that the Beastie’s illegally sampled Trouble Funk’s songs “Say What” and “Drop The Bomb.”

The group is accused of using portions of Trouble Funk’s 1982 song “Drop The Bomb” on Licensed To Ill and Paul’s Boutique.

Tuf America claims the group used portions of the song on their classic 1986 song “Hold It Now Hit It,” as well as “The New Style,” both on Licensed To Ill.

Tuf America claims The Beastie Boys used the drums on “Drop The Bomb” on their song “Car Thief” on Paul’s Boutique.

Tuf America also claims The Beastie Boys illegally sampled Trouble Funk’s 1982 song “Say What,” for their song “Shadrach,” also on Paul’s Boutique.

Tuf America said they did a thorough sound analysis of the tracks in question and concluded that the Beastie Boys illegally incorporated elements of the songs without permission.

To complicate the matter, Tuf America claims The Beasties and Capitol Records continue to profit off the album, by way of anniversary and commemorative releases of Licensed To Ill and Paul’s Boutique, which was released in 1989.

Tuf America is seeking a trial to determine the amount of punitive and exemplary damages, if any.

Beastie Boys’ online listening spikes 2,000% after MCA’s death
By Alex Moore 7 hours ago
Music fans—and really just about everyone from two generations who didn’t spend most of their young adult lives living under a rock—were shocked by Adam Yauch’s death on May 4. As the Beasties’ visionary beacon of positivity, MCA shifted the tone of hip-hop in the mid-90s, and made respect and positivity cool. He was an icon.
In the wake of his death tributes to MCA popped up, from an outpouring of support to remaining Beasties Mike D and Ad Rock, to a giant “Gratitude” mural with the letters MCA painted in Yauch’s native Brooklyn.
But perhaps the most fitting tribute to MCA came through the Beastie Boys’ actual music: Music analysis company MusicMetric is reporting that total online listening of Beastie Boys material spiked 2,000% immediately after Yauch’s death on May 4. File sharing through BitTorrent increased 300%.
The most played and shared material was the Beasties’ 1986 debut “Licensed to Ill,” which correspondes to a spike in sales of the record since Yauch’s death that last week put the record back in the top 20 of Billboard’s Top 200 charts.
Murals and fan letters are all well and good, but probably the greatest tribute to MCA is that his music is still asserting its relevancy 26 years after it debuted. And much of it is still hilarious, too. It’s a hell of a testament to a hell of a career.