In Memoriam of MCA of the Beastie Boys

The Boys with David Lee Roth, Sean Penn

            In music there is nothing you can’t do.  That may sound cliché, but it’s SO TRUE.  Anyone who has enough drive, creativity and talent has no limitation in this medium.  Those people with the courage, perseverance, and luck get to share that with countless fans, inspire future artist, and get memoriams like these written about them. 

            MCA was one of the founding members of the Beastie Boys back when they were a hardcore punk band, just a few white kids from New York.  After a hip-hop/prank call track called “cocky puss” the band changed their sound to hip-hop, releasing their first full length “License to Ill,” and the rest is music history. 

            Their debut album is phenomenal.  You would have thought they were in the hip-hop game since the get go.  They have a great style coupled with catchy hooks.  They could compliment each other’s parts, and had a fantastic chemistry that can’t help, but be expressed in their music.  I listened to it a lot as a kid with my brothers, and literally from beginning to end the whole album I thoroughly enjoy.  Each song manages to very different while still being so Beastie.

            I’m not going to bore you with the laundry list of awards, successes, and acclaim the band has obtained since they began, but to put it in perspective in 2012 they were the third hip hop group to be introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame behind Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC.  To be in the same sentence as these guys let alone the same category, you need to have made a serious contribution to music.

            Sometimes silly, sometimes insightful, always fun, MCA will be survived by some of the best hip-hop/rock hybrid tracks of all time.  In memory of  what he helped bring into the world I asked you to turn your speakers up.