Adam Nathaniel Yauch (/jaʊk/ YOWK; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), also known by the stage name MCA,^[1] was an American rapper, bassist, filmmaker and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed many of the band's music videos and did much of their promotional photography, often using the pseudonym Nathaniel Hörnblowér for such work.

Yauch founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film production and distribution company based in New York City. As a Buddhist, he was involved in the Tibetan independence movement and organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert.^[2] He died in 2012 from parotid cancer,^[3] after which Beastie Boys disbanded.

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Yauch was an only child. His father Noel was an architect,^[4] and his mother Frances was a social worker.^[5][6][7][8] Yauch's mother was Jewish and his father Catholic, but he had a non-religious upbringing^[6] in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn.^[9]

Yauch attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood. In high school, he taught himself to play the bass guitar^[10] and formed Beastie Boys from hardcore punk band, Young Aborigines, with John Berry, Kate Schellenbach, and Michael Diamond.^[11] They played their first show—while still a hardcore punk band in the vein of Reagan Youth—on his 17th birthday. He attended Bard College for two years before dropping out.^[12]

His stage name, MCA, is an initialism for "Master of Ceremonies Adam."^[13][14][15]

Beastie Boys, a hip-hop trio, released their first album Licensed to Ill on Def Jam Records when Yauch was 22. He directed many of Beastie Boys' music videos, often under the pseudonym Nathanial Hörnblowér.^[12][16]

In 2002, Yauch constructed a recording studio in New York City called Oscilloscope Laboratories. He began an independent film distributing company called Oscilloscope Pictures.^[17] He directed the 2006 Beastie Boys concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!

Beastie Boys had sold 40 million records worldwide by 2010.^[12] In April 2012, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch was inducted in absentia due to his illness.^[10] His bandmates paid tribute to him; a letter from Yauch was read to the audience.^[18]

In 2011, Yauch received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College, the college he attended for two years. The award is "given in recognition of a significant contribution to the American artistic or literary heritage".^[19]

He directed the 2008 film Gunnin' For That #1 Spot about eight high school basketball prospects at the Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park in Harlem, New York City.

Yauch produced Build a Nation (2007), the comeback album from hardcore/punk band Bad Brains. When Bad Brains released Into the Future (2012), the band dedicated the album to Yauch, their longtime friend and backer, who had died several months previously.^[20]

In addition, Oscilloscope Laboratories also distributed Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), Oren Moverman's The Messenger (2009),^[21] and Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011).

Yauch was a practicing Buddhist.^[22] He became an important voice in the Tibetan independence movement,^[2][23] creating the Milarepa Fund, a nonprofit organization devoted to Tibetan independence and organized several benefit concerts to support the cause, including the Tibetan Freedom Concert.^[10][21][24]

In 1995, while attending a speech by the Dalai Lama at Harvard University, he met his wife, Tibetan American Dechen Wangdu. They married in 1998 and had a daughter the same year.^[10][25][26]

In 1998, during the MTV Video Music Awards, when receiving the Video Vanguard Award, Yauch condemned America's wars in Muslim countries and prejudice against Muslims and Arabs.^[27]

In July 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous parotid gland and lymph node. He underwent surgery and radiation therapy, delaying the release of Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 until 2011 (when it was renamed to Hot Sauce Committee Part Two) and canceling the trio's planned tour.^[28][29] He was unable to appear in music videos for the album. Yauch became a vegan on the recommendation of his Tibetan doctors.^[30] At the time, Yauch described the cancer as "very treatable".^[31]

Yauch died in New York City at age 47 on May 4, 2012.^[3] In his last will and testament, Yauch left instructions that his music could not be used in advertising, though the legal validity of such an instruction has been questioned.^[32]

On May 3, 2013, ceremonies were held to rename the Palmetto Playground in Brooklyn Heights to Adam Yauch Park.^[9]

with Beastie Boys

• Licensed to Ill (1986)
• Paul's Boutique (1989)
• Check Your Head (1992)
• Ill Communication (1994)
• Hello Nasty (1998)
• To the 5 Boroughs (2004)
• The Mix-Up (2007)
• Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)