Beasties' Yauch Finds a Groove With Hoops Doc

Beastie Boy produces shallow but pleasing documentary

(NEWSER) - Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot, the second documentary from Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is no Hoop Dreams, but critics predict a slam-dunk with roundball and hip-hop aficionados. The film follows eight high school phenoms through a high-profile Harlem pick-up game and “offers a snapshot of the kind of top players who one day hope to have a shoe named after them,” writes Variety’s Ronnie Scheib. More»

The once-wild Beastie Boy matured into a citizen of the world

(NEWSER) - The effusive tributes to Beastie Boy Adam Yauch continue, and one of his lyrics in particular is being frequently quoted. From "Sure Shot" in 1994:

• “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"

• Jen Doll, AtlanticWire: "Later in their careers, the band renounced their loutish earlier antics, showing a generation how to grow up with grace and go from Boys to men and women."

'MCA' will be missed

(NEWSER) - The tributes are rolling in for Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who died at 47 after a three-year fight with cancer.

• Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon : For Gen-Xers, Kurt Cobain's death "represented the darkness of rock 'n' roll," but years later, Yauch's "is something else. It's random and cruel. It's the banal awfulness of disease." As for Yauch himself, the vegan, crusader for Tibet, and practicing Buddhist: "He changed and grew but somehow always stayed true to his badass heart." Read the full column .

Rapper known as MCA had been fighting cancer

(NEWSER) - One of the Beastie Boys has died: Adam "MCA" Yauch, who had been fighting cancer, is dead at age 47, report TMZ and GlobalGrind . Yauch and fellow Beasties Adam "Ad-rock" Horovitz and "Mike D" Diamond were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month, notes AP , though Yauch himself couldn't make the ceremony. Critics initially dismissed the group as "beer-drinking frat boys" because of songs like "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)!" wrote the AP's Tom Withers around the time of the induction. "But the Beasties eventually won over critics and fans with their sharp lyrics, samples, and beats." More»

(NEWSER) - Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland and is recovering at home, Rolling Stone reports. The rapper says he had the procedure a week and a half ago, and spent just one night in the hospital. Though his recovery is going well, Yauch dreads the “torture” of upcoming radiation treatment. More»