All language subtitles for [subtitlekit.com]_Shangri-La.2019.S01E02.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV.eng.track3

After 12 days of new life,

a baby spotted mallard

will leap from
its mother's nest into flight,

because it doesn't know
it might fall.

The amateur mind
possesses a valuable lack
of knowledge about rules.

When matched with passion
and gumption,

gravity ceases to exist
and new things take flight.

We see people hitting
each other with chairs,

but they're working together
to put on a show.

Sometimes they like each other,
and other times they don't.

And then sometimes
they'll say things.

Their job is
to make you hate them

by saying things
that make you

love one and hate one
based on what they're saying.

Sometimes they say things
that just have

this ring of truth about them.

That's too real.

Let me tell you something
right now.

When I watch MTV,

I see Run-D.M.C.
all day long.

As it is now,
I see Run-D.M.C.
all day long.

They talk about
the Beastie Boys
all day long,

they don't even
have a video.

That amazes me.
The only reason

that we haven't done
a video yet is because
as soon as we do,

they're gonna have to change it
from MTV to Beastie-TV,

because that's all they're
gonna show, all day long,
all night long.

You talk about magazines,
you talk about...

I would do interviews

as part of
the Beastie Boys at that time,

and it was always
from the position

of the bad guy wrestler.

It was all performance art.

-The Beastie Boys.
-Oh, wow!

The Beastie Boys
are the most important thing

in music today,
holding everything together.

I think, you know...

I think I'm wasting
my breath a little bit.

Maybe I'm talking
over your head.

I think the interview's over,
thank you very much.

Rick? Rick, Rick!

Did it matter that a lot of
people didn't understand?

Never.

♪Your kisses take me♪

♪To Shangri-La ♪

♪Each kiss is magic♪

♪That makes my little world♪

♪A Shangri-La...♪

♪For anywhere♪

♪You are♪

♪Is Shangri-La...♪

Uh, tell 'em about Rick.

The first time I met him
was at the studio years ago,

with, Ye was in there
fucking around,

and...

like Rick barely said a word,
and I was like,

"What the fuck is with that guy?

He's barely talking, like,

but he's doing
something in here."

And it was a little unnerving,
to be honest.

What is the Rick Rubin
mythology?

There is one where people think

I'm arrogant
because I'm pretty quiet.

I've heard that people
interpret that
as arrogance.

There's a mythology
that I don't do anything

because I lay down
when I work.

Because I have a beard
and was photographed
often with sunglasses,

people always assumed
I was on drugs.

I've heard that everything
I touch turns to gold,

both in terms of music
and in terms of people.

It's funny that my mind went
to the worst ones first.

Inside Shangri-La,
are you trying

to expose people to
the outside world
or insulate them from it?

-Insulate them.
-Right.

Yeah, the goal is to take away

the voices of
the outside world,

so you're protected to be

your pure, natural,
naked self.

So, part of what I'm decoding,
and why this is such
a generous thing

you're building here,
is the perception...

-...from the outside...
-Yes.

is that musical success
is based on connections,

magical wonder that cannot
be described, and luck.

And what you're being
really honest about is,

none of those things are it,

and that instead
there is something

within us that,
if we just let it find

the confidence
and the generosity
to create a difference,

and then be alert
and hard-working enough

to curate it appropriately,

we can be our best
version of that.

Yes. And the only goal really

is to be the best
version of ourselves.

Ugly words in public places

Fear and doubt and all the races

Have come out to
show their faces

Under me

There is a gulf
that separates us

And it seems to gape
a little wider every day

Now, we can pray
on every tragedy

Defy, defy the frenzy
of the nastiness

The devil in us,
the human cost

The rising threat,
we must be watched

Clocked and kept
and streamed and dropped

If this is strength,
then we're all fucked...

To realize that this
is a creative persona,

it makes it a bit
safer to go out
in front of all these people.

Kate Tempest is
like a superhero;
she can do that.

But Kate Calvert would never
go out there, you know.

You can't come here
and not feel

so lucky to be able
to be here, like...

The way this place just flows,
it's kind of uplifting you,

trying to get the best
out of you.

You have to hit it hard.

