Aroe For MCA (R.I.P)
image via http://revok1.com
Ricky Powell is a mate of the Beastie Boys, who got to go on tour with them way back in their early days after their first album blew up. He’s got a great book called Frozade Moments, full of the cool cats he hung with in NYC in that era. Pic from A Polaroid Story
“Homeboy throw in the towel, Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell.” Car Thief, Paul’s Boutique, by the Beastie Boys
And go check George Lois chats with Ricky Powell.
Adam Yauch and his daughter Tenzin Losel at the Amnesty International Spotlight Awards for human rights on Jan. 28, 2001.
r.i.p adam yauch aka mca
this was going to be a one-sentence post, but i couldn’t let it go down that way. this news is devastating. its akin to hearing about the passing of b.i.g, kurt cobain & jam master jay.
he was the cool one. he was the one that i wanted to be when i first saw their early videos. mca and the beastie boys were so influential on so many levels, but for me if ever i had any doubts about hip hop, they were all eradicated when licensed to ill dropped. i was the first person to arrive to sounds at manukau city (where i later worked) on the day that licensed to ill dropped. i took the day off from work thinking that there would be a line around the block to buy the album, but there wasn’t and i was the first to buy it.
mca made me go out and buy converse sneakers and a motorcycle jacket. mca and rick rubin made it cool to look like a rock guy, even if you were a hip hop cat at heart. they showed us that you can be both. and most importantly they took me deeper in to my hip hop journey.
the beasties had us all acting crazy. we would go to house parties to destroy the place while drinking and partying. we were fighting for our right i guess? Haha, stupid shit, but it meant so much at the time.
pauls boutique was monumental, but it was so different that it took me a minute to catch up. but check your head was whole other story. it was another leveling bomb-blast to my musical universe. it turned me on to a whole new world of music and for that moment the beasties couldn’t get any cooler. their magazine, clothing line, record label all spoke to me and hipped me to artists as diverse as lee scratch perry, jorge ben & at the drive in.
i recently sat with lyor cohen and asked after adam. lyor had just returned from the rock’n’roll hall of fame ceremony, where the beasties boys had been inducted. i could instantly tell by the look on lyor’s face that the news was bad. he responded by simply saying “he’s not well”. i knew at that moment that this day was coming and i was gutted.
adam you were a true hero and a major inspiration to us all. safe flight sir.
HED LOK | KRS1 @ THE STUDIO | AUCKLAND 2012
Che fu, King Kaps, Manuel Bundy, Teremoana Rapley and Slave killing it in a set that covered over a decade of material. Too choice.
This weekend saw history made as one of Hip Hop’s forefathers not only performed his first live gig in New Zealand, but also gave a Lecture at Auckland Museum. Krist Parker, better known as KRS-One (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone) wowed crowds on Saturday night and educated us…