Mike D: ‘After Yauch died I couldn’t make music. I’d open a computer file and just feel sadness’
As part of the Beastie Boys, the rapper shot to fame and notoriety in the 80s, before bandmate Adam Yauch’s death saw him withdraw from the spotlight. He returns with a solo album that sees him reckon with greed, mortality – and his past ‘It’s funny how far a joke will get you,” Michael Diamond grins. This time 40 years ago, the New York rapper known as Mike D was working with childhood friends Adam “MCA” Yauch and A
Open original article- Ledger record
- #1477
- First seen
- 21 Aug 2026, 12:19 UTC
- Last checked
- 26 Aug 2026, 14:29 UTC
- Version history
- 2 versions
- Current fingerprint
5458991da07f...044ca4
Publisher layer
Recorded article metadata
- Publisher
- The Guardian
- Country
- England / United Kingdom
- Source published
- 21 Aug 2026, 12:00 UTC
- Source updated
- No update timestamp supplied
- Byline
- Alastair Shuttleworth
- Section
- Beastie Boys
As part of the Beastie Boys, the rapper shot to fame and notoriety in the 80s, before bandmate Adam Yauch’s death saw him withdraw from the spotlight. He returns with a solo album that sees him reckon with greed, mortality – and his past ‘It’s funny how far a joke will get you,” Michael Diamond grins. This time 40 years ago, the New York rapper known as Mike D was working with childhood friends Adam “MCA” Yauch and A
Change layer
Observed version timeline
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2
Mike D: ‘After Yauch died I couldn’t make music. I’d open a computer file and just feel sadness’
As part of the Beastie Boys, the rapper shot to fame and notoriety in the 80s, before bandmate Adam Yauch’s death saw him withdraw from the spotlight. He returns with a solo album that sees him reckon with greed, mortality – and his past ‘It’s funny how far a joke will get you,” Michael Diamond grins. This time 40 years ago, the New York rapper known as Mike D was working with childhood friends Adam “MCA” Yauch and A
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5458991da07f...044ca4- Capture SHA-256
4e843e6dca30...843df9
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1
Mike D: ‘After Yauch died I couldn’t make music. I’d open a computer file and just feel sadness’
As part of the Beastie Boys, the rapper shot to fame and notoriety in the 80s, before bandmate Adam Yauch’s death saw him withdraw from the spotlight. He returns with a solo album that sees him reckon with greed, mortality – and his past ‘It’s funny how far a joke will get you,” Michael Diamond grins. This time 40 years ago, the New York rapper known as Mike D was working with schoolfriends Adam “MCA” Yauch and Adam
Changed fieldstitlebylinedescriptionTextcontentTextsourcePublishedAtsourceUpdatedAtsectionimageUrltags- Version SHA-256
726776159a69...0543c0- Capture SHA-256
5255d4ee26f0...8e5539
Interpretation layer
Labels with declared origins
Publisher categories are copied from source metadata. Machine signals report observable wording or format and do not determine truth, intent, ethics, or wrongdoing.
- machine content-type Reported news observable-rules-v1 / 70% rule confidence
- machine language-signal Death or self-harm observable-rules-v1 / 65% rule confidence
- publisher category Beastie Boys rss-category
- publisher category Culture rss-category
- publisher category Hip-hop rss-category
- publisher category Music rss-category
- publisher category Pop and rock rss-category
Public response layer
Reception snapshots
Comment counts and samples remain absent until a lawful, source-specific capture method is reviewed. Absence is recorded instead of estimated.
Evidence layer
Capture provenance
- Capture ID
- #1952
- Observed
- 24 Aug 2026, 10:10 UTC
- HTTP result
- 200 / parsed
- Raw payload
- 462,269 bytes, private gzip evidence
- Collector
- news-ledger/0.1
- Public boundary
- metadata and excerpt