44 Facts About Rick Rubin

Frederick Jay Rubin is an American record executive and record producer.

Rick Rubin is the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.

In 2007, Rubin was called "the most important producer of the last 20 years" by MTV and was named on Time list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".

Frederick Jay Rubin was born into a Jewish family in Long Beach, New York, on March 10,1963, the son of housewife Linda and shoe wholesaler Michael Rubin.

Rick Rubin then played in a band with three friends, performing at garage gigs and school shows until a teacher helped him create a punk band called the Pricks.

Rick Rubin founded Def Jam Recordings while in college at New York University.

Rick Rubin moved on to form the band Hose, influenced by San Francisco's Flipper.

The band broke up in 1984 as Rick Rubin's passion moved towards the NYC hip hop scene.

Simmons and Rick Rubin edged out Jazzy Jay and the official Def Jam record label was founded while Rick Rubin was attending New York University in 1984.

Rick Rubin went on to find more hip-hop acts outside the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Harlem including rappers from Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island, which eventually led to Def Jam's signing of Public Enemy.

Rick Rubin was instrumental in pointing the members of the Beastie Boys away from their punk roots and into rap, resulting in the exit of Kate Schellenbach from the group.

Rick Rubin's productions were characterised by occasionally fusing rap with heavy rock.

Rick Rubin tapped Adam Dubin and Ric Menello to co-direct the music videos for the Beastie Boys' " Fight for Your Right " and "No Sleep till Brooklyn", effectively launching the band's mainstream hip hop careers.

Rick Rubin is credited as music supervisor for the film Less than Zero and as the producer of its soundtrack.

Rick Rubin portrayed a character based on himself in the 1985 hip-hop motion picture Krush Groove, which was inspired by the early days of Russell Simmons' career as an artist management and music producer.

Rick Rubin left for Los Angeles to start Def American Records, while Simmons remained at Def Jam in New York.

In Los Angeles, Rick Rubin signed a number of rock and heavy metal acts, including Danzig, Masters of Reality, the Four Horsemen, and Wolfsbane, as well as alternative rock group the Jesus and Mary Chain and stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay.

Rick Rubin had originally given his new label the name "Def American Recordings".

In 1993 Rick Rubin found that the word "def" had been accepted into the standardised dictionary and held an actual funeral for the word, complete with a casket, a grave, celebrity mourners and a eulogy from Al Sharpton.

Rick Rubin introduced Cash to Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", and the resulting cover version of it on The Man Comes Around would become a defining song of Cash's later years.

Rick Rubin produced two of Joe Strummer's final songs, "Long Shadow", a song Strummer wrote for Cash to record although he never did, and a cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song".

Rick Rubin produced a version of "Redemption Song" with Strummer and Cash together, which was featured in Cash's posthumous box set, Unearthed.

Rick Rubin has produced a number of records with other artists, which were released on labels other than American.

However, Rick Rubin returned to the role of producer for the band's two albums released in 2022, seven months apart from one another: Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.

In 2005, Rick Rubin executive-produced Shakira's two-album project Fijacion Oral Vol.

Rick Rubin was to appear on the Talib Kweli's album Eardrum, Clipse's album Til the Casket Drops and Lil Jon's album Crunk Rock.

Rick Rubin produced the Jay-Z track "99 Problems", and was featured in the song's music video.

Rick Rubin worked with Eminem on the song and music video "Berzerk".

Rick Rubin produced Black Sabbath's 2013 album 13 and Billy Corgan's comeback solo album Ogilala.

In May 2007, Rick Rubin was named co-head of Columbia Records.

Rick Rubin co-produced Linkin Park's 2007 album Minutes to Midnight with Mike Shinoda.

In 2007, Rick Rubin won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work with the Chicks, Michael Kranz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Green Day, and Johnny Cash released in 2006 Rick Rubin won the award again in 2009, for production work for Metallica, Neil Diamond, Ours, Jakob Dylan, and Weezer in 2008.

In 2007 and 2012, Rick Rubin won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Rick Rubin left Columbia in 2012, and revived the American Recordings imprint through a deal with Republic Records.

In July 2021, Rick Rubin signed with Endeavor Content to further develop his home studio, Shangri-La Recording Studios.

Rick Rubin has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans, and often gives advice on creativity via his Instagram page.

Rick Rubin is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again.

Since at least 1999, Rick Rubin has been criticised by listeners for contributing to a phenomenon in music known as the loudness war, in which the dynamic range of recorded music is compressed and sometimes clipped in order to increase the general loudness.

Albums produced by Rick Rubin that have been criticised for such treatment include the following:.

Rick Rubin began dating former actress and model Mourielle Hurtado Herrera in 2010, and they were married at an unknown date.

Rick Rubin was a vegan for over 20 years, but later began eating meat again.

Rick Rubin is a fan of professional wrestling and held season tickets to WWE events at Madison Square Garden throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Rick Rubin has cited wrestlers Roddy Piper and Ric Flair as influences in his work, and has said that villainous wrestlers were hugely influential in the development of the Beastie Boys' public image.

Rick Rubin financially backed wrestling promoter Jim Cornette's company Smoky Mountain Wrestling from 1991 to 1995.