Yeah, you have to dig in.

We have written an album,

and we want to record it
in one take.

This is in stereo now...

I want the lyric
to have the feeling

of completeness
and liveness.

If we do it like this,

we're hoping
that Kate can deliver the lyric

and I'll just follow her
with all the music.

It's like scoring
rather than recording.

Yep. We've looked at it
like she's the picture

and I'm the soundtrack
and it's a film.

Do you know where
that little screwdriver is?

-Yeah.
-Oh, yeah.

The idea is that we just do
a few takes a day,

and hopefully
in three or four days

we'll have the one
that feels right.

We've got ideas to do ones
where I can see the ocean.

One outside the chapel
with a small audience.

I wanna do
one up that tree,

but it might be
kinda dangerous.

I wanna do it at night.

I think it's cool.

-Should we give it
a run-through?
-Yeah.

The thing is, because
it's so long, like you start,

-Dan plays
the opening chords...

and we're doing like
a 46-minute take.

We're doing the album in a take.

He's playing everything live,
Dan's like this, like...

If you're feeling tired
and you're like,
"We'll just get one more,"

what you're committing to
is going through
your album again.

Like, you know,
it's like, it's heavy.

The emotional drain on you.

I came to under a red moon

Thirsty for water

My eyes were like shovels
in the soil of the sky

Digging into the night
to find solids

Burying emptiness

I was heartbroken

And vomiting memories

Because I promised
her everything

But then I did what
I could not to recognize

Anything

So here I was

Marching to town
like a priest in my rapture

Muttering spells

So desperate for tenderness

So raw from
the grating of senses

The way the day drinks
every drop of my strength

It's relentless

In the archives, we have
acetates and cylinders,

um, got reel-to-reel,

uh, and some really rare vinyl

that I will bring out
and show you.

How did you start?
-I was in a punk rock band.

-Really?
-Playing guitar.

Rudimentary punk rock guitar.

What was it called?

Hose. H-O-S-E.

-That's hot.
- Yeah.

This is the very first
recording ever released
on the Def Jam label.

You would never know
that this is a noise
punk record

from these song titles,

like You Sexy Thang,

and Super Freak,
and Dope Fiend.

But I think it's a good,
really good evidence that,
you know, early on,

that early in his
recording career, he was
already mixing genres

and trying to find
ways to create

new combinations
and new sounds.

Hip-hop was going on
at the same time,

and I felt like the energy
of the hip-hop

and the punk rock
were very simpatico.

It was like the same thing.

Similar, just
different spectrums.

Exactly similar,
but different people
were liking it.

Nobody white liked hip-hop.

And then I joined
the Beastie Boys,

and the Beastie Boys were
a punk rock band.

Wow.

And they made one record
called Cookie Puss,

that was like
a DJ-based record

but they didn't have
a DJ in the group,

so I started DJing for them.

We did that for a while
and then it felt like,

all we did was
listen to hip-hop,
and it was like,

why are we still doing
the punk-rock...

-Wow.
-...if all we listen to
is hip-hop?

I feel like we're,
it's like,

I feel like we're
doing that out of habit,

and this is what we love.

That's fire.

We had the misguided notion

that we'd be super-duper fly

by all showing up
in matching Puma suits,

which I believe
you underwrote this venture.

For sure.

And if the matching
Puma suits

weren't bad enough,
we decided to wear
do-rags too.

I remember.

And then to add on to that,
we roll up in a limo.

And we were like,
"Oh, this is gonna be def."

Then people were like turning
and looking at us like...

"Who are you guys, Menudo?"

-Do you remember that?
-Yes.

There was
basically one radio show
a week on WHBI...

On WHBI, 105.9.

...where they had one hour
of hip-hop a week.

And everybody would
cassette-record that show

and then listen to it all week
on little boom boxes.

Creativity and change
live with the heretic,

with the person who
says the emperor's
not wearing any clothes.

With the person who says,
"No, I hear a voice in my head

and it sounds like this."

In the old days, when
you had a voice in your head,

we burned you at the stake.

But now when you have a voice
in your head, a few people,

the early adopters,
will listen to you,
and maybe they'll embrace it.

