What's Your Favorite Beastie Boys Memory?

The , better known as MCA, came as tragic news to the music loving community, but Brooklyn has truly lost one of its own.

The borough was the subject of many of the trio's most celebrated songs—most famously, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn."

But you don't have to be a native New Yorker to love the Beastie Boys' seminal brand of hip-hop. And although this reporter never saw them live (But editor ) he sure did grow up on a healthy dose of the Beastie Boys.

The first time I heard them was after my cousin picked up their first album, “Licensed to Ill” when I was about 8 years old (yes, our grandpa drove us to Tower Records).

Right away, seconds into the first song of the album, “Rhymin & Stealin,” I fell in love. Its heavy bass and banging drums pounded its way inside my torso, and those witty, quick lyrics that I soon memorized made me feel confident, even tough.

Terrorizing suckers on the seven seas/ And if you've got beef - you'll get capped in the knees/ We got sixteen men on a dead man's chest/And I shot those suckers and I'll shoot the rest...

I don’t think my parents, or grandparents for that matter, enjoyed seeing their good-mannered suburban boy repeat these lyrics, but they were nothing compared the other artists I listened to, like The Lox and Notorious B.I.G.

And what other way would I have learned about girls without, of course, listening to “Girls” over and over again. The song may not have been a course in how to be a gentleman, but that’s why I had two sisters.

I remember the first time I heard that nursery-rhyme-like-bell ding, and then the boys dropped the lyrics:

Girls - all I really want is girls/ And in the morning it's girls/ ‘Cause in the evening it's girls…

Even now, when I go visit my parents and open the door to my old room I am welcomed by the yellow poster with a robot holding Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock in his hands.

So, thank you MCA for teaching a suburban boy that he can be “ill” too.  

Do you have an MCA memory you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the comments below.