Fight for your right to party — at a park named after a Beastie Boy.
Palmetto Playground, at the intersection of Willow Place and State Street in Brooklyn Heights, will officially be renamed the Adam Yauch Playground this week, the Brooklyn Heights Blog first reported.
A city official confirmed the news to this, but wouldn’t say if there would be a ceremony to mark the name change on Friday, as reported by the Brooklyn Heights Blog.
Yauch was a founding member of the seminal rap group The Beastie Boys, which helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream of American music. Born in the borough in 1964, Yauch grew up in Brooklyn Heights before attending Murrow High School in Midwood. He died last year of cancer at 47 years old. The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just weeks before Yauch died.
Last year, immediately after Yauch’s death, fans in Brooklyn Heights clammored to have Squibb Park renamed for the musician. Yet, many locals fought the name change, saying it dishonored Dr. Edward Robinson Squibb, an inventor and pharmaceutical pioneer who opened his first laboratory on the park’s site. Squibb founded the company that is now Bristiol-Myers Squibb.
Founded in 1981, the Beastie Boys was one of the first acts to come out on Def Jam Recordings, one of the earliest and biggest producers of hip hop albums. Known by the stage name MCA, Yauch sang and played bass for the group.
In 1986, the band released their debut album “Licensed to Ill,” which contained their breakout hit, “You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party!” The album made history as the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard 200 chart. It spent 73 weeks on the chart with seven consecutive weeks at No.1, becoming the best selling rap album of the 1980s.
The band enjoyed commercial and critical success for 25 years, making them one of the longest-lived hip hop acts. They had four No. 1 albums and sold more than 40 million records worldwide.
In addition to the Beastie Boys, Yauch founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film production and distribution company.
A practicing Buddhist, Yauch also created the Milarepa Fund, an organization devoted to helping the cause of Tibetan independence.
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.
