mca aka adam yauch

mca died today. this makes me very sad.

let me start by proclaiming that i fucking LOVE the beastie boys! fucking. love. them. i wanted to be a beastie boy... in fact... fuck wanted, i still wanna be a beastie boy. if mca was still here and they offered me a fourth mic to come rock a stage with them, i'd do it in a heartbeat. if beastie boys was a company, i'd apply everyday for a position. it's probably the biggest ridiculous dream i have... me as a beastie boy.

the boys are my heroes! and i can't believe one of them is gone now. things will never be the same again. just knowing that there's no more beastie boys (i assume this... i doubt they'd continue on without mca... i'd think it to be blasphemous) is such a fucking bummer. didn't they just release a record? this isn't fair. they were supposed to keep the moniker of 'boy' to an even more ridiculous age than 47.

and that's what i love most about the beasties and mca. their sound was so youthful, playful, hippy-hoppy, bouncy, uppity, and positive.... there was always a sense of youth... a sense that no matter how old the beastie boys would ever get, a part of them would be forever young. adam, adam, and mike may get old, but never ad-rock, mike d, and mca.... those three don't age.

they were hip hop pioneer jokers growing out of punk rock plant holders. they made it okay to be a fan of rock and hip hop at  the same time. they always dared to mix the two together with much success.

for me personally, they made me feel okay about being a goofy white boy. the beastie boys were fucking cool... and they were also fucking goofy and fucking white boys holding their ground in the realm of hip hop. i never saw race in hip hop cuz i knew at a very young age, when i heard, 'fight for your right to party,' blaring out of boomboxes, that people of all backgrounds were invited to this party.

and party music it fucking was! in my house party years, i could've been easily convinced that beastie boys didn't make music for house parties, but people threw house parties to listen to beastie boys music. to this day i still believe that you have no business at all ever trying to get ill unless you own a copy of 'licensed to ill.' that album is the actual, official, gov't recognized license for all forms of illin'.

but it wasn't just the youthful, childlike, never grow up nature of it all.... as mca grew older he became more involved in serious type things like politics and spirituality. he's probably the reason my generation knows there's a tibet that needs freeing.

he's got more rhymes than he's got grey hairs, and as an aging grey haired beasties fan, i take a lot of comfort in that line. i've always seen the beastie boys as a guideline for aging. age like they age. keep that youthfulness about you. never stop having fun.

in november mca marched across the brooklyn bridge in an 'occupy wall street' march. this is no attempt to sway you on politics. but i can't imagine how awesome it must've been to walk across the brooklyn bridge into brooklyn with brooklyn's own mca. i wouldn't be able to hold back the urge to scream out loud, 'NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN!' until i had no voice.

i don't know what bridge you're on in life.... but i think we're all on a bridge trying to get to our own brooklyn's. today instead of mourning the loss of mca, i celebrate the life of a hero. in celebration i say let's all march our own bridges... and whatever's on the other side is your brooklyn.

and always remember:

NO
SLEEP
TILL BROOKLYN

rip- mca. you will be missed immensely. thank you for the music.