Happy Birthday Adam Yauch | Beastie Boys 2004 Concert

It’s still hard to believe Adam “MCA” Yauch is no longer with us as his 2012 death brought the Beastie Boys career to an early finish. Yauch was the heart and soul of the Beasties, a hip-hop act that was always innovating and was never content to focus on just one sound. Today would’ve been MCA’s 50th birthday had he not lost his battle with cancer.

The Beasties were a fine live act as the rare hip-hop group who were each capable instrumentalists as well as master rappers. For an example of the group’s MC’ing skills, watch the trio’s MTV2 $2 Bill performance from 2004 which features such Beastie Boys classics as “Sure Shot,” “Root Down,” “pass The Mic,” “So What’cha Want” and “Intergalactic.”

02:31 -Sure Shot
05:22 -Root Down
08:49 -Right Right Now Now
11:22 -Body Movin’
14:22 -That’s It, That’s All
17:10 -Time To Get Ill
19:14 -Pass The Mic
22:47 -Triple Trouble
25:43 -Skills To Pay The Bills
28:04 -So What’cha Want
31:03 -Three MCs And One DJ
34:08 -Ch-Check It Out
37:20 -Intergalactic

And here’s the Beasties’ 1992 appearance on Hangin’ With MTV, which displays their instrumental work:

So What’cha Want > Interview > Groove Holmes > Pow > In 3’s > Instrumental Jam > Iron Man > Hurricane Vocal Track > Gratitude > Time For Livin’