MCA Day
Cratediggaz Records
628 South St.
Philadelphia
May 2, 2026
When rapper and bassist Adam Nathaniel Yauch (aka MCA) died of cancer in May 2012, I mourned deeply and openly alongside the rest of the music world. As one-third of ‘80s rap upstarts-turned-90s cultural icons, the Beastie Boys, Yauch was effectively the heart and conscience of the group. In their early days, the group stirred outrage with their cartoonishly misogynistic stage show that included half-naked Women dancing in cages and a 20-foot-tall inflatable penis. As the ‘80s gave way to the ‘90s, the Beastie Boys grew up, deepening the well of musical influences that they pulled from and expanding their worldview. As a practicing Buddhist, Yauch was the primary driver of the group’s spiritual evolution. This interest in Buddhism dovetailed with the Beastie Boys’ activism, leading the group to launch the Tibetan Freedom Concert, a festival series that gathered the biggest pop, rock, and hip-hop acts on the planet to raise awareness for the movement to create an autonomous Tibetan State free from Chinese rule. During this time, Yauch and the Beastie’s views on sex and gender shifted, causing the band to apologize for the misogynistic lyrics and antics that marked the beginning of their career. Yauch’s death at the age of 47 did not just rob the music world of a vital artist. With MCA’s passing, we lost a man whose voice was as important an instrument for social change as it was on stage or in the studio. Today, music lovers around the world celebrate MCA Day as a memorial to Yauch. On Saturday, May 2, some of Philly’s finest DJs gathered at the Cratediggaz record store on South Street to celebrate Adam Yauch’s life and music.
Cratediggaz is located on the second floor above Marquee, the vintage t-shirt shop on 6th and South Street. Walking down this block always sparks a wave of personal nostalgia for me, as one of my first summer jobs out of high school was at the old Tower Records right up the block. With its walls adorned with colorful skating decks, shelves packed with new and used hip-hop vinyl, and a backroom stocked with VHS tapes of old school horror, action and b-movies, Cratediggaz is a cultural oasis for kids who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Owner and Beastie Boys fan Bob Fisk told me that the inviting space for MCA Day and beyond.
“I just really wanted to have a community space where everyone could connect and have a hub and a mini-scene of our own.”
The lineup for MCA Day was packed with DJs as Too Tuff, Argo, Jazzsoon, Bronske, DJ Skruff, and Philith Spector played everything from Beasties hits and deep cuts, remixes, and the original samples that the group used. Attendees chilled, exchanged small talk, and riffled through the record shelves as classic ‘80s rap records like T La Rock’s “It’s Yours,” Mantronix’s “Needle to the Groove,” and The Beastie Boys’ “Slow and Low” blared over the store speakers. Hearing the DJs seamlessly blend classic hip-hop alongside the Led Zeppelin and Blues Project cuts that sampled them was revelatory. As masters of sampling and collage, the Beastie Boys’ music is not greater than the sum of its parts. If anything, the skillful use of countless snippets of sound that has marked their work is part of a long and old connective tissue. The samples being cut up on the turntables, the surrounding records, and the store’s skate shop vibe all spoke to the richness of the world that Yauch and the Beastie Boys helped create and that Yauch left behind.
