Adam “MCA” Yauch, who founded and played bass for the legendary NYC rap trio the Beastie Boys, died today after a prolonged battle with cancer, according to Rolling Stone magazine. He was 47.
Yauch taught himself how to play the bass in high school, and at 17-years-old created the Beastie Boys. At their onset the Beastie Boys were a hardcore punk band, but by 1986 with the release of their debut album “License to Ill III”, they made the transition to rap.
Based largely off the success of the single “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”, the album went to number one on the billboard charts, launching them onto the national scene.
Though perhaps the trio hit their highest with their 1994 single “Sabotage,” the music video for which, directed by Spike Jonze, is widely regarded as one of the greatest music videos of all-time.
Yauch announced he was being treated for cancer in 2009, delaying the release of the Beastie Boys’ eighth studio release, “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two”.
He is survied by his wife Dechen Wangdu and a daughter, Tenzin Losel Yauch.