♪Oooh...♪

So, when you seek
to be creative,

you have to accept the fact

that you're also gonna be hated,
you're gonna be misunderstood,

you're gonna be judged, and
it's probably not gonna work.

I used an early
drum machine in the dorm.

It was an 808.

I borrowed it from a friend
who was in a new wave band.

He loaned it to me.

In the fall of 1982,

I was assigned to NYU
Weinstein dorm, room 712.

I go into the room,
and sitting in this
darkened room

is a kid with long hair
and dark glasses on.

The desks have been
pushed together
and across the surface

are two turntables connected

to the biggest Cerwin-Vega
speakers you ever saw.

And I just look around
and I go,

"Where are you
supposed to study?"

And the response I get,
Rick in his deep voice,
he goes,

"Studying is to be done
in the library."

What's up, Rick?

I didn't know what a label did.

I didn't know
what a producer did.

I knew very little,
I just knew that I loved music

and wanted to be involved
in making it as good
as it could be.

It's almost like he just didn't
know that he couldn't do this.

You know, start your
own record label?

Why not start your
own record label
in the dorm room?

When I met him,
Rick was the most

confident 19-year-old
I'd ever met.

Like, even if he didn't know,
he said and acted like he knew,

and it was the only way
it could be, so...

Like when he explained
punk rock to me
and do-it-yourself,

I mean, it was just the law,
like this is how we do this.

Tell me what was going on,
your first memories
of hip-hop. Period.

In your life.

Well, number one,
this will probably be

the longest conversation
we've ever had.

Yeah.

But we've always
been like this,

we've been like this.

I would see Rick,
Rick would see me
and we'd be like...

-It'd be like...
-We knew the mission.

Right, exactly, so...

My first sense
of hip-hop was '76,

Roosevelt Roller Rink.

I'm a skating fanatic, right?
I skate my ass off.

That's what you're
moving around to.

That's what
the DJs are playing.

I see.

And that's where
the inspiring thing

for our first record

and the record
I think you like,

Public Enemy Number 1,
came from.

A couple times the DJs
would play this record...

...off of Blow Your Head,

which was J.B.'s and Bootsy

and Clyde Stubblefield.

And it had that wind-up.

♪Waah-waah-waah-waah-waah♪

And then the beat comes in,
and it's like all skaters,

and it's like,
"Girls, get out of the way,"

'cause it's gonna be manic,
it's gonna be crazy.

In my mind as I'm skating,
I'm like,

-if only...
- That could keep going.

...this could keep
going, you know.

You have to be a little
demented to just like...

something that goes like...
♪Waaah♪

And I just one day,
after work moving furniture,

I just took the two tape decks

and said,
"Imma finally do this."

And I, you know,
made the tape, paused it,

pause tapes,
paused it,

which was a style
that people did
in the late '70s.

If you didn't have turntables,
you did pause tapes.

- You did pause tapes.

It's called
a pause tape because

on a cassette player,
there's a little pause
button there.

And it's like we can stop time
and the whole world.

It's a small increment of sound
and it becomes a long piece.

I always feel like
sometimes limitations,

whatever it is,

not having the right equipment,
forces you to find a new way.

So I finally paused it.

I said, I'm gonna come
with this vocal,
on top of it,

that will kinda fix
all the jumps in it,

'cause the vocal
will straighten it,

and Flav was in the next room,

'cause we was moving
furniture together.

I said, "Look, man,
I need you to just
intro this thing,

and close it out,

just like make a beginning,
make an end,"

and it was only meant
to be a WBAU promo.

"Listen to our radio show."

So, Chuck,
what's the moves, man?

I was on my way up there
to the studio,
you know what I'm sayin'?

And this brother
stopped me, man.

I heard it as
the radio show promo.
That's when I heard it.

-Exactly.
-And just like,

this guy needs to be
making albums.

It's like, whoever made this
needs to make more.

You had to be demented
to like that, because
it's like...

It was crazy.

It would chase your mother
and your girlfriend away.

It's like, what the fuck
are you doing up there?

Like, it's just...

This is a really great one,

a really important
record for us.

