Beastie Boys Forever

4 Notes

We seriously can’t believe MCA is gone.

Somehow the Beasties managed to stay youthful throughout a 25+ year career (despite MCA rapping about his “share” of “gray hairs” 20 years ago.) Like Bob Dylan—who MCA repeatedly referenced in raps—everyone has some personal attachment to a specific Beasties album or song. More broadly, the Beasties were key to hip hop’s transition from a NYC fringe culture to a global force.

MCA’s older brother vibe and laid back gruffy voice balanced the intensity from Mike D and Adrock. And they often emphasized the difference with a musical change in feel that’s rare in rap.

MCA did so much right it’s amazing. The perfect mix of pop and musicianship, politics and antics, goofing off and film-making, smooth flow and doody rhymes, creativity and homage.

When you get some time, watch “Awesome, I fucking shot that!” a movie/concert directed by Nathanial Hornblower (Yauch’s filmmaking alterego.)

You can bet we’ll be playing this tomorrow: http://vimeo.com/40431449

We promise to try not to screw it up as much as we do in that video. It’s almost literally the least we could do to pay tribute to a dude who’s a major reason why some of us love and play music in the first place.

MCAlways.