Beastie Boys star Adam Yauch dies aged 48

COPY & PASTE de la bbc.

"Beastie Boys rapper Adam Yauch has died at the age of 48, his publicist has confirmed to the BBC.

The star was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 but it is not clear whether his death was connected with the illness.
Yauch had surgery and radiation therapy but said last year "reports of my being totally cancer free are exaggerated".
Under the alias MCA, he joined the group co-founded by Mike D, Mix Master Mike, and Ad Roc in 1981. They went on to sell more than 40m albums worldwide.
The band started out as a hardcore punk outfit called The Young Aborigines in 1979 but switched to hip hop in 1984.
Two years later they launched their critically-acclaimed debut album Licensed To Ill, which spawned the hit singles (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) and No Sleep Till Brooklyn.
Fusing rock guitars with lo-fi hip-hop beats, Licensed To Ill was one of the first rap records to cross over to a mainstream audience - and the first to top the US charts.

The Beastie Boys, with Yauch (left), at London's Wembley Arena in 2004

But the band became equally well-known for their bratty, bad-boy personas.
They were lambasted in the British press for their stage show, which featured giant inflatable phalluses and cage dancers.
And, when they began to wear the Volkswagen emblem on chains around their necks, it reportedly led to a rise in vandalised cars.
Their obnoxious behaviour undoubtedly started as an in-joke but became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy as their stars rose.
Over the years, however, the Beastie Boys rehabilitated their image.
Their second album, Paul's Boutique, was retrospectively considered a masterpiece, its genre-bending sound collages paving the way for the likes of Beck and The Avalanches.
Later records saw them play their own instruments and expand their horizons beyond hip-hop.
In 1996, they released The In Sound From Way Out! - a collection of jazz and funk instrumentals, while the group collaborated with reggae legend Lee "Scratch" Perry on 1998's Hello Nasty.
But they are best remembered for their hardcore rap tracks - Sure Shot, Sabotage and the crossover hit Intergalactic.
Yauch was the band's filmographer, directing several of their videos under the pseudonym Nathaniel Hornblower.
He also directed the band's concert movie Awesome... I Shot That, which stitched together footage from dozens of audience-members.
In addition to his rap career, Yauch was heavily involved in the Free Tibet movement, and co-organised several fund-raising concerts in the 1990s.
He revealed he had cancer in a salivary gland in his neck in July 2009, which led to the scrapping of a tour and an album - Hot Sauce Committee, Pt 1.
In an email to fans later that year, he said the tumour had been removed, and he was feeling "healthy, strong and hopeful".
Yauch travelled to a Tibetan community in Dharamsala in India after surgery.
He told fans: "I'm taking Tibetan medicine and at the recommendation of the Tibetan doctors I've been eating a vegan / organic diet."
But in January 2010, he was forced to deny press reports that he was fully recovered.
"I'm continuing treatment, staying optimistic and hoping to be cancer free in the near future," he said in a statement.
The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month, but Yauch was not able to attend. On the night, The Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicated their performance to Yauch.
He is survived by his wife Dechen Wangdu and their daughter Tenzin Losel."

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