One was a Samoan football player who is from San Diego county, That would be Junior Seau!
The other was a Jewish rapper from New York City. That would be Adam Yauch (aka MCA), a member of the Beastie Boys.
1) Junior Seau (January 19, 1969 – May 2, 2012)
photo from Sports Illustrated
Junior Seau was a hard-hitting linebacker who played in the NFL for 20 years. He played (and lost) 2 Super Bowls. He was an all-star from high school, college and the pros. He was a star at the University of Southern California! He was drafted to play for the San Diego Chargers! Yep, he got to play for the same team that represented the area he grew up in!
Later, he played for the Miami Dolphins! He was about to retire in 2006, saying he was "graduating, instead of retiring". But then he got the opportunity to play for the New England Patriots who already had the reputation of the best team of that decade!
But he was also a cultural icon. Before Troy Polamalu, Junior Seau was the most famous Samoan player in the NFL! Before The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) became a wrestling star, Seau was the most popular Polynesian star in the USA!
Which was why Junior Seau was so popular here in Hawaii, even though he never lived here! A lot of Polynesian boys wanted to become like him!
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However, even with all that fame, money and stardom, things weren't going so well for Seau in recent years. 20 years in the NFL means your head gets literally damaged from so many hits from other large guys!
Then in October 2010, Junior Seau drove his car off a cliff and survived. People suspected a suicide attempt but Seau claimed to have fallen asleep at the wheel. This was hours after Seau was arrested for domestic violence.
But on May 2, 2012, Junior Seau committed suicide for real. He shot himself in the chest. He didn't leave a note, but it reminded NFL fans of another recent suicide by Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest, and wrote in the note that he wanted his brain to be researched so that people can learn more about the effects of concussions on the brain! He wanted people to be exposed to the reality of the NFL life, that it's not only about glory, riches and groupies. It's a dangerous life in which your brain is literally in danger of getting multiple hits from so many large guys pushing you around!
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Now the question becomes --- with all the recent publicity about the dangerous effects of playing tackle football has on the brain, will parents still allow their kids to play tackle football?
Parents have always wanted to protect their kids, but they also don't want to shelter them!
Also, parents are usually relieved if their kids become popular at school. And in the USA, high school football players are the most popular guys on campus. Most parents don't want their kids to miss out on that!
Plus, millions of people risk their lives in dangerous jobs like coal mining, firefighting, law enforcement, construction and in the military. And they do it for far less money than an NFL player make.
And for thousands of kids, they look at football as a way to move out of the ghetto or their small towns. If they become good at football, they could get a college scholarship, and if they get even better, they get a chance for a multi-million dollar career.
It's supply and demand. As long as millions of people watch tackle football on TV, then millions of kids will aspire to become professional football players.
There are demands to make the game safer. But to win the game, the players go full speed with full force.
The game of rugby doesn't have the protective equipment that American tackle football has. However, the tackling style is different in rugby, which is done to reduce injuries. Also, the forward pass (which doesn't occur in rugby) requires greater concentration in throwing and catching the ball, making the passer/catcher more vulnerable to surprise hits!
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My first memory of Junior Seau came in 1994, when his San Diego Chargers were on the way to the Super Bowl. I was in the 8th grade that season.
Coincidentally, that happened to be the same year that I first started following the NFL. Before that year, I was already aware of the major teams (ie. 49ers, Cowboys, Raiders, Bills, etc) and I was already aware of the major super stars (ie Joe Montana, Emmit Smith) but I never paid close attention to the NFL until the 8th grade, which is a lot later than when most kids would start.
Let's put it this way, in 7th grade PE, I ran the ball the wrong way, giving the other team the score. That's more than enough motivation to get with the program and start learning about football.
Anyways, in that football season, the San Diego Chargers happened to be the surprise team. They won their first 6 games, and was the last team to lose a game during the season. They ended the season with an 11-5 record.
They made it to their 1st (and so far, their only) Super Bowl. Their opponent - the San Francisco 49ers! 2 California teams playing the Super Bowl in Florida. In the game, the Chargers scored 26 points. The 49ers scored .....................49 points! 49ers won!
Junior Seau was the leader of the team. For that, he will always be appreciated by the Chargers fans!
