Adam Yauch sounds off on his new documentary

What happens when a Beastie Boy forgoes his right to party? Adam Yauch, aka MCA, one-third of the legendary Beastie Boys, is midway through his fifth decade and sports a full head of gray hair (he has for a while now), and these days is slowing down—he's more concerned about his daughter's bedtime than insomniac nights in his home borough of Brooklyn. And in addition to recording a new Beastie Boys album at their Canal Street studio in New York, Yauch has found himself in the uncomfortable position of talking basketball. Despite directing the documentary Gunnin' for That #1 Spot, a look at the country's best high school basketball stars who gathered at Rucker Park in Harlem for the Elite 24 tournament in 2006, MCA isn't all that well versed in basketball. (He didn't even watch the NCAA tournament this year, even though two of the eight players he profiled were in the Final Four.)

The movie, which opens in select theaters on June 27, is both an intimate portrait of eight kids straddling adolescence and athletic stardom and an ode to street ball set to MCA's choice tracks. Recently, Yauch took a break from recording to talk with Radar about being a hyper soccer dad, Sharon Stone's karmic misstep, his love of multitrack tape, and, of course, Justin Timberlake's groupies.

RADAR: How did you get involved in the Elite 24 tournament
ADAM YAUCH: A friend of mine put together the all-star game up at Rucker, and part of it was his enthusiasm—he was so excited about the kids and it seemed like it would be really interesting to document. Partly, the idea that there was a gathering of the top ball players in the country was really appealing. There was this sense that they would all be center stage soon enough, but they weren't quite there yet when we were filming. They were all going to be superstars in a short period of time, but they weren't household names yet. And I was drawn to the idea of these kids coming together to compete in New York; some of them had never even been to a big city before.

What were the kids like before you started shooting?
The way I imagined it was a bunch of high school kids talking trash, but once I started interviewing them I realized that they were pretty professional and really groomed. They were media savvy; they've been doing these kinds of interviews since junior high. They tended to be very aware of who they are and where they're headed.

Do you think there's something lost in that?
It is what is. I don't know if their lives would happier or better if they didn't have that awareness. It's just an interesting development; it almost becomes its own subculture. Ultimately, this game was great because it doesn't have sneaker affiliations and it's out at a park and it's more like a pickup game.

Do you feel like there are parallels between these kids and where you were when the Beastie Boys became a household name?
I started in the band when I was in high school, and our first record was just a little punk record. It wasn't until License to Ill that the band became mainstream, and I was 21 or 22 when that came out. Stuff happens to these kids much younger these days. They're really known by 18, and the amount of money they're dealing with is insane. Some of these contracts with Nike are worth $15 million.

Four out of the eight high school kids you profiled are now eligible for the NBA draft. How do you feel about so-called scholar athletes? It doesn't seem like that many kids are sticking around for longer than a year.
I don't know this stuff well enough to speak about it with confidence, but a friend said Kyle Singler could have been eligible for the draft but that Duke didn't position him well. Honestly, I tried to watch the tournament this year to follow these guys, but I'm just terrible at watching basketball on television. I don't care what the announcers have to say, I don't know what the hell they're talking about, and the way the game is structured with time outs and foul shots and commercial breaks, I get bored and switch the channel and forget to go back. I think I miss out on some good conversations. I always overhear people talking about this game and that game and what do you think of Lakers–Celtics and I'm like, "Uhhhhh, I don't know."

This movie doesn't look like any other sports documentary—it's more like a music video that happens to be about basketball. Was that intentional?
The strategy was to mike up the players and record the game audio. I didn't want to hear any announcers talking. I wanted to be able to hear what was happening on the court. Part of the idea was to have this surreal thing with slow motion and fish-eye lenses, and my idea going into it was to have two completely separate feelings: I wanted to be able to convey being right inside of the game and to have the game move with the music and the slo-mo, and to jump back and forth from those two realities. There's times when the real sound and the music overlaps.

