The very first cassette I ever owned was Licsense
to Ill.
I wasn’t much past my 9th birthday when we became
one of the lucky few in my small town to have cable, thus we had MTV. And like
most kids, I liked catchy fun lyrics and easy to follow hooks. You throws those
things in a blender and add goofy charisma… you have the video for Fight
for Your Right to Party.
To say the least, I was completely hooked on those three odd
white rappers.
I stayed up nightly to watch Yo! MTV Raps hoping I
would see it replayed. I bought the crazy collectable trading cards of same
name. If I would have found a plastic
lunch box thermos combo with the terrible three… that too would have been
bought.
It was at some point after weeks of rapper worship that my
brother decided to gift me his copy of the cassette. He no doubt assumed that
the ability to listen at my leisure would in some way halt me from camping in
front of the living room TV every night.
That would be assumption fail.
Sometime around my 12th birthday I found myself
wrapped up in the world of skateboarding and would hang with my friend Scott
for hours on end trying to catch air on a quarter pipe or grind a parking curb,
believing that if I had their masterpiece Paul’s Boutique blaring in the
background each trick could be more easily executed. I am certain I bought or recorded a copy of
that cassette in the neighborhood of ten or eleven times.
Around ’93 and due to a couple years of family turmoil and moving
more times then I cared… I fell out of attachment to the B-Boys. It wasn’t until
I stopped into one of the many outlet stores in Branson and found a “buy 2 get
1” deal on CDs, that I would own my first compact disc. Once again, I had my Liscense.
A couple of trips back would land me Boutique and finally Check
Your Head.
Not much time later, I would purchase my favorite album from
the terrible three… Ill Communication. This album resonates most because it was in ’94
that, thanks to an awesome mom, I would see the Beasties for the first time in
concert at Lollapalooza. It was also the same year of Kurt Cobain’s death,
making ’94 one the most impactful and shaping years of my musical makeup.
By the time Hello Nasty and To the 5 Boroughs were released,
I was in and out of college and the Boys had long established themselves as my
favorite group ever. Each album’s release was an event for me. I would go on to
see them two more times in my life.
When ’09 rolled around I had already been two years
removed from losing my mother to cancer and one year removed from losing one of
my favorite artist to another form of the same disease. And although it may seem silly to some, I took
the news of having a member of my favorite group involved with their own fight
rather hard.
I followed the press releases about the delays in tours and
the release of Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2. I waited paitiently to see if I’d
ever get another dose of hip hops weird step brothers. Finally in April of ’11,
I got more Beastie Boys. And with Hot Sauce came hope.
My wife will vouch that since Sauce’s release and their
announced induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I’ve waited and waited
on an announcement of a new tour. I thought surely a new album meant a new
tour.
When I found out that MCA was not attending the ceremony, I
made my own excuses justifying why. And while my wife (who also has lost her
mother to cancer) seemed more realistic about it, both of us were still shocked
today to hear that Adam Yauch aka MCA had lost his three year battle to cancer.
I was driving my sales truck when it came over the radio, followed by my buddy
John’s “RIP MCA” text.
I pulled over and cried a bit. I am not ashamed to admit
that. I am tearing up as I type this.
I grew up with the Beastie Boys and they grew up with me. They helped me through a sometimes hard childhood. I
spent hours searching for rare CD’s, vinyl records and bad VHS copies of Roadside
Prophets. I was happy when my friend Pow gave me his copy of Rolling
Stones magazine featuring them. I stayed up late while living in KC
with my buddy Dusty to go to an AMC and catch Awesome I Fucking Shot That.
I am not ready to let go of the Beasties. And I know that
the king Ad-Rock and Mike D are still with us and
I know my grief is paled
by theirs… but I’m a fan. And as a fan I don’t want to let go. So I will be
watching tomorrow night’s airing of the Hall of Fame induction on HBO and there
is a good chance that I will cry again when D and Rock read MCA’s prepared speech.
My wife told my oldest daughter that we will be listening to
the Boys all weekend.
She’s right.
I selfishly think cancer has a personal vendetta against me.
I know how crazy that sounds, especially when I have friend’s that I love like
Herb and Leeana fighting it themselves right now. It’s just the way I think
when wallowing in sadness. Every time
someone I know, whether they’re famous or otherwise loses a battle to cancer; I’m
going to cry then as well.
I’m always going to cry.
This weekend, I’ll keep my mourning all for MCA and
keep all my smiles for those still fighting and still living.
So good bye MCA, we’ll all miss you.
