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Rick Rubin

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(Some Of) The Best Of Rick Rubin [Mixtape]

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When Rubin showed up in Jay-Z’s series of Samsung commercials, social media was abuzz wondering who the old white guy was and, to our surprise, a lot of people didn’t have the slightest clue who the legendary figure was. Not only was he hanging out on the couch during Jay’s TV spots, Rubin also showed up in the 25th hour to executive produce on Kanye’s Yeezus. So that’s two of the largest names in rap calling on one bearded old guy to have a hand in their work. Yet, so many people remained unaware of him? And like that, our brains were activated, led by Trackstar. Writing on Rubin’s history and contributions to not only rap but music in general would require an encyclopedia worth of words and pages. Plus, there’s Wikipedia to break down all of his work since 1982. His founding of Def Jam alongside Russell Simmons might be the most recognizable feather in his cap but he wasn’t just an exec. He was an instrumental force and sound behind nascent recordings by the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and Run-DMC, all of which were early education for budding rap nerds like Trackstar. But Rubin’s works didn’t end when he left Def Jam, his own label, Def American, or the head job at Columbia Records. Rick has HITS under his belt (so many, his production credits have a Wiki of their page own) and they span across multiple genres and decades. And that’s why this tape was billed

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Rick Rubin Speaks On “Yeezus”, Kanye West’s Direction

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“Yeezus” in stores and online June 18th! When and why did you join the Yeezus project? Kanye came over to play me what I assumed was going to be the finished album at three weeks before the last possible delivery date. We ended up listening to three hours of partially finished pieces. The raw material was very strong but hadn’t yet come into focus. Many of the vocals hadn’t been recorded yet, and many of those still didn’t have lyrics. From what he played me, it sounded like several months more work had to be done. I joined the project because after discussing what he had played for me, he asked if I would be open to taking all of the raw material on and help him finish it. Can you recall a scene from the sessions that might help people understand his method in the studio? We were working on a Sunday [the same day West attended a baby shower for girlfriend Kim Kardashian] and the album was to be turned in two days later. Kanye was planning to go to Milan that night. Five songs still needed vocals and two or three of them still needed lyrics. He said, “Don’t worry, I will score 40 points for you in the fourth quarter.” In the two hours before had to run out to catch the plane, he did exactly that: finished all lyrics and performed them with gusto. A remarkable feat. He had total confidence in his ability to

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