A new wave of projects with artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, System of a Down, and Johnny Cash followed.

A few years later, he’d drop the “Def” after hosting a funeral proceeded over by Al Sharpton. In 1988, Rubin left Def Jam, moved to California, and started a new imprint: Def American. After that he worked with the metalheads in Slayer, Public Enemy, and Danzig, and shock-comedian Andrew Dice Clay. It didn’t take long before acts lined up to work with this mysterious, soft-spoken college kid. It was all accomplished from the confines of Rubin’s college dorm. In 1984, he worked with Jay and an MC named T La Rock on a single titled “It’s Yours.” From this mix of clattering 808s, scratched records, and concise rhyming, an empire-Def Jam Records-was born. He became friends with an emerging DJ named Jazzy Jay who used to spin at Negril. By the early ’80s, he’d moved to New York and-after enrolling at NYU, where he majored in philosophy- he became a fixture in underground clubs like Negril. They were tossed off after two songs, but the infamy never came. He formed a band called the Pricks they made it to the stage at CBGB, where they conspired with some friends in the crowd to kick up a pre-planned fight to try stir up some local buzz. First it was the Beatles and the Monkees, then Aerosmith and AC/DC, and then the Ramones and Minor Threat. At an early age he fell in love with the sounds pouring out of his parents’ radio. Born on Long Island in 1963, he was an early adopter of Transcendental Meditation at 14, which his doctor prescribed to help alleviate neck pain.

You probably know most of the legends by now. Rick Rubin Does Nothing and Everything at Onceįew individuals have affected as many corners of the musical universe for as long as Rubin.

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