Lookin' for a girl - I ran into a guy / His name is MCA, I said, "Howdy" - he said, "Hi"

[snacky]

Just like an earlier generation had their favorite Beatle, when Licensed To Ill hit it big, people my age had a favorite Beastie Boy. My friends mostly liked Adrock, but MCA was my favorite then, and he always stayed that way.

My brother texted me today, after he heard the news. "Yauch was always my favorite," I texted. "Mine too. :(" he replied.

I could go on and on about how the Beasties and I grew up together, how the first two albums were my college years, and how Check Your Head was THE album of my early twenties and still one of my all-time favorites, and how I loved listening to how they changed and grew, along with me and my friends, all of us fans from the first time we heard "Cooky Puss."

Instead I'll say that today I listened to all their CDs, in order, as opposed to just one song at a time on shuffle on iTunes. And I remembered just how much I loved all those songs, and I thought about how young Adam Yauch was, and how much cancer sucks. He was an artist and a visionary and a great human being, and he didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk.

Namaste, MCA. Thanks for all those years of good music and fun.

Have some songs:

Paul Revere
Now my name is MCA - I've got a license to kill / I think you know what time it is - it's time to get ill

No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Born and bred in Brooklyn - U.S.A. / They all me Adam Yauch - but I'm MCA

Posse in Effect
Well I'm MCA - I got nothing to prove / Pay attention - my intention is to bust a move

Shake Your Rump
Got arrested at the Mardi Gras for jumping on a float / My man MCA's got a beard like a billy goat / *oowah oowah* is my disco call / MCA *hu-huh* I'm gettin' rope y'all

Shadrach
We're just 3 M.C.'s and we're on the go / Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

Jimmy James
Well, people how you doing there's a new day dawning

Pass the Mic
If you can feel what I'm feeling then it's a musical masterpiece / Hear what I'm dealing with then that's cool at least

Professor Booty
Thought you could walk on me to get some ground to walk on / I'll put the rug out from under your ass as I talk on

Sabotage
Listen all y'all it's a sabotage

B-Boys Makin' With the Freak Freak
'Cause Yauch's on the upright, the shit just ain't funny / Got fat bass lines like Russell Simmons steals money

Sure Shot
I want to say a little something that's long overdue / The disrespect to women has got to be through / To all the mothers and sisters and the wives and friends / I want to offer my love and respect to the end

Get It Together
Phone is ringing', oh my god

3 MCs and One DJ
It's all hypnotic and sanctified / I never wanna let a bad day slip by

Body Movin'
We need body rockin' not perfection / Let me get some action from the back section

3 The Hard Way
We're gonna rock this motherfucker like three the hard way

An Open Letter to NYC
Dear New York I hope you're doing well / I know a lot's happened and you've been through hell

Dramatically Different

Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win
Coming down like a bird floating on the mist / Turn on the track, back track and twist / You work hard to climb the list / Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift

Make Some Noise
We got a party on the left, a party on the right / We gonna party for the motherfucking right to fight

Rhymin' & Stealin'
Yo ho ho and a bottle of Brass Monkey / And when my girlie shakes her hips - she sure gets funky / Skirt chasing, free basing - killing every village / We drink and rob and rhyme and pillage

Cooky Puss
"Hello, man, you got Cooky Puss's number?"

Namaste
And she said dark is not the opposite of light / It's the absence of light / And I thought to myself / She knows what she's talking about / And for a moment I knew / What it was all about