Beastie Boys Adam Yauch Dead

Terrible news this week with the sad loss of influential rapper Adam Yauch a.k.a. 'MCA'.

The Beastie Boys rapper was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and died in 2012 at the age of 47. Yauch, best known as MCA, was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.

In an official statement it was expressed that "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".

At the Beastie Boys Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in April, Yauch sat out due to his treatments which also delayed the release of the group's most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. In fact, The Beastie Boys had not performed live since the summer of 2009, and Yauch's illness sadly also prevented the group from appearing in music videos for Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.

Adam Yauch

In addition to his career with the Beastie Boys, Yauch was heavily involved in the movement to free Tibet. 

A founder of the Milarepa Fund, Yauch was instrumental in the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park 1996, which drew 100,000 people – the largest U.S. benefit concert since 1985's Live Aid. After 9/11, Yauch and the Beastie Boys organized New Yorkers Against Violence, a concert benefit for some of the victims least likely to receive help from elsewhere.

His influence can be seen and heard far and wide across the music community, most recently, this touching tribute from worldwide sensations Coldplay...