Mike D thought making music was behind him. Then came 'Thank You'

The Beastie Boys' Mike D talks about his solo album, 'Thank You' The Beastie Boys, from left, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, Mike "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "MCA" Yauch attend the 11th Annual Webby Awards in New York on June 5, 2007. Stephen Chernin/AP hide caption toggle caption Stephen Chernin/AP Beastie Boys rapper Mike D did not expect to make another record. For a long time, even opening his computer to work on music could bring him back to grief over the loss of his bandmate Yauch, one of three members of the Beastie Boys, who died of cancer in 2012. "Pretty soon after Yauch's death, I would open my computer and I would start to try to work on music because that just seemed like, OK, that's what I do," Mike D told Morning Edition. But for a long time, he said, he would keep attempting to create music and "keep feeling really sad." Mike D said he was grieving not only "someone that I loved so much," but also "this whole identity that we created together." Now, 15 years after the last new music from any member of the Beastie Boys, Mike D has made Thank You, his first solo album. He shares a home studio with his sons, Davis and Skyler. Davis, he said, is a gifted producer and arranger....