The Beastie Boys are back but not do dominate the top music charts but this time to headline as one of their own – Beastie Boys’ MCA has finally taken the eternal rest. Yes, Adam Yauch’s death has become an overnight headliner and it pushed the Beastie Boys’ name back into the limelight.

Adam Yauch’s death was confirmed last week with a statement posted on the group’s website that says: “It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam “MCA” Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Yauch trained himself to play bass in high school, forming a band for his 17th birthday party that would later become known the world over as the classic Beastie Boys.

With fellow members Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz, the Beastie Boys sold  over 40 million records, released four #1 albums–including the first top music charts hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200.

The band’s 1986 debut full length, Licensed To Ill–won three Grammys, and the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award. Last month, they Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Diamond and Horovitz reading the acceptance speech on behalf of Yauch, who was unable to attend the event.

Yauch was also a founder of the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting consciousness and activism concerning the inequality perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational government and military forces. In 1996, Milarepa produced the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, where 100,000 people attended making it the biggest benefit concert on U.S. soil since 1985?s Live Aid.

Under the alias of Nathanial Hörnblowér, Yauch directed the iconic Beastie Boys videos including “So Whatcha Want,” “Intergalactic,” “Body Movin” and “Ch-Check It Out.” These were all enlisted on the top music charts. Under his own name, he directed last year’s “Fight For Your Right Revisited,” an extended video for “Make Some Noise” from Beastie Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.

Adam Yauch’s death is surely a great loss not only to the music industry but also to the valuable organizations aiming for positive change.