Uh, this is from 1968,
the legendary Sun Ra,

his album Soul Vision,

and a lot of people
didn't believe me,

but we were able
to prove it after months
of archival research.

This is the first time
that hip-hop actually
ever appears

on a piece of recorded music.

A lot of people talk only
about the role of jazz,

and the kind of afro-futurist
imagination of Sun Ra,

and the importance
of outer space

being the place
for African-Americans.

But hip-hop was also
part of his early imagination.

This very idea of hip-hop
was already
starting in Sun Ra's head.

♪enigmatic music playing♪

The kinda shows
that we would attend,

it was so surreal,

and with an audience
standing on the same level
as the performers.

As we went in, I just made sure,
don't step on anybody's toes,

just stay to the corner,
be cool but chill.

Two minutes later
he's not around.

I'm like,
where the hell did he go?

And I look up on the DJ stand.

He's up there with the DJ,
and they're looking at records

and just laughing
and like talking music.

What I heard at the club

was very different
than those one or two

rap records that were
coming out a week.

It's like the club
was drum machines,

break beats, and rappers.

Live hip-hop.

But none of the records
sounded like that,

the records
were all like produced.

Whereas the club was grimy.

And almost like
documentary-style,

I wanted to make records
that sounded like the club.

I felt like I was in
a community of all people

kind of pushing in
different directions
to make great shit.

No one was gonna be
Michael Jackson doing hip-hop.

It was all just honest.

Yeah, just people
making cool shit.

Still hip-hop was really
just on the weekend,

master-mix shows,

and we would listen
to the master-mix
shows every week

because you would get
ideas, you'd like...

I wanna say you'd get ideas
but you wouldn't get
ideas of what to do,

you'd get ideas
of what was possible,

and it wasn't like,
"Oh, I wanna do that,"

but it was just like,

"Oh, that's a whole new way
to look at beats.

If he could do that,
we could do this."

There's really
extraordinary magical

and then there's really
little mundane magic moments.

When they happen,
there's just this spark of like
anything's possible.

That feeling of like,
we might be able
to create this space

where we suspend

the disbelief...

of what's possible

and allow
a different consciousness
to enter.

♪Commentating, illustrating♪

♪Description giving,
adjective expert♪

♪Analyzing, surmising, musical♪

♪Myth-seeking people
of the universe♪

♪This is yours!♪

Being open to those
magical moments

that you don't know
why they work,
you don't know how it works.

This is the hip-hop version
of the Edison home phonograph.

Um, this is the original 808,

the original Roland
808 from 1982,

and this is the machine
that Rick used

on some of his most well-known
and iconic recordings,

particularly iconic
hip-hop recordings.

When you were
first bringing

bringing hip-hop
and rap to the world,

almost everyone didn't like it.

-Yes.
-And if you had needed

everyone to like it,
you would have burned out.

And I even think if
everyone likes it,
you're doing something wrong.

-Exactly.
-Because it's like
that's the issue.

It's, if everyone likes it,
it's probably kind of mediocre.

Yeah.

It has to-- The best art
divides the audience.

Because you're making
change happen.

Yeah, you want your music
to be someone's favorite music,

and to be the example for
someone else of what they hate.

♪The floor vibrates,
the walls cave in...♪

It's late, we're raging,

turn the music up
louder and louder.

Unfortunately,
living upstairs from us
was Nancy Heller.

Nancy Heller was
a pre-law student,

and she probably
had early morning classes,

and that did not cut it.

She was calling us,
we couldn't hear the phone,
it was ringing.

♪And still gettin' paid
while you look at me mean♪

She was banging on the floor.

You didn't even hear it
because you had
the system going.

I even remember,
we got a phone call

and Rick
turned it up even more.

So all of a sudden, boom!

Who the fuck do you
think you are?
The fuck are you?!

This goes on day... aaaah!
after day after day,
I can't believe it!

It could absolutely
be said we were fighting
for our right to party.

Nobody answers,
is anybody listening?

♪Kick it!♪

The Beastie Boys burst
in very much

in the same manner
as Nancy Heller,

and the music was too loud.

I swear to God!

