Earlier today we told you of the sad news of the death of Adam Yauch, aka MCA, co-founder of the Beastie Boys, who passed away today after a long battle with cancer.

In honor Yauch’s musical contributions, MTV has some tributes planned for today with a switch in programming, as well as a live one-hour special tonight at 8pm ET/PT.

MTV News will present a one-hour live special hosted by MTV News’ Sway Calloway from their Times Square newsroom tonight at 8pm ET/PT and will be re-aired at 11pm ET/PT on MTV2. The special will highlight the Beastie Boys music and Yauch’s career through music videos, performances, MTV moments, and remembrances from his peers. You can watch a video here below of an interview with the Beastie Boys from back in 1986 discussing their album License To Ill when they were still openers on the Run-DMC tour.

MTV’s channels mtvU, MTV Hits, and MTV Jams are currently playing back-to-back Beastie Boys music videos, with intermittent on-air news bites on MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits, and MTV Jams.

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