Beastie Boys Adam Yauch

Beastie Boys Adam Yauch, The Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, best known the world over as the thoughtful, witty, in-your-face rapper MCA, died Friday. He was 47.

A Beastie Boys representative confirmed that Mr. Yauch died in his native New York City after a near-three-year battle with cancer.

Mr. Yauch was part of a trio of New York rappers whose music starting in the 1980s transformed the budding genre. In a 25-year span that covered four No. 1 albums and more than 40 million records sold, the Beastie Boys helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream.

Mr. Yauch achieved fame with the Beastie Boys, but as their fame grew he directed his energy toward his lifelong passion: Buddhism and Tibetan independence. While he and his fellow Beastie Boys Mike Diamond “Mike D” and Adam Horovitz “Ad-Rock” continued to transform rap music through classics like “Paul’s Boutique,” “Check Your Head” and “Ill Communication,” Mr. Yauch wrote rhymes about peace, enlightenment and other topics far removed from the party-rap of the Beastie Boys’ early music.

Mr. Yauch also helped form the successful production company Oscilloscope Pictures, which released acclaimed films such as “Wendy and Lisa,” “Burma VJ” and “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” The Tibetan Freedom Concerts, which between 1996 and 2003 helped raise money for Tibetan independence, were the product of his work with the Milarepa Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group. (San Francisco Chronicle)