I mean it seems like it now

that that was
a subconscious ode

to the Nancy Heller incident
of noise complaint.

♪You wake up late for school,
man, you don't wanna go♪

Rubin could have
been kicked out
of the dorm at this point.

Because of the repeated nature
of the noise complaints...

So, you get what they
called a dorm trial.

Nancy Heller,
since she was pre-law,

she acted as
her own attorney.

We are here today

because of
Rick's relentless behavior.

And she basically talked about

how there's always noise.

I'd like to present
that as Exhibit A.

Rubin had to make a defense.

♪You gotta fight
for your right♪

♪To party♪

This is very creative,
what Rubin's defense was.

He said, "This is my art form."

His art form is
punk music and hip-hop,

which innately,
by its very nature,
involves volume.

♪That hypocrite smokes
two packs a day♪

So, since volume
is a part of it,

it is a part of his art form,
therefore it's protected.

The dorm committee
then goes away
and makes a decision.

He never left the dorm,
he beat it,
he beat the charge.

♪You gotta fight♪

♪For your right♪

♪To party♪

It was like
this joke of like,
OK, we're gonna

like joke around about
being these party bros.

But then it went into
fast-forward so fast,

that then that was
the party bro anthem.

What I saw happen really
shocked and surprised me.

It went much further
in that direction

where I was kind of shocked.

Like not offended,
but it's like, wow.

I don't know if I should be
flattered or upset

'cause you're saying that.

They're really going there.

It's like it's unbelievable,

like the inflatable
phallus and that.

It's like, wow.

Well, we called it
the "Becoming What You Hate."

Russell and Lee were like,
"Here, you're going
to meet with this guy

and just tell him whatever
you wanna have on stage
for your tour."

We were probably such assholes.

I'm sure we walked into
the meeting like,

"Yo, what's up, homes?

Yo." And he's like,
you know...

"You can have anything--"
And the guy's probably...

The poor guy,
the poor guy is like,

"You can have anything
you want on stage.

Tell me what you want,
I do all these huge tours.

Like whatever you guys--
Did it for Run-D.M.C., Whodini.

I'll do it for you guys.

Just tell me
whatever you want, you know.

We'll put it on stage.
I'll make it happen."

And we're just like,
"Aw, yo, let me tell you, homes,

we want a fucking giant
dick, a'ight?"

It's not like we thought about--
Think about...

You didn't think
of the ramifications
of any of it.

Let alone the fact that we had
to pay for the fucking thing.

Like, someone had to write
a check for the dick: we did.

There's this good, like,
whatever percentage

where we're making fun
of this thing.

Yes, for sure.

We just all
took it for granted

that that part
would translate,

but that was the first thing
that got lost

once it all kinda started
going really fast

and became bigger than
any of us or all of us.

This is actually
one of my favorite pieces
to show people.

Uh, the legendary cantor
Yossele Rosenblatt.

Um, this is an album

of traditional cantorial
synagogue songs.

And, you know,
Yossele Rosenblatt
actually is Rick's great-uncle.

I like to rib Rick
once in a while

that he might not have
inherited the last name

but he certainly has
kept the look alive.

The difference between
the two of us is you're

always dealing with
the newest generation.

And part of the newest
generation's narrative
has always been

to not care about
what came before.

They do care,
but they act as if they don't.

And somehow, you've
been able to sort of bridge
that gap for people.

There's a new breed
of hip-hop artists who,
young hip-hop artists,

who, for the first time, maybe

are not so interested
in the past of hip-hop.

And the hip-hop hierarchy

is very upset about it.

And I think it's great,
like I think it's fantastic.

It's like if the way
to have a new voice

in a medium is to,

in one way,
it's to study the old

and then find
the new way,

and the other way
is to just ignore the old
and find your way.

I wanna learn how
to play this shit so bad.

Ron, I need a piano
lesson class.

♪Oh♪

♪So rich at a young age♪

♪So, so rich♪

♪I'm so rich at a young age♪

♪I dropped outta school♪

♪And now I act like
a damn fool♪

♪'Cause I'm so, so rich♪

I'll make that a song,
that sounds boss.

That sound got good, don't it?

There's some rappers,
young rappers,

that's just so "hip-hop savvy"

and they know "the history"

and know "everything"
about the '80s and the '90s.

And... I ain't gonna lie, bro,

I don't know nothing about
the '80s and '90s, bro.

I was born in '97,
you know what I'm sayin'?

Why do I gotta know
what someone else did,
that's what's up?

But if I was to copy,
I'm saying if I copy
someone else,

I'd be a copier,
I'd be like a culture vulture.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Like why do I have
to research somebody else?

The pool balls are yellow.

So much history
on these pool balls.

-How you doing? I'm good.
-Haven't seen you in a minute.

-It's been like two years.
-Unbelievable.

I'm so happy that everything
is going good for you,

like since we met,
it's just like incredible.

-Work out.
-Yeah.

And that shit
with DRAM it's like,

how cool is that, it's crazy.

The first time I met Rick,
he introduced me

to DRAM here, starting '16,

right before we did Broccoli.

♪Hey♪

Like seven times platinum,
almost eight times.

You the man with the plan,
you set that up.

-That's all you.
- Yeah, I don't
know about that.

But it was meant to be,
let's just say...

I'll say that.

That beard, man,
the power is in that beard.

You can tell every time
he scratch it,

magic goes flying in
the air, I seen it.

For real.

Like I played him
my first mixtape

that brought me in the game,

two years ago
before I dropped it.

He helped me understand things,
just a little differently.

He helped me look at things
in a curved way.

In high school, you know,
dreaming of becoming a rapper,

I would have never
knew, you know,

the shit that comes with it.

He's someone who rose
to prominence very quickly.

But he didn't have the
automatic success

that it seemed like he
was on the precipice of.

And it seemed
to really affect him.

It confused him.

Because it came so fast,

it wouldn't be unusual to think

that success would keep coming.

It's like,
my last album did OK.

I mean it did, it's almost gold,
so you know it's cool

but in like the hip-hop
community, I just feel like,

it didn't really take too well.

A lot of people
didn't like it.

My fans liked it,
but as far as like
the masses go,

they just felt like
it was different,
it was weird.

You know, sometimes the ones
that don't work right away

end up being the real
important ones.

You know, like they're the ones
that kinda change the culture.

I remember we put out
the first Public Enemy album,

people hated it, hated it.

And then it turned
into Public Enemy.

It took a while.

I called Chuck every day

trying to convince him
to make an album.

There was nobody great
in hip-hop at that time.

And Chuck was great.

He called me
and put it on a Post-it.

I mean that's the folklore
about it.

From my side, that was true,
that I called the house.

I did have a Post-it that says
"call Chuck D."

And my mom would be like,
"Rick Rubin has called,"
and I'm like...

What did I tell him?

I was 25, 26 years old, man.
I was like, I wanted bigger.

And our big goal was to become
syndicated radio stars.

What's the big deal
of making one record

when I've gotta categorize
three rooms of records?

So I never thought records
was a big deal.

I'm the first guy
that turned down
a recording deal.

-On a consistent basis.
-For a long time.

I tell the young guys,
"You know what, really,

you might say this for now,

whatever, or what
I am or whatever,

but I turned down Def Jam,

classic Def Jam, for two years,

from the greatest
producer of all time,
now you go top that."

When we signed
with Rick in '86,

we called it
a great surrender.

You came in, it's like,
"This is how I want to do it.

It's called Public Enemy.

It'll be like the Clash.

It's gonna be unlike anything

that anyone's seen
in hip-hop before."

They rehearsed me.

It worked. It worked.

♪Bass, how low can you go♪

♪Death row,
what a brother know♪

♪Once again,
back is the incredible♪

♪Rhyme animal♪

♪The uncannable D♪

Public Enemy sounded the least
like anyone else.

Yeah, the DJs made mixes,
we're not getting in the mix,

because you gotta take tempo,
you gotta take things
that sound similar,

we're not making the mixtape.

Yeah, because it was
so foreign to everything else,

which is also why people
liked it so much.

-Yeah.
-That was the secret sauce.

♪Come on, here we go again♪

♪Bring the noise♪

Our number-one mission is like

make sure that this shit
makes Rick say "damn."

