On May 4th, 2012 – Adam Yauch, better known as MCA and founder member of the Beastie Boys, died of cancer, aged just 47.

The Beastie Boys caused controversy whenever definitions were around.  Hip-hop.  Rap.  Punk.  They just made the music they wanted to make and pretty much ignored what people said about them.  Yauch once said that the Beasties had started rapping as a joke, but found that audiences liked it better than their punk-rock. In 1986, the release of the Beastie Boys, “Licensed to Ill”, with it’s Top 10 single – (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), pushed not only the Beastie Boys but hip-hop itself into the mainstream. And so the legend was born.

While he continued to play and record with the Beastie Boys, Yauch also developed other interests along the way. After travelling to Tibet and Nepal in the early 90’s he became a practising Buddhist and began to work for Tibetan freedom.  On the Beastie Boys’ 1994 album, ‘Ill Communication’, he even rapped Bodhisattva Vow, a version of the vow made by aspiring Buddhist monks.

Along with Yauch, the lyrics of the Beastie Boys’ songs matured over the years as their original casual sexism and adolescent anarchism was replaced by more constructive lyrics calling for positive social change and respect for women.  In 1994, Yauch founded the Milarepa Fund and held a series of concerts across America and the world to raise awareness of Chinese control over Tibet.  The first of these so called Tibetan Freedom Concerts, was held at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and it attracted more than 100,000 people.

After September 2011, Yauch involved himself in further humanitarian efforts when Milrepa and the Beastie Boys founded New Yorkers Against Violence to promote awareness of the need for non-violent solutions to the problems in the Middle East.

In 1998, Adam Yauch married Dechen Wangdu, an American born Tibetan activist and together they also had a daughter, Tenzin Losel, in September of that year.

In recent years, Yauch, as well as continuing with his music, began to move into film production with Oscilloscope Laboratories.  This company, run like an indie music label dedicated itself to nurturing new and undiscovered talent and was rewarded in 2009 when it’s military drama, The Messenger, was nominated for best original screenplay and best supporting actor (Woody Harrelson).

In 2010, Oscilloscope Laboratories was also the company behind the highly acclaimed – and also Oscar nominated – documentary – Exit Through the Gift Shop.  This film, directed by anonymous-but-famous street artist Banksy, tells the story of an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film-maker who tries to locate and befriend Banksy.  Oscilloscope were also behind the production of the 2011 filming of Lionel Shriver’s novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin.

Yauch lost his battle with cancer on May 4th 2012.  He is survived by his wife, daughter, parents, friends and millions of fans. Less than a month before Yauch’s death, the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making them just the third rap band to be so honored.  Here is their acceptance speech –