At first I was leary of the is article because of all the hype around Kanye – but it has very little to do with him. Well worth the read. This gives you some insight on Rick Rubin and his process (if you want to call it that.)
Favorite quotes:
People are willing to get short-term gains at the risk of long-term choices.
…art is not a quarterly business.
My first credit was “Reduced by Rick Rubin.”
Favorite story:
What do you remember most vividly about working with Cash?
On our first album, there was a song he wrote, I can’t remember which one it was, but I listened to it and said, “Do you think you could take some of the ‘I’s and ‘me’s out of it?” And he thought about it and he was like, “Yeah, I think I can do that.” And he did. So 10 years later, I’m visiting him in Nashville. He’s in a wheelchair. He’s blind, pretty much. It felt so awkward. So I said, “What have you been working on lately?” And he said, “I’ve been working on using ‘I’ and ‘me’ less.” And I said, “Really?” And he said, “Yeah. Remember? You gave me that comment on the song? That’s what I’ve been working on.” Incredible. He didn’t mean it in the context of songs. He meant it in the context of life.
Good read the article.
via Rick Rubin on Crashing Kanye’s Album in 15 Days – Newsweek and The Daily Beast.