The Beastie Boys: Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz), MCA (Adam Yauch) and Mike D (Michael Diamond).
IT was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Adam Yauch aka MCA of The Beastie Boys.
Yauch lost his three-year battle with cancer on Friday and the world lost a truly inspirational and influential musician.
From hardcore punks to frat-boy rappers, from hip-hop innovators to elder statesmen of the rhyme game, Yauch and his fellow Beastie Boys have had a hell of a journey.
While the band formed as a hardcore punk group around 1980, they grew into the iconic trio of middle-class Jewish New York rappers they are today a few years later when they downed their guitars and took up hip-hop full time.
Here's a look back at some of their best albums and how Yauch, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Michael Diamond (Mike D) helped change the face of music.
Paul's Boutique (1989)
THEIR debut
Here's the cool '70s-inspired clip for
Check Your Head (1992)
THE Beastie Boys demanded respect on
Speaking of which:
Ill Communication (1994)
RETURNING to the top of the US charts for the first time since
I couldn't not post this clip - it's one of the best ever (same goes for the song):
Hello Nasty (1998)
WITH 22 tracks, this is an epic. It's also a progression, with the addition of turntablist supremo Mixmaster Mike bringing an extra colour to the palette that helps offset the slight repetition that comes from the trio's unison punctuation rapping. His presence is so welcome the B-Boys even dedicated a whole track -
Here's the clip for awesome lead single
To The 5 Boroughs (2004)
THE Beastie Boys became more politicised around the time of
Can't find the clip for this, but this is a pretty unique