Mix Master Mike reached out to Eminem in 2021 to record a song with two remaining Beastie Boys members.
One of Marshall’s favourite hip hop collectives was disbanded after Adam “MCA” Yauch, a vocalist and a bass-player, tragically passed away just two weeks after Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The remaining members decided to stop releasing new music under the band’s name.
Mix Master Mike, who is listed as a group’s touring musician (DJ, back vocals), wasn’t ready to give up, states AllHipHop in an article built upon his exclusive interview. The media quotes him:
I pushed to make something happen—and this is something that people don’t know. I actually reached out to Eminem. I called him and Paul [Rosenberg], and I pushed for a song. I had the beat made and everything. It was gonna be Beastie Boys, Eminem and a Mix Master Mike track. Eminem was like, “Let’s f###### go”. I was spearheading this, so I brought it to Mike and Ad-Rock’s attention.
It happened in 2021, a year after Spike Jonze’s Beastie Boys documentary brought attention to the band back again. But if Mix Master Mike thought that other members have changed their minds about working under the old name, he soon realised that it was not the case:
[Mike D and Ad-Rock] were like, “It’s kind of weird we don’t have Yauch anymore, so we feel a way that out of respect of Adam that we don’t do it”. I’m like, “What are you talking about? Adam would love this”. I was really trying to push this. It would have been f###ing insane. I was like, “Mike, just give me 32 bars. Just rap”. But I respected their wish to not do it. Our captain is not here anymore. But maybe if I push it again, who knows?”
Eminem, in his turn, would have absolutely loved to work with Mike D and Ad-Rock. Maybe he even still has something he wrote getting ready for the session. But Mix Master Mike didn’t hear it himself:
I was in the process of getting bars from Eminem. He was so pumped cause these are his heroes. I was kind of fulfilling his dream. I’m the gatekeeper of his dream. I felt that was a responsibility on my behalf to present that to him. The great white hopes of Hip-Hop [laughs].
You can read this article in full on AllHipHop.com.