If it doesn't, then we gotta
throw our hands up and say,

"Number one,
it ain't happening.

It ain't gonna come out,
it ain't right.

And he's gonna
come in and do it,"

so we didn't
want that to happen.

You didn't see us
in the studio
just all the time,

like we'll come in,
do the job, and our job

was to get the fuck
outta the studio.

It was like
a military operation.

Yeah, we didn't
want to run up

that little bill of a budget
that we had.

This much we know:

Def Jam records was created
in Rick Rubin's dorm room

at New York University in 1983.

It started as
a do-it-yourself effort
to make music for friends

and like-minded denizens
of the rap underground.

Rubin designed the iconic logo
himself late at night,

with printer's press type.

But the mythologizing started
almost from the beginning.

Within two years,
Rubin was playing
a version of himself

in the motion picture
Krush Groove.

Oh, shit!

-Where?
- Don't ask.

You're rolling with the Rush
and that's all
you need to know...

cousin.

This film tells the story

of a small label
born in a dorm room

that takes hip-hop music
into the mainstream.

It was at once a celebration
and a death-knell.

Yo, that's a hundred orders
I already took today

and everybody wants
them yesterday.

I have 60 more over here.

I say, it's happening just like
I told you, right?

-Just like you told me?
-That's right.

We're selling records
we don't even have.

I can remember
opening the door
at the dorm room...

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah.

And you were 16,
I was probably 20, maybe.

The only preconceived
notion I had

is that I thought Rick
was gonna be black.

I was like, "You're Rick?"
He was like, "Yeah."

"I thought you was black."
He said "cool."

♪My story is rough
My neighborhood is tough♪

♪But I still sport gold
And I'm out to crush♪

♪My name is Cool J
I devastate the show♪

♪But I couldn't survive
without my radio♪

We did the record
just over a Roland,

and then I just did it hard,
you know, and then I left.

Every time
he would call me

and play a record
for me over the phone,

it was like opening up
a Christmas present, you know.

It says
"Reduced by Rick Rubin"

on the album
instead of "produced."

Rick was doing Steve Jobs
before Steve Jobs.

He was doing the Steve Jobs
sort of music,
he was reducing it,

and he was stripping
everything away.

This was a time when it was
all about Afrika Bambaataa

with all the electronic
instruments and synths,

and he like stripped
everything away
and put little bits of rock,

little bits of jazz,
little bits of funk
into things

and made it really
simple and hard.

He gave the genre a haircut.

And what increases the chances
of writing a great song?

Just practice
and being diligent

in the process
of always looking,

you know, always looking
for the next best song.

Not thinking, OK,
well, I need ten songs,

I'm gonna
write ten songs.

You might need to write 50,

you may need
to write a thousand
to find ten good ones.

-Right.
-It's like fishing.

It's like there's no--
you can't say
you're gonna catch fish...

-Right.
-...but you can show up
and fish every day

-and your chances get better.
-Right, right.

The more you fish,
the more fish you'll catch,

but you can't say,
"I'm going out today
and I'm gonna catch three fish."

♪ethereal music playing♪

7.3 billion humans

7.4...

billion...

humans

The rain falls like troops,
like troops

The rain falls,
open your coat in it

Shiver and cough

Skin like a dead thing, dying

- Oh.
-Little glitch, what was it?

- The computer's crashed.
-Computer crashed?

Should we turn it off
and turn it on again, the MPC?

Yeah, it's glitched
out big time.

- Hey.

When it doesn't crash,
you're sounding great.

I against you against we

Against them

This is how it begins

And this is how it will end

- One of them days,
isn't it?

Feel like every
single things gonna crash,

including us,
once before we start.

Yeah, I think everything's
gonna go wrong today.

The music was started here
when we first met Rick.

He gave us such
a kind of clear,

but kind of
unclear instruction

on how to make the music
that he wanted to hear.

He can see this
thing that he wants
to guide out of you.

He's got this vision for it,
but he can't explain it.

He can only say,
"That's not quite right."

So we create these demos.

It's incredible but quite
a frustrating process,

amazing, mind expanding.

