Adam Yauch

1964 – 2012

Adam Nathaniel Yauch, known as MCA, was an American rapper, bassist, and filmmaker who co-founded the Beastie Boys, the first hip-hop group to achieve sustained mainstream commercial success and one of the genre's most enduringly influential acts. He directed many of the group's music videos under the pseudonym Nathanial Hörnblowér, and in 2002 founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent New York film distributor that championed acclaimed documentaries and indie features. A devout convert to Tibetan Buddhism, he organized the Tibetan Freedom Concerts of the late 1990s, raising international awareness of human rights abuses in Tibet, before dying of salivary-gland cancer at age 47.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM