Beastie Boys Co-Founder Dead at 47

Adam Yauch, one of three co-founders of the iconic hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died Friday at the age of 47.

His death was first reported by Russell Simmons' website GlobalGrind.com, and later confirmed by TMZ and Rolling Stone.

Yauch, who was also known as MCA, was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and had been undergoing treatment. It was not immediately clear whether his death was directly related to the cancer, although Rolling Stone notes that Yauch's health forced him to sit out the Beastie Boy's April induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and delayed the release of his group's most recent album, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2. 

Yauch teamed up with his fellow band mates Mike "Mike" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horowitz in 1979. The trio broke through seven years later with the release of Licensed to Ill, before going on to release more than a half dozen more albums.

Elsewhere on the site: Brow Beat has a round-up of reactions from Yauch's fellow rappers, a list of Slate readers' favorite #MCATracks, and will probably have more on the man and his legacy later; the Slate art team has a MCA photo gallery; and David Weigel offers his take on Yauch's role as a political inspiration for a certain generation of wonks. For now, we'll leave you with one of our favorites: