State Sen. Daniel Squadron honored Beastie Boys founder Adam "MCA" Yauch with a resolution on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon, recognizing Yauch's and the Beastie Boys' major contributions to music, as well as Yauch's political activism on behalf of "humanist issues locally and around the world."
Yauch, who on May 4, grew up on State Street near Court Street on the fringes of Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights.
Yauch learned to play the bass guitar and performed his first show with the Beastie Boys at age 17. The group rose to prominence via the East Village and Lower East Side music scene, eventually putting out the first hip hop album to top the charts and continued to earn many other accolades for years after that.
"For many people of my generation, the passing of Adam Yauch, because of its untimely nature and because of the influence that The Beastie Boys had, is truly shocking and sad," Squadron, D-Boerum Hill stated on the senate floor.
The Squadron resolution goes on to read in part: "Whereas, The music and message of the Beastie Boys evolved over the years, but they can't, won't, don't stop changing the face of hip-hop, of music, and of our culture. Whereas, The Beastie Boys exemplified New York through a period in which grassroots creativity and a community of iconoclastic artists helped redefine and rejuvenate a city on the ropes, with iconic imagery from Brooklyn to Ludlow Street."
A complete transcript of the resolution mourning Yauch's passing can be found here.
