Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch (MCA) Dies After Battling Cancer at 47

Rucuss staffMay 4, 2012

The Beastie Boys are mourning the loss of one of their crew.

Adam Yauch, who is better known as MCA, is one of the the pioneering members of the hip-hop group. Yauch had been in treatment for cancer since 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.

Yauch, who was in the middle of treatments, sat out the Beastie Boys induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. His illness even delayed the release of the group’s latest album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2.

Yauch co-founded the group, which released eight albums, with Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz in 1979. The group sold millions with album Licensed to Ill in 1986. They continued to gain success with albums Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head and Ill Communication.

In recent years, Yauch got involved in film, forming Oscilloscope Laboratories, a production and distribution company whose credits include “We Need to Talk About Kevin, “Wendy and Lucy” and the Banksy documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”

HBO will air the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony honoring the group on May 5. They became just the third rap group to enter the Hall of Fame, after Run-D.M.C. (2009) and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (2007).

Watch MCA announce he had cancer below.

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