SuperFurryAnimal said:

One of my favorite albums of all time!

Damn! One of the greatest mc's based on voice alone. The humor, spirit, and delivery of his lyrics were like gravy.

[Edited 5/8/12 11:32am]

whodknee said:

Damn! One of the greatest mc's based on voice alone. The humor, spirit, and delivery of his lyrics were like gravy.

[Edited 5/8/12 11:32am]

You guys will not believe this article!!!!!!!

Beastie Boys Sued Over Decades-Old Sampling One Day Before MCA’s Death

Tuf America, the label record currently repping DC-area go-go band Trouble Funk, has filed a lawsuit against the Beastie Boys alleging illegal sampling of their client's music by the hip-hop pioneers.

The suit was filed one day before the passing of Beastie Boys founding ...MCA" Yauch.

According to court documents, Tuf America claims two of Trouble Funk's tracks — "Drop The Bomb" and "Say What?" — were sampled by the Beasties on four songs: "Hold It, Now Hit It" and "The New Style" from Licensed to Ill, and "Shadrach" and "Car Thief" from Paul's Boutique.

The docs go on to say that the usage of Trouble Funk's music was only revealed after "a thorough sound analysis," as the samples were effectively unrecogn... naked ear.

Responding to criticism concerning the timing of the lawsuit, an attorney for Tuf America said she was "sorry to hear of Adam Yauch's untimely passing," but that "the unfortunate timing of the filing of Tuf America's complaint had nothing to do with his health." She offered condolences on behalf of herself and the label "to Adam's family, friends and fans."

Paul's Boutique is said to contain some 300 samples, most of which were obtained legally. Commenting on the album's enduring uniqueness, Slate's Matthew Yglesias pointed out that "perhaps the main reason-and certainly the saddest reason-that it still sounds distinctive is that a rapidly shifting legal and economic landscape made it essentially impossible to repeat."

were effectively unrecogn... naked ear

If this is the case, how did they know the songs are there to analyze?

So sayeth the New York State senators:

LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION mourning the death of famed rapper and activist Adam "MCA" Yauch:

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to honor and pay tribute to those individuals whose commitment and creative talents have contributed to the entertainment and cultural enrichment of their community and the entire State of New York; and

WHEREAS, Adam Yauch, also known as MCA, the rapper, musician, activist, film director and founder of the pioneering New York hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died on Friday, May 4, 2012, in Manhattan at age 47;and

WHEREAS, Adam Nathaniel Yauch was born on August 5, 1964, and raised in Brooklyn Heights; he was the son of Frances Yauch, a social worker, and Noel Yauch, an architect and painter, and attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood; and

WHEREAS, Adam Yauch taught himself the bass guitar while growing up and joined the Beastie Boys, originally a hardcore punk outfit, playing his first show with the group when he was just 17 years old in 1981; and

WHEREAS, The Beastie Boys became well-known in the innovative music scene in Manhattan's East Village and Lower East Side with a sound and a style all their own; and

WHEREAS, The album "Licensed to Ill" was the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard chart; and

WHEREAS, The music and message of the Beastie Boys evolved over the years, but they can't, they don't, they won't stop changing the face of hip-hop, of music, and of our culture; and

WHEREAS, The Beastie Boys exemplified New York through a period in which grassroots creativity and a community of iconoclastic artists helped redefine and rejuvenate a city on the ropes, with iconic imagery from Brooklyn to Ludlow Street; and

WHEREAS, Having consistently produced multi-million selling albums and receiving Grammy awards, in April 2012 the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Adam Yauch was unable to attend due to deteriorating health; and

WHEREAS, In addition to his contributions to music, Adam Yauch was an activist and founder of the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness about abuses in Tibet and against Tibetans, and later in life became a successful filmmaker, founding Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film distribution company; and

WHEREAS, A man of colossal talent and charisma, Adam Yauch is survived by his wife, Dechen Wengdu, and their daughter, Losel; he will be missed by his family, his fans and all who knew him; his dedication to his music, his activism, and his heritage leaves an indelible legacy of inspiration for all other artists; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to mourn the death of famed rapper and activist Adam "MCA" Yauch; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to the family of Adam Yauch.

Yauch was the oldest of the Beastie Boys. Was he a leader in the early days?
Yauch was in charge. He was smarter, more organized. In a group of friends, you all come up with stupid shit to do. But you never do it. With Yauch, it got done. He had that extra drive to see things through. We each had our roles. One of his was the make-it-happen person.

I'd be like, "We should take these pictures where we're dressed as undercover cops. That would be funny." But Adam was really into movies. So we made a whole video of that ["Sabotage"]. It wasn't just a nice picture for us to have.

What was Yauch's musical role in the Beastie Boys?
He was a really good bass player. He loved Daryl [Jennifer] of the Bad Brains. And he could sound like that. When we met [producer-musician] Mark Nishita, he and Adam would talk all this musical shit: "You should go up a fifth here." I'd be like, "Tell me where to put my fingers, and I'll play that for four minutes."

Adam was the Techno Wiz – that's what me, Mike and Rick [Rubin] called him. I went to his apartment in Brooklyn once. He had a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and he had strung the tape all over the place – through the kitchen, around chairs. He was cutting up this Led Zeppelin beat, playing it over and over. I was like, "How did you figure that out?" He said, "I heard Sly Stone did that."

