Beastie Boy Adam Yauch Kicks the Big C

Rapper otherwise known as MCA has been given a clean bill of health by doctors

By Josh Grossberg Jan 07, 2011 6:35 PMTags
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Adam Yauch is cancer free.

The Beastie Boys emcee has been given the all-clear by doctors a year and a half after being diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his parotid gland.

No ill communication here.

"[It's] a good thing," fellow Beastie Mike D told the BBC regarding Yauch's subsequent recovery. "We're really happy about it."

MCA broke the news of his cancer diagnosis in July 2009 with his bandmates at his side in an online video announcing why the Beastie Boys had to cancel that summer's trek in support of their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1, whose release was shelved until he could get his health back.

Now after declaring on their website Wednesday that "2011 is gonna be stress free," the hip-hop pioneers are back and ready to hit the road.

However instead of releasing Pt. 1, Mike D reconfirmed what Yauch said in a statement in October: The Boys are now planning to shelve that disc in favor of putting out Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2—though Part 2 is said to feature the same tracks in the same order as Part 1, so we're a little mystified exactly on what the difference is save the title. Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 drops in the spring.

"I know it's weird and confusing," said the 46-year-old rapper, "but at least we can say unequivocally that Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 is coming out on time, which is more than I can say about Part 1, and really is all that matters in the end."

Yauch, who added last fall that he was "healthy, strong and hopeful," is also expected to turn up at the Sundance Film Festival later this month to debut a short film the Beasties shot dubbed Fight for Your Right Revisited,  a remake of their seminal 1986 video for "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)."

According to Mike D, any tour this summer in support of Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 will depend on how Yauch is doing.