2012 Billboard Music Awards Honor Adele and Pay Tribute to Fallen Legends

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

The deaths of Whitney Houston, the Beastie Boys‘ Adam Yauch aka MCA, Donna Summer and over the weekend the Bee Gees‘ Robin Gibb left a noticeable pall over the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, but in the spirit of that old show biz adage, the show went on. An absent Adele doubled her Grammy take by sweeping up an impressive 12 wins including Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist  and Top Billboard  200 Album for 21. LMFAO trailed with six wins including Top Hot 100 song for the ubiquitous “Party Rock Anthem.”

The Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, aka MCA, Has Passed Away

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

2012 is proving a year of tremendous loss to the music industry. Adam Yauch, aka MCA, of the Beastie Boys has died. A founding member of the seminal hip hop group, Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor of the parotid gland in 2009. He was 47.

The 2012 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: Beastie Boys, Guns ‘N Roses and Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will get a thunderous dose of testosterone when it inducts the Class of 2012, featuring noted bad boys Guns ‘N Roses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the Beastie Boys on April 14. 

Ricky Powell: Apt. A

Edited by Andy Wass

I met Ricky Powell last year shortly after moving to New York and had no clue who he was.

I guess I was never in the right scene to be super familiar with his work, but I can know respect him as a pioneer in his field.

Before hip-hop became mainstream and more or less a caricature of itself, street photographer Ricky Powell, was the independent. He was a major player in documenting the rise of hip-hop culture (think the mid-80s New York of Run DMC and the Beastie Boys). Powell still keeps busy shooting artists, events and ad campaigns, hosting a public access show, publishing photography books, and writing a column for Mass Appeal. He has done some collaborations with clothing companies like Converse, and has even been immortalized in the Beastie Boys song “Car Thief.”

Tomorrow night, the Rickster invites you to view his private work that chronicles decades of works. His Apt. A collection, which will run for the next two months, features Powell’s shots of legendary artists at a pivotal time in New York street culture.

Signed pieces will be available through SHQ.

Apt. A also marks the beginning of the Rick Powell World Tour 2009.