Adam Yauch

Yauch attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood. In high school, he taught himself to play the bass guitar and formed the Beastie Boys with John Berry, Kate Schellenbach, and Michael Diamond. They played their first show—while still a hardcore punk band in the vein of Reagan Youth—on his 17th birthday. He attended Bard College for two years before dropping out.

Yauch founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film production and distribution company based in New York City. As a Buddhist, he was involved in the Tibetan independence movement and organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert. He died in 2012 from parotid cancer.

Yauch died at age 47 on May 4, 2012. Upon his death, fellow musicians and artists paid tribute. Russell Simmons of Def Jam Records said that Yauch "was incredibly sweet and the most sensitive artist, who I loved dearly". Ben Stiller tweeted that Yauch "stood for integrity as an artist". Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam said that Yauch was "a crazy talent whose contributions with his band were inspirational and consistently ground breaking". Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke wrote: "We looked up to the Beastie Boys a lot when we were starting out and how they maintained artistic control making wicked records but still were on a major label, and the Tibetan Freedom Concerts they organized had a very big influence on me personally and the way Adam conducted himself and dealt with it all impressed me a lot. He was a mellow and [very] smart guy. May he rest in peace." Eminem said in an interview, "Adam Yauch brought a lot of positivity into the world and I think it's obvious to anyone how big of an influence the Beastie Boys were on me and so many others." Three days after Yauch's death, bandmate Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz posted a note on the Beastie Boys' Tumblr page about it, acknowledging the pain of losing Yauch and his admiration for him.

Phish dedicated their cover of "Sabotage" to Yauch during a July 7, 2012 concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. On May 3, 2013, ceremonies were held to rename the Palmetto Playground in Brooklyn Heights to Adam Yauch Park.

In 2011, Yauch received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College, the college he attended for two years. The award is "given in recognition of a significant contribution to the American artistic or literary heritage".

The Beastie Boys had sold 40 million records worldwide by 2010. In April 2012, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch was inducted in absentia due to his illness. His bandmates paid tribute to him; a letter from Yauch was read to the audience.

In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland and lymph node. He underwent surgery and radiation therapy, delaying the release of Hot Sauce Committee Part Two and the subsequent tour. He was unable to appear in music videos for the album. Yauch became a vegan on the recommendation of his doctors. At the time, Yauch described the cancer as "very treatable".

He directed the 2008 film Gunnin' For That #1 Spot about eight high school basketball prospects at the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park in Harlem, New York City. Yauch produced Build a Nation, the comeback album from hardcore/punk band Bad Brains. In addition, Oscilloscope Laboratories also distributed Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008) and Oren Moverman's The Messenger (2009).

In 2002, Yauch constructed a recording studio in New York City called Oscilloscope Laboratories. He began an independent film distributing company called Oscilloscope Pictures. He directed the 2006 Beastie Boys concert film, Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!, although in the DVD extras for the film, the title character in "A Day in the Life of Nathanial Hörnblowér" is played by David Cross.

In 1998, during the MTV Video Music Awards, when receiving the Video Vanguard Award, Yauch condemned America's wars in Muslim countries and prejudice against Muslims and Arabs. Artist Cihan Kaan wrote an obituary in Al Jazeera that Yauch was "Muslim Americans' hero, and America's personal Jewish Gandhi", judging his plea to be greater for intercultural healing than the music of later anti-war rappers whose lyrics included anti-Americanism and conspiracy theories.

In 1995, while attending a speech by the Dalai Lama at Harvard University, he met his wife, Tibetan American Dechen Wangdu. They married in 1998 and had a daughter, Tenzin Losel, the same year.

Yauch was also a feminist. In the 1994 Beastie Boys single "Sure Shot", he rapped the verse: "I want to say a little something that’s long overdue / The disrespect to women has to got to be through / To all the mothers and sisters and the wives and friends / I want to offer my love and respect till the end".

Adam Nathaniel Yauch (pronounced /j aʊ k / ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012) was an American rapper, bass player and filmmaker who was a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. He used the stage name MCA.