The death of Adam Yauch on Friday left any person who remotely likes the sound of music sobbing. That’s because of one reason: Nobody dislikes the Beastie Boys. Nobody stops headbanging after yelling out “KICK IT!” when “Fight For Your Right To Party” comes on somewhere. The line “I like my sugar with coffee and cream” in “Intergalactic” off their (arguably best) album Hello Nasty is one of the coolest lyrics in any song I’ve ever heard. It’s not a brilliantly insightful line or a life-changing epitaph; it’s just constructed in a way that screams cool. Hence the name of their debut LP, Licensed to Ill: they defined what it means to be “ill.”

But Yauch’s death hit home for me on a different plane: Rick Rubin, the famous producer best known as that grizzly white guy in the “99 Problems” video, started Def Jam Records in his isolated insane asylum of a dorm room in Weinstein. He was the brains behind Licensed to Ill so, by undeniable logic, Weinstein created the Beastie Boys. And I lived in Weinstein my freshman year (Shout-out to 5th Floor, B Tower, Class of 2010). That means that the Beastie Boys, at one point earlier in their career, were standing right in the middle of my room. Actually, probably on the Stoop – a place I used to call home. And that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard, even if it’s technically missing a few facts here and there.

So I did some research and found that other really cool stuff happened right where you’re sitting as you read this. Hopefully you made it down this far, because look at this: Read more…