Since the tragic passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch to cancer in 2012, the other members of the Beastie Boys have had to come to grips with what life would become without the band, and without their friend. It's been confirmed that there wont be any more Beastie Boys records, out of respect for MCA, so what does that mean for Mike D and Ad-Rock?
In a recent interview with Vulture, Mike D spoke on his life, how New York is changing, pop-rap, and why he doesn't like $uicideboy$. Follow the link to read the entire interview, or check out some highlights here:
On New York:
"This city is just so fucking expensive and for so long there was a way for culture to exist in its own, perverse, self-governed way. That’s largely gone now. You can’t have a studio here, the cost is so great. And the cost of that has been to box out culture."
On being accepted as white rappers:
"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."
On $uicideboy$:
"It was weird to me that I wasn’t hearing things that my kids related to that I couldn’t embrace. When they did hit on something, I was like, Finally! When they started listening to $uicideboy$ I was like, “That’s it. That checks the boxes. It’s really loud, I can’t really relate, I don’t really want to listen to it. I understand exactly why it’s good and I see exactly the music it’s combining, but I don’t need to participate and I’m good with that."
On the current state of rap:
"With current rap, there’s nothing that makes it not pop. Obviously certain rappers are going to make poppier records and certain rappers are going to be more esoteric, but I never would’ve thought that rappers could be the Lionel Richies of their day."
"I did foresee that we’d get something like an OutKast — rap that could sell millions and still feel not pop. But now we’re in a stage where rap isn’t separate from pop, which is amazing."