Destination Jam: Our Top 5 Beastie Boys songs to celebrate late rapper Adam 'MCA' Yauch's birthday
Come August 5, 2020, the late great Adam "MCA" Yauch of the celebrated rap trio, the Beastie Boys, would have turned 56. However, the talented musician was tragically taken away from us when he died on May 4, 2012, due to salivary gland cancer. Yauch, along with his New York-based rhyming compatriots Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, revolutionized the hip-hop landscape in the late 1980s. They were just three young White boys who were enamored by a hip-hop landscape completely dominated by African-American artistes. After breaking through into the mainstream, thanks to the efforts of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin from Def Jam Records, their debut album 'Licensed To Ill' became the first rap album top the Billboard 200 chart, and they've managed to capture the hearts and imagination of adoring music lovers ever since, with Yauch not just contributing vocals and bass, but music video direction as well.
Over the years, the Beastie Boys would go on to dominate the American pop culture landscape with their jovial raps, witty jams, and later on, their wisdom and political activism. As the oldest of the group, Yauch was their mature leader, both gruff and gritty in his early years and a wise and spiritual elder statesman later on, as he embraced causes such as veganism and Buddhism in his middle age. While the genre-bending Beastie Boys had plenty of hits along the way, this Destination Jam playlist is a celebration of Adam Yauch's contributions. That's why staples like '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)', 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' and 'Sabotage' haven't been included in favor of slightly more Yauch-centric fare.
Destination Jam - Adam Yauch Tribute
'Paul Revere'
This classic track was released as the third single from the Beastie Boys' debut album, 'Licensed to Ill', in 1986. The swaggering song included a fictional tale of how the Beastie Boys first teamed up, and Yauch announces his arrival with authority. His lines provided a template for many an aspiring gangsta rapper to follow - "Now my name is MCA, I've got a license to kill / I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill / Now what do we have here, an outlaw and his beer? / I run this land, you understand? I made myself clear?" It turns out that Yauch was the reason the song sounded so unique, because he was interested in hearing what 808 beat samples would sound like backwards. As an awed Mike D later revealed, "Run from Run-D.M.C. was there, and he was like, ’Man, this is crazy.’ But Yauch recorded this beat, bounced it to another tape, flipped it around — this is pre-digital sampling — and bounced it back to the multi-track tape.” “The reversed beat basically became ’Paul Revere.’ Yauch saw this thing we couldn’t see — and he killed it.”
'Egg Man'
Another vintage song from the Beastie Boys catalog, 'Egg Man', was the fourth sample-laden track from their acclaimed album 'Paul's Boutique' which released in 1989. The jokester trio was reportedly quite fond of egging people, i.e. throwing eggs as pranks, and they would often indulge in their favorite activity in their downtime, hurling eggs from hotel roofs, tour buses, limos and various other concert locations. On 'Egg Man', Yauch served up some of his finest rhymes yet with some well-finessed lyrics and his trademark gravelly flow - "Which came first, the chicken or the egg? / I egged the chicken, and then I ate his leg" and later on, "People laugh, it's no joke / My name's "Yauch" and I'm throwing the yolk /Now they got me in a cell, but I don't care / It was then that I got caught catching people out there." The fact that he was interested in philosophical riddles, this early on was a sign of his Buddhist leanings that were to emerge later.
'Gratitude'
This track was released as the fourth single from the third Beastie Boys studio album, 'Check Your Head', which dropped in 1992. It quickly became a hit on modern rock radio, thanks in no small part to Yauch's iconic fuzz bass line intro which remains one of his more memorable contributions to the band's considerable body of work. Yauch used a Univox Superfuzz on this swirling, mesmerizing track, which is why it sounds like something an intoxicated Jimi Hendrix might have belted out during Woodstock '69. Further ramping up the rock credentials for this hip-hop group is the fact that the music video was a tribute to the psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd, aping their 'Live at Pompeii' concert film from 1972. More rockers have paid homage to this classic since then, with the punk bands Refused and the Transplants both covering the song in the past. Even more famously, the punk rock legend Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame has also written improvised lyrics for this chant-worthy masterpiece and has been known to perform cover versions of 'Gratitude' when playing live.
'Namasté'
A gorgeous closing track on 'Check Your Head' from 1992, this track remains a groovy, chilled-out masterpiece even today. Reverberant guitar wah-wah, soft and gentle synths and laidback hip-hop beats provide the backdrop for this floating-in-space smooth jazz monologue for your mind's eye. Inspired by Adam Yauch's poetry and Eastern philosophy leanings, the song also features some stellar contributions from the band's longtime collaborator on keyboards, Money Mark Nishita. The blissful lyrics are perfectly delivered like a spoken word poetry recital and are perfectly in keeping with the song's mellow, stoner vibe. Sample lines, which touch on the teachings of Chuang Tzu and the nature of reality, see Yauch waxing introspective - "A butterfly floats on the breeze of a sun lit day / As I feel this reality gently fade away / Riding on a thought to see where it's from / Gliding through a memory of a time yet to come."
'Bodhisattva Vow'
This unique track from 1994's 'Ill Communication' served as an eye-opener to many fun-loving Beastie Boys fans, as it heralded a growing maturity in the Beastie Boys' songwriting approach, as well as an insight into Yauch's ever-expanding mindset and self-awareness. As one reviewer described it - "The hypnotic soul of 'Bodhisattva Vow' mixes chanting Buddhist Monks with an echo-drenched Beastie vocal." Adam Yauch's Buddhist philosophy, which he wholeheartedly embraced in his later years, serves up a majority of the wisdom on this spiritual and heartfelt track. Given the state of affairs in the troubled world right now, it's also one of the best Beastie Boys songs to help us cope with our current global pandemic plight. "I give thanks for this world as a place to learn / And for this human body that I know I've earned / Seeing others are as important as myself / I strive for a happiness of mental wealth / With the interconnectedness that we share as one / Every action that we take affects everyone."
Destination Jam is a daily list of songs that will keep you entertained and grooving up top in lieu of feeling drained and losing the plot. Look out for a fresh selection of great tunes from MEAWW to refresh your mood every day!