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Adam Yauch, pronounced Yahwk, also known as MCA and Nathaniel Hornblower, is a founding member of hip-hop trio the Beastie Boys. Yauch was born November 12, 1965 into a wealthy family in Brooklyn, New York.

Yauch learned to play the bass, and played his first show with the Beastie Boys- then still playing hardcore punk in the vein of Reagan Youth- on his 17th birthday, while still attending Edward R. Murrow High School in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. By the time Yauch was 20, producer Rick Rubin had taken the Beastie Boys under his wing and they had released their first album on Def Jam Records as a hip-hop trio.

In addition to the Beastie Boys, Yauch is involved in many other activities. Although his mother was Jewish, Yauch is also a practicing Buddhist, contributing to his political activism. He is actively involved with the Free Tibet movement, an organisation created to show solidarity with the plight of the Dalai Lama and to put pressure on the People's Republic of China to respect human rights in Tibet. Despite his activism however, he has remained largely silent on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Funds for the cause were also generated from the royalties to Buddhist-inspired Beasties tracks like Bodhisattva Vow. In 1996 Yauch helped organize the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco, California.

Under the pseudonym "Nathaniel Hornblower", Yauch has directed many of the Beastie Boys' music videos.

Yauch is also an avid skater.

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