2) Adam Yauch (August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012)
photo from http://www.allstarpics.net/0050669/012191454/adam-yauch-pic.html
Adam Yauch (aka MCA) was a member of the Beastie Boys, a Jewish-American musical group that played rock, rap and other forms of music. The Beastie Boys also had Adam Horowitz (Ad Rock) and Micheal Diamond (Mike D)
While the Beastie Boys started out as a punk rock band back in the early 1979, they became a lot more famous for becoming a rap group.
Like Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys were pioneers in sampling hard rock music into rap songs!
In a mostly African-American hip-hop world, the Beastie Boys stood out! They had extra attention (and extra jealousy) when the "white boys" got mainstream success with their "License to Ill" album in 1986.
In that album, the Beastie Boys played the role of pranksters and party animals. Their first major hit was "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)"
The "License to Ill" album also had songs like "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (another rock-rap combo), and the more traditional hip-hop songs like "Brass Monkey", "Slow and Low" and "Paul Revere"
That album was released by Def Jam records. Afterwards, the Beastie Boys left Def Jam and started Grand Royale Records.
They later made other classic albums like "Paul's Boutique" , "Check Your Head" , "Ill Communication" ,"Hello Nasty" and "To the five Boroughs".
They continued to have broad appeal, to the punk rockers, alternative rockers and the hip-hoppers.
They made rock songs like "Grattitude" and "Sabotage".
They made rap songs with heavy bass and drums like "Pass the Mic" (with some of the West Coast gangsta sound included) and "Wath'ca Want?" (lots of drums, with the ocassional lead guitars between verses).
They also had the more traditional rap hits like "Sure Shot"(with the flute playing in the background) and "Intergalactic".
Most of those songs are humorous songs. However, as the Beastie Boys got older, they also showed a more serious side to themselves.
Adam Yauch was inspired by Tibetan Buddhists that he met, become a Buddhist himself, and started a series of "Free Tibet" concerts to bring awareness about how the Chinese government is abusing the Tibetan minority!
In the 1998 MTV Music Video Awards, Yauch also spoke against the anti-Muslim bigotry. Yauch spoke up against the violent atmosphere at the Woodstock 1999 concert, in which fans committed arson and sexual assaults. Yauch also spoke out against homophobia and apologized for his earlier homophobic taunts (ie. his earlier idea of titling an album with "Dont Be a Faggot")
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I started to pay attention to the Beastie Boys back in 1992 (when I was going from 5th to 6th grade) when their "Check Your Head" album came out, and they had their hits "Wat'cha Want", "Pass the Mic" and "Gratitude".
I have been a big fan of the rock/rap combos. The 1980s saw Run DMC and Beastie Boys use the rock/rap combo, and in the early 1990s, there was the classic Public Enemy/Anthrax's "Bring the Noise". Red Hot Chili Peppers combined funk/punk and rap in some of their songs. Ice-T's had his Bodycount project. Biohazard combined heavy metal with gangsta rap, and occasionally did songs with Onyx.
The "Judgement Night" soundtrack remains an under-rated classic with all the songs being rap/rock combos. It had Helmet & House of Pain, Living Colour and Run DMC, Faith No More & the Booya Tribe, Slayer and Ice-T and much, much more!
Rage Against the Machine had the alternative/rap combo with far-left political views. They occassionally collaborated with Cypress Hill and the Beastie Boys.
Sublime and 311 had combined reggae, ska, punk, metal and rap through their various 1990s hits.
The late 1990s going into the 2000s saw an explosion of rap-metal, with artists like KidRock, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Linkin Park, Quarashi, POD and others.
The later 2000's had Jensen Reed also had a recent hit "After the War", Soulja Boy & Roscoe Dans "All the Way turned up" and the Shop Boyz "Party like a Rock Star"
I know there's more to the rap-rock combos! But this is what I've been able to think of off the top of my head
And there should be a lot more rap-rock combos in the world.
Maybe I should stop being so lazy and start making some records !
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In 2009, Yauch was diagnosed with cancer. He went through surgeries and radiation treatments. However, he has passed away last week.
Thank you Adam Yauch for all the cool stuff you and the Beastie Boys contributed to the music world. You will truly be missed!