If you don't watch basketball, what's your connection to the game?
I play a lot more than I watch basketball. I play a couple nights a week at Chelsea Piers. My daughter plays soccer up there, too. She plays on this little almost basketball court–looking thing. I don't want to be the hectic, weird person, but I definitely am. I find myself yelling, "C'mon, get in there!" I went to all her soccer games, but now she's really into swimming.

HOOPS, DREAMS The trailer for Gunnin'

What did you think of Sharon Stone's comment at Cannes about the earthquake in China being karmic retribution for the Chinese government's policies in Tibet?
The earthquakes affected Tibet pretty radically also because they happened right on the border. I guess everybody can put their foot in their mouth. When there are things of that severity that happen, it's hard to think of it in terms of karma. From a Buddhist perspective, everything is karma, everything is positive and negative. But it's much more complicated and interwoven than equating an earthquake with political oppression. Karma is based on things that unfold over hundreds of thousands of lifetimes and reincarnations.

Do you believe in reincarnation?
I do believe in reincarnation. I mean, I don't know how my life has unfolded karmically, but every minor frustration and happiness is all based on things I've done going back over infinite time. And anything you do that's selfish will ultimately create some kind of sadness, whereas something altruistic could wind up creating happiness, but it's a long-term belief.

What do you think about the Olympics being held in China?
I don't know. I feel like China should be held somewhat accountable. I feel that they were given the Olympics on the basis that they were going to improve their human rights record, and the fact that they pushed all the press out of Tibet, they have to have more transparency. They have to let the world see what's going on. I think the Olympic Committee should insist that China allow the media to see and report on what's going on in Tibet. I think that would've been the strongest move, but it's too late for that now. I also think it was really scary that the Chinese government isolated a few incidents of Tibetan violence and played those images over and over again on Chinese television, like they're brainwashing the Chinese people to hate Tibetans. It then becomes a lot of racial tension and animosity.

You seem to have mellowed over the years in a way that most musicians don't, as if you've actually grown up.
I think it's part of a learning process, but it's also just the way one's mind changes when you get older. Like a puppy bounces off the walls, but an older dog just sits by the fire, and maybe people are the same. But I don't have a simple answer. We're recording right now. I think directing and working in films is something I'd like to continue doing. I love going out and shooting things and coming back and editing.

What was it like to watch the finished product with an audience?
I can feel where it works and where it doesn't work. I could tell when the room just lights up and people were into it, but there were moments when it was dragging and I could see people checking their pagers.

What do you miss about recording in the '80s?
The days of tape, like multitrack, 24-track, 16-track machines, and samplers were just starting to be invented; you couldn't really sync things up in the same way. It's definitely very interesting because that kind of work flow—using tape—forces you to work in certain ways, especially for certain types of music. Even now, if I was gonna record a rock band that was good and could play all the way through, I'd much rather just use the tape.

What do you listen to?
I listen to NPR. I get up at 8:00 and take my daughter to school. Music,
lately, I haven't been doing a lot of sitting around and listening to records.

The soundtrack for this movie is incredible.
Some of it I definitely wouldn't have been able to get without my connections to the band. A lot of people have been really supportive, because they may have to come back to us to clear a sample. I mean, it's really difficult dealing with all the music clearances and stuff and dealing with lawyers and managers and record labels and publishers.

I can't believe you can't just snap your fingers and get clearances.
We only have a few grains of sand left in the hourglass. I mean we need to get the clearances before the movie's release. I just don't want to give up some of the pieces of music that work really well.

You've met the Dalai Lama. He always has this aura of childlike happiness, like he's always on the verge of giggling. Is he really like that?
The Dalai Lama definitely has different personas. If you saw him talking to a group of Tibetan people, he is one of the most incredibly practical and intelligent people on the planet. He is jovial in a lot of situations, but it's not for lack of knowing what's going on. I think he has fun with Westerners.

Do you have a lot of groupies?
Ha. No. I think they're all chasing Justin Timberlake.