A Year and a Day...RIP MCA

"M.C., for what I am, and do
The A is for Adam, the lyrics: true..."

It's been a year and a day since we lost one third of the "triple trouble" and my hip hop idol, Adam "MCA" Yauch.  It was great to see how fondly he was remembered.  Rolling Stone ran a nice article remembering Yauch, and even Backspin the old school hip-hop channel on Sirius XM did a great tribute to the man that could lay down rhymes with the best.

More importantly, in Brooklyn it was anointed "MCA Day" with a park dedicated in his honor.  My Discordants partner went down to pay his respect and see so many others doing the same.  Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz spoke at the ceremony that seemed to be enjoyed by many.

I think this picture of Ad Rock with Yauch's mother, Ad Rock's sister and some city bureaucrats speaks for itself.

Like Ma Bell, you have the ill communication.

Stuck In My Head

"That Lady, Pt. 1 & 2" by the Isley Brothers.

I blame this completely on some stupid commercial I keep seeing when my wife is watching HGTV.

That said, there is an upside to all of this. That Isley Brothers riff was used in the fabulous 
"B-Boy Bouilliabaisse" sub-track "A Year and a Day" from Paul's Boutique, on which the late, great Adam Yauch cruises through his lyric with a smooth yet aggressive style.And he manages to name checks black and tans when he sings "I'm fishing in my boat and I'm fishing for trout../Mix the Bass Ale with the Guiness Stout." I always love that line.

"I got a peg leg at the end of my stump-ah..."

After playing my b-boy cd's all weekend long, I  found some of the best of Yauch.  Popdust listed the 10 greatest Adam Yauch moments. Stereogum upped them and gave the 20 greatest.  I thought it would be fitting to go through a few of the best Yauch lines of all times.  Metrolyrics already did, so did Billboard and diffuser. So along those line, I will leave you with this:

M.c. for what I am and do The a is for adam and the lyrics; true  
So as pray and hope and the message is sent  
And I am living in the dreams that I have dreamt  
Because I'm down with the three the unstoppable three  
Me and adam and d. were born to m.c.  
And my body and soul and mind are pure  
Not polluted or diluted or damaged beyond cure 
Just lyrics from I to you recited  
Arrested, bailed but cuffed and indicted  
Enter the arena as I take center stage  
The lights set low and the night has come of age  
Take the microphone in hand as that I am a professional  
Speak my knowledge to the crowd and the ed. is special  
For I am a bard but not the last one I'm my own king and this is my castle  
Dwell in realms of now but vidi those of the past  
Seen a glimpse from ahead and I don't think it's gonna last  
And you can bet your ass

I drop the l. when I'm skiing  
I'm smoking and peaking I put the skis on the roof almost every single weekend  
Can't stop the mindfuck when it's rolling along  
Can't stop the smooth runnin's when the shit's running strong  
Broke my bindings the lion with wings  
Preaching his word in the b. boy sing 
I am one with myself as I turn to the 
I prefer the dreams to reality  
I prefer my life don't need no other man's wife 
Don't need no crazy lifestyle with stress and strife  
But it's good to have turn to be a king for a day  
Or for a week or for a year or for a year in a day  
Come what may

I'm fishing with my boat and I'm fishing for trout  
Mix the bass ale with the guiness stout  
Fishing for a line inside my brain  
And looking out at the world through my window pane  
Every day has many colors 'cause the glass is stained  
Everything has changed but remains the same  
So once again the mirror raised and I see myself as clear as day 
And I am going to the limits of my ultimate destiny 
Feeling as though somebody were testing me  
He who sees the end from the beginning of time  
Looking forward through all the ages is, was and always shall be  
Check the prophetic sections of the pages

He goes by the name of disco dave

 ~"A Year & A Day - from B-Boys Bouillabaisse

The Beastie Boys press release

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.

"You Owe Me a Goat"

Yauch never failed to make us laugh. And his hijinks as Nathanial Hornblower always do the trick. In 2004, The New York Times gave his video for "Ch-Check It Out" a negative review, and Yauch let them know about it -- demanding that they send him a goat.

Read Hornblower's letter to the editor here. And don't miss his prediction that one day, the Times reviewer would be shouting of Hornblower "He is the chancellor of all the big ones!"

We're all shouting it today.

h/t Gawker

RIP Adam Yauch

I don't think a celebrity death has ever touched me as much as today's loss of one MCA, Adam Yauch.  Yauch and the Beastie Boys were a seminal part of my musical history.  I spent several summer listening to my green cassette of Paul's Boutique over and over, that I can still recite so may great lines.  As my writing partner in crime just said to me over the phone, "this is our Kennedy.  We won't forget where we were when this happened. "

I always wondered who the Mt. Rushmore of the Discordants would be.  We both agreed that the list starts with Adam Yauch.  From Nathaniel Hornblower, to Cookie Puss, to beards like a billy goat, we embraced all that our favorite b-boy spoke about.  From making out with Madonna, to singing about going gray, we ate up whet ever he was dishin'. 

I'm sure we will continue to post what we loved most about Yauch, show look at some clips and some of his greatest lines, but I just needed to say something at the moment.  RIP MCA - "That's right, my name is YAUCH!" ~ Sounds of Science.