In a new, lengthy interview, Mike D of Beastie Boys has spoken candidly about moving on after the death of Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, raising a family in America today as well as where he sees Beastie Boys’ influence in music today.
The interview was conducted by David Marchese for Vulture who is responsible for those viral pieces on Quincy Jones and Julian Casablancas. Speaking to Mike D about Adam Yauch’s passing in 2012 of cancer, the rapper said of how he moved on after his group ended: “It took a while. Yauch dying was so tragic, on so many levels, that it took a profound period of grieving to then be able to start figuring out what I wanted to do.”
“I like doing the radio show because it replaces the process we had as a band of generating ideas by playing music for each other”, D said. “I’m interested in trying to do things that I feel like I have no business doing. Because that was part of what we did as a band. We weren’t afraid to try shit.”
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Speaking about whether the perspective on the ‘white rapper’ has changed since Beastie Boys first debuted in the ’80s, Mike D said: “I’ll say that when we pulled up in that limo wearing our Puma suits — that was the first and last time we did it. We realised we looked like fucking clowns and we felt like fucking clowns. We had to learn to be ourselves, and we made it work culturally and were accepted as rappers because were able to be ourselves and not anybody else.”
D expanded on his thoughts: “It’s an interesting time because theoretically everything’s been done already and everything is culturally available. Ideally that means there are fewer cultural barriers”.
Earlier this year, Mike D announced that Beastie Boys are finally set to release their long-awaited memoir this autumn.
The two surviving members of the pioneering hip-hop trio, Mike D and Ad-Rock, have been reportedly working on the book since 2013. It was initially set for a 2015 release, before being pushed back ’til 2017. Now, it seems, the autobiography will finally see the light of day this year.