Beastie Boys Adam Yauch Dead At Age 47

Rap Legend And Tibetan Freedom Activist Lost To Cancer

Family, friends, fans and activists are mourning the loss of Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch. Yauch passed away today after a several year battle with cancer. He is remembered both as a hip hop pioneer and as a preeminent activist for the Tibetan liberation movement.

Youch, aka “MCA”, was propelled to hip hop stardom in 1984 with the release of the Beastie Boys hit record, License To Ill. The Beastie Boys went on to sell over 22 million albums in the U.S. and over 40 million worldwide in a career that spanned three decades.

In 1994, Youch established the Milarepa Fund to help raise awareness and generate funds for the liberation of Tibetan monks under Chinese oppression. Milarepa set off a series of “Free Tibet” concerts that became a worldwide call to action.

“We’re able to help the Tibetans to gain their freedom,” Yauch said in a”Frontline” interview. “But I think the really significant part of it for us for the western world is we have a lot to gain from the Tibetans — there are certain lessons that are within Tibetan culture. I mean understandings of compassion and of nonviolence that are things that we really lack in our society.”

Yauch is survived by his wife Dechen and his daughter Tenzin Losel, as well as his parents Frances and Noel Yauch.