How did you and Mike write with Yauch? Who did what?
When the shit hit the fan, after Licensed to Ill, we started having arguments: "I wrote 37 percent of this song." "These 16 lines are mine." We decided none of that mattered. From that day on, everything was split three ways. Whatever it was, whoever did what, we all got the credit. Except we had veto power. If you really hated something, you could be, "That can't happen."

Did you ever veto a Yauch idea?
He wanted the cover of Ill Communication to be this tree painting. It's actually on the inside [of the CD booklet]. I said, "Anything is better than that tree." He called veto on Mike and me when we did [2007's] The Mix-Up. He said, "It has to be instrumental." We were like, "Let's try some vocals." "No, it has to be instrumental."

Can you recall a killer song or verbal lick Yauch wrote that just knocked you out?
When we were in Los Angeles, doing Paul's Boutique, he got this crazy apartment in Koreatown. And he made "A Year and a Day." What happened to the three of us together and all that crap? But I heard that track, and it was some heavy shit. He rapped his ass off. Adam bought a jet pilot's helmet, rigged it with a microphone and recorded the song wearing that helmet.

How did you deal with the change in his writing, after he became a Buddhist?
His lyrics became simple ideas about love and non-violence. It was a struggle for Adam to write those things. Basic feelings come off as very Hallmark. But we went through that change together. I wrote the lyrics for the song "Gratitude" [on Check Your Head], and Adam was like, "I really like that." It made me happy and proud that I had made him happy.

What was your reaction when he told you he had cancer?
He said, "I'm gonna be okay." He's been right about most shit so far. So I believe him. You would get swept up in his excitement and positivity. We recorded a few months ago. It wasn't any different from before. We spent more time making fart jokes and ordering food, which was true to form. That's why it always took so long for us to put records out.

Did the comfort he took in Buddhism help you deal with his illness and passing?
I don't believe Adam was afraid. Bummed out, yeah. But I can't think when I ever saw him afraid. We got jumped in Brooklyn one time, so we've been afraid in that sense. But, man, he hadn't been afraid in a long time. That gives me peace.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beastie-boys-adam-horovitz-opens-up-about-adam-yauch-he-was-in-charge-20120523?link=mostpopular5

"He had us fooled in the most beautiful way," Michael Diamond said of Adam Yauch, his friend and fellow Beastie Boy for more than 30 years, describing the latter's "incredible optimism" during his three-year battle with cancer. "I believed, up to last week, that Adam was somehow coming back," Diamond confessed, in a long, frank interview after Yauch's death on May 4th. "But I wouldn't trade that optimism for anything," he added quickly, sitting in the kitchen of his Brooklyn home, only six blocks from the house where Yauch grew up. "Because the other option is no fun."

Did Yauch always have a fighter's spirit?
He had this tenacity and faith before he discovered Buddhism. His mom said that was already there. No matter how straight-up nuts an idea was, he had the ability to follow through on things he believed in. Like the cover of Paul's Boutique: "A 360-degree photo? You can't have a camera spin around." He researched it and found one. It was an innate thing for him.

As a rapper, Yauch had a unique, raspy baritone. He sounded more like a soul singer.
Even when we were doing our first hip-hop records, when we were 19 and 20, he sounded like a gruff 40-year-old. He was the Bobby Womack of rap.

Yauch was a gifted MC. It was his flow on things, rather than specific lyrics, that first blew Adam [Horovitz] and I away. Early on, we were in the studio, amazed by how Yauch made it seem so effortless. Horovitz and I were maybe a little jealous. And Rick [Rubin] said to me, "No, this is good. This is where Yauch is at. You sound like you're working hard. You're the working rapper. [Laughs] I'm still not sure what to take away from that.

What were your first impressions of Yauch when you met as teenagers?
Adam taught me the ropes – how to make my own [punk-band] badges, how to fake [hand] stamps to get into shows. And after he, [original Beastie Boys guitarist] John Barry and I saw Black Flag at the Peppermint Lounge, Yauch said, "We're starting a band, and you two guys are in it." It was the same energy that enabled him to start his film company, Oscilloscope – the ability to will something to happen.

What's an example of that on Licensed to Ill?
We were playing around with this 808 drum machine. We had this beat, and Yauch said, "I'd like to hear what it would sound like backwards." 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.

He talked about experimenting with acid during the time of Paul's Boutique.
Yauch was starting this inward mind journey. We were layering a lot of samples on top of each other, and Yauch was definitely pushing that. The acid experience gave him the ability to see, "Wow, this is great – press 'play' on everything at the same time." Yauch was great at lacking fear.

Did his personality change after he became a Buddhist?
He abandoned the band for months in the winter to go snowboarding, on this very serious level. Then it wasn't snowboarding. He would disappear for two months of teaching by his Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. He gradually incorporated that into the music. He was the first to realize we had this soapbox, and we needed to do something with it.

But he was never dogmatic about it. He'd say, "You should see these monks. They love playing practical jokes on each other." When we were smashing cars in the "Sabotage" video, it was the same thing. We just did it with mustaches and wigs.

How much music did you make at your final recording session with him last fall?
Adam instigated it. It could only come from him, in terms of where he was at with treatment. It was stuff we had written or demo-ed, and there were new ideas. He wasn't sure he was able to do vocals. But after a bit, we ended up doing them. And he was fine. It was a way for him to say, "Yeah, I'm doing it."

Can you imagine making music without him?
I can see making music. I don't know about a band format. But Yauch would genuinely want us to try whatever crazy thing we wanted but never got around to.

^^Nice interviews