"Because you can't, you won't and you don't stop"

Because you can't, you won't and you don't stop

Because you can't, you won't and you don't stop 

Oh, but you can't, you won't and you don't stop

MCA come and rock the sure shot

~ 'Sure Shot' by the Beastie Boys

A Beastie Boys representative confirmed today that Adam Yauch (a.k.a MCA) "passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer."

Yauch, who was 47, achieved fame with the Beastie Boys, but as their fame grew he directed his energy toward his lifelong passion: Buddhism and Tibetan independence. While he and his fellow Beastie Boys Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) continued to transform rap music through classics like "Paul's Boutique," "Check Your Head" and "Ill Communication," Yauch helped tether the group with his rhymes about peace, enlightenment and other topics far removed from the party-rap of the Beastie Boys' early music (most notably their platinum debut album 'Liscensed to Ill"). Last month the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where members Ad-Rock and Mike D accepted the award; MCA was unable to make it.

I saw the Beastie Boys perform live at the Brixton Academy in London on May 24, 1987.  This was the infamous 'Liscensed to Ill' Tour, complete with a stage set that included a giant inflatable penis, bikini babes in cages, and copious amounts of Budweiser Beer. Their big hit at the time (the first of dozens over the next three decades) was 'Fight For Your Right (To Party)'. As a young white boy from downunder who was 'down with rap' you can only imagine the euphoria I felt being immersed in my first ever live rap show.

The following day I scribbled down a review of the show (yes, by hand, on paper) and mailed it (yes, a letter 'in the post') off to Rip It Up Magazine back in Auckland, New Zealand. Whether it got published or not I don't recall; I was still living in London - watching Run DMC, Eric B & Rakim, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and my other rap heroes performing every other month! But, as they say, you 'never forget your first' and the Beastie Boys continued to hold a special place in my heart.

Rest In Peace, Adam Yauch, or whatever it is that Budhists do. You will be missed, but not forgotten.

Photo by Laura Levine, on display at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. PIcture taken on my iPhone, April 2011