Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys Dead at 47

We are saddened to report Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has passed away. He was 47.

Adam Yauch dies at 47

The band’s rep confirmed that Yauch died in his native New York City Friday morning after a three-year battle with cancer.

The rapper was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer,” reads an official statement from the Beastie Boys. “He was 47 years old.”

Beastie Boys

Adam Yauch was one of the founding members of The Beastie Boys in 1979 with Mike D, Mix Master Mike, and Ad Roc.

Yauch rapped as MCA in the Beastie Boys, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

They offered many listeners in the 1980s their first exposure to hip-hop. They were pioneering white rappers who helped extend the art of sampling and gained the respect of their African Americans.

The Beastie Boys not only enamored fans in the 1980s but gained generations of success selling millions of records.

The group has won multiple Grammys.

“The Beasties opened hip-hop music up to the suburbs,” said Rick Rubin, who produced the group’s 1986 debut album, in a recent interview with The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. “As crazy as they were, they seemed safe to Middle America, in a way black artists hadn’t been up to that time.”

Adam Yauch is survived by his daughter and wife.

We send our condolences out to the family and to The Beastie Boys.