Ad-Rock and Mike D of the Beastie Boys were present for the inauguration of this new place in the Lower East Side of New York.
Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond were both on hand Saturday when the corner of Ludlow and Rivington on New York’s Lower East Side was officially renamed Beastie Boys Square.
The intersection between Ludlow and Rivington was first immortalized on the cover of the Beastie Boys’ masterpiece, Paul’s Boutique, released in 1989. In 2014, efforts to rename the area ” Beastie Boys Square » were rejected by a vote of 24 to 1. Eight years later, in 2022, the New York City Council finally approved the name change, leading to Saturday’s ceremony.
“ I want to thank everyone who loves Beastie Boys musicsaid Ad-Rock. I don’t really understand why, but I know I love him, so in a way it makes us friends, like we bonded over these weird records, so thank you. »
Horovitz thanked the city council members who helped make Beastie Boys Square a reality, as well as cultural advocate LeRoy McCarthy, whose efforts also resulted in streets being named after the Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan and Tupac Shakur, among others. He also thanked the City of New York for “ having taught us what to look at, what to listen to, what to wear, how to love, how to live. Thanks, New York. »
Concluding his cheerful speech, Mr. Horovitz highlighted what this honor meant to him: “ We walk these streets and we don’t really think about their names, like Ludlow Street, Irving Street, Father Demo Square… but it makes me really happy to know that a kid walking to school 50 years from now will pass by there, will look up and say: “What is a Beastie Boy and why do they have a place?”. »
Diamond acknowledges that it was a long road and the battle lasted several years. “ We grew up elsewhere, but the Lower East Side was always this cool place that we wanted to go and hang out, and somehow the Lower East Side was kind enough to welcome us and allow us to see so much amazing music, said Mike D. The second we heard rap, it was so revolutionary and so exciting, the fact that we were able to go from being kids listening to every hip-hop record, every mixtape, every song we could try of memorizing every word, thinking we would be able to make a rap record, and continuing to make these rap records, and now here we are all these years later, thank you so much for everything. »
To close the ceremony, Mike D paid tribute to their late bandmate, Adam “MCA” Yauch. “ He was our brother in this extraordinary journey that we have all experienced”said Mike D as chants of “ MCA » filled Beastie Boys Square.
Tees4Togo, the clothing line founded by Bikini Kill singer (and Horovitz’s wife) Kathleen Hanna, also released a clothing line celebrating Beastie Boys Square, sold exclusively at the event.
Daniel Kreps
Translated by the editorial staff