Rick Rubin
Advertisement
Advertisement
Top Related Artists
Biography
In high school, this Jewish kid, a fan of X, Black Flag and other hard rock bands, was introduced to rap by his black friends. At the age of twenty, while still brilliantly completing his studies in philosophy, film and television, he produced a single by T-La Rock & Jazzy Jay, which put him on the musical map.
In 1984, he met Russell Simmons, brother of Run DMC's Joe Simmons and producer of the group. The following year, they founded Def Jam, the first label (distributed by the multinational Sony) to take rap to the world stage, with artists such as LL Cool J, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Under the pseudonym DJ Double R, Rick Rubin played for a time with the Beastie Boys, white punks who had turned to the hardest kind of rap... In 1989, he left Def Jam and founded the Def American label (now just American) in Los Angeles, which focused on metallic rock. He successfully relaunched the career of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Read All
Read Less
