Bodhisattva Vow - MCA's Moment of One

With no hesitation Adam Yaunch, better known by his stage name of MCA and who died nine years ago last Tuesday, launches into his band's Bodhisattva Vow, one of the most unique songs in hip hop:

"I develop the awakening mind

I praise the Buddhas as they shine

I bow before you as I travel my path

To join your ranks, I make my full time task"

The Beastie Boys' Bodhisattva Vow is MCA's masterpiece about being a practising Buddhist and the veneration of fellow Buddhists. What makes it particularly astonishing is how eloquent and palatable it is within the confines of the 3 minute pop/hip hop song, as he himself explained:

"The general concept behind the song," Yauch said, "was to take the meaning of Shantideva's text, at least on the level that I understood it, and compress it into a modernised, three-verse rhyming song."

The track's genesis started when Yauch attended a lecture by the Dalai Lama in the Spring of '93 whilst recording the Beastie Boys' third album Check Your Head. Indeed Namasté, its closing track gave us a glimpse into Yauch's world at that time as he delivered spoken word musings on "a butterfly" floating "on the breeze of a sun lit day".

By the time of its follow up album Ill Communication, Yauch was a fully practising Buddhist and its influence would be heard on not only BV but also Shambala which preceded it on the album and which also featured Buddhist monk chanting, over a light funky groove.

Religion and Hip Hop have been intertwined for a while with many rappers - Rakim, Q-Tip to name but two - converting to Islam decades ago, whilst more recently it's imagery has become interwoven in the work of rappers such as Kanye West, Stormzy and Kendrick Lamar. However Bodhisattva Vow is a rare thing, a hip hop track that talks about a particular religion without insult or mockery, with detail and insight, as MCA finishes:

"With the altruistic wish to achieve Buddhahood

So I pledge here before everyone who's listening
To try to make my every action for the good of all beings
For the rest of my lifetimes and even beyond"

My thoughts were on MCA as his anniversary passed, my favourite Beastie Boys rapper, who delivered their best lines, had the coolest flow but could also go deep and drop something as intelligent as Bodhisattva Vow: