Ergh. This is some freaking sad news. The Beastie Boys have canceled their upcoming tour, which included headlining gigs at Lollapalooza and All Points West, as well as pushed back the release of their latest album after Adam Yauch, MCA, was diagnosed with cancer. Yauch and Adam Horovitz, Ad-Rock, sent a video message to fans earlier today announcing the diagnosis, along with the postponing of the album. Yauch went into great detail about his diagnosis, his next course of medical treatment and the sunny outlook his doctor gave him for catching it early. It was quite bizarre to watch two parts of the band that were once know for their hysterical punk rap sensability to be serious about such a personal issue, but I applaud Yauch for confronting this battle head on and making it public. Here’s the video in it’s entirety.

Last year, around this time actually, I had to get surgery to remove a tumor from within the lymph node in my neck and while I was lucky enough to find out post-surgery it was benign, there was some crazy panicky moments leading up to that diagnosis. My heart goes out to Yauch, his band mates and his family and friends. I believe with a positive attitude and aggressive medical treatment, you can battle nearly anything. MCA, we know you can do it.