Born: August 5th, 1964

Dead: May 4th, 2012

High of His Life:  I’d say 90% of it.  Adam “MCA” Yauch was one of the three founding members of The Beastie Boys,  who were pretty much one of the most influential artists in the rap world and one of the longest running hip hop groups. Their last album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two,  came out in 2011 and they were still experiencing huge commercial success, 25 years after their first album was released.  Yauch himself directed many of the awesome Beastie Boys music videos we know and love, including “Intergalactic”, the greatest robot vs. octopus creature story ever told. And the Beastie Boys appeared as secret characters in the original  NBA Jam video game AND the 2010 remake. You don’t get bigger than that, seriously.

Low of his Life: Well first, he got all up in arms at the 1994 MTV Video Awards as his alter ego, Nathanial Hornblower, and flipped out about Sabotage not winning Best Direction over R.E.M. That was awkward.  In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with cancer after finding a tumor in his salivary gland. Because of this, the band couldn’t tour, nor did they make appearances in videos for their most recent single releases. In fact, they said they would not tour until Yauch got better.  There’s nothing sadder than the fact that the Beastie Boys will never perform live as a cohesive whole again, but teenagers can at least still blast “Fight For Your Right” to piss off our moms.

Who Sees Him as a Hero: Eminem, young Jewish boys, Ad Rock and Mike D, anyone who grew up in the late 80s and early 90s.