We learnt a lot about
what it was

that Rick seems
to be able to hear.

We've made so many demos
for this record, didn't we?

Like...

like batches and batches.

More than we've ever done
before on different records.

Like...

It's a good feeling sitting down
for a whole day

trying to figure out something
and it's like,

"I don't think this is it,
should we try again tomorrow?"

From that point to this,
it's been about three years.

His thing is,
don't rap to the beat.

Basically, let the narrative
lead the way,

rather than the rhythm
in my speech.

But like I've spent
my entire life,
since like a young teenager,

learning how to flow,

and suddenly here
I'm in America with,

you know,
the hip-hop production legend

and he's telling me
to stop rapping.

It's just like, I can't...

You know, you wait
your whole life

for the opportunity
for something like this

and then he's like,
"OK, just unlearn

everything you spent
20 years learning."

One of those ones.

These little seeds
that he plants in your mind,

it's in difficult ground.

You can't quite understand,
and then suddenly
this thing happens

and you're like,
oh wow, that's...
that's what he meant.

♪ethereal music playing♪

It's just kind of strange,
like the shadow
of Rick hangs over

every recording, every demo.

It's as if he just wants
the best for you, from you,

and you wanna give the best

because somebody believes
that you're capable
of getting there.

She offered a peace

That my war didn't want

And she spoke of a truth

That I could not confront

I was dreaming

Talking too loud
to my friends in the evenings

I laughed very much
as if I was extremely

Happy

You shoulda seen me

Oh, I knew she sensed a glory...

His intentions are pure.

He's not like...

He doesn't want
anything out of you.

He's just suggesting
something he can hear.

♪ethereal music playing♪

♪I won't say nothin's wrong♪

♪I won't say nothin's wrong♪

♪We can talk♪

♪Even if it hurts you♪

♪Even if it hurts you♪

♪Ain't it funny
when it hits you♪

♪That you're not afraid to die♪

♪Ain't it funny
when it hits you♪

Beautiful.

Getting somewhere.
Somewhere.

-Absolutely.
I have a question.
-Yes.

Um...
Is "even if it hurts you"

at the top of your range or no?

Hmm... Yeah.

-OK.
-♪Even if it hurts you♪

OK. 'Cause I feel like
if it could go up

a little bit in key,
it might be better.

-You wanna try?
-Yeah.

Let's just see what happens.

I'm often surprised
by the stuff that happens.

Or the things
that I say.

I don't feel like
I know anything.

And I almost feel like,
and maybe that's part
of the secret,

is starting from a place of

really not knowing.

♪Even if it hurts you♪

♪Even if it hurts you♪

I'm...

open to riding whatever
wave I'm on.

And it takes on
a life of its own.

♪There's something,
ain't it funny♪

♪When it hurts you♪

-Yeah, it is nice up there.
- It sounds way better.

You wanna try
the hook in falsetto
and see how it feels?

♪Even if it hurts you♪

-Yeah.
-Just see how that feels.

♪I'm dyin' to know♪

♪And I won't say
nothin's wrong♪

♪I won't say nothin's wrong♪

♪We could talk♪

♪Ain't it funny when
it hits you♪

♪Even if it hurts you♪

♪Even if it hurts you♪

You know there's a lot of stuff
that goes by,

and it just kinda goes by.

And then there's some
where it's like,
oh, what was that?

That's interesting.

I lean forward,
and sometimes
it makes me laugh.

-Yeah.
-Not because it's funny.

-Right.
-But because it's like wild.

That's how I am.

That's so funny because
my best records,
I always giggle,

like hahaha,
that's hilarious.

Yeah.
But it's not necessarily

that it's funny,
it could be really sad.

It can still make me laugh
because it's so good
at what it is

and it's like,
how does that happen?

How does something
happen like that?

Chorus here.

♪Listen, listen one time♪

♪It's not true♪

♪Ooh, I'm gonna wake up♪

Fuck. Dick.

There was a shortened version,
that wasn't very short.

It was just a little shorter
than what we...

than the original, longer than

what we listened to
yesterday first.

The first verse we have C.

So, he's saying
in the second verse,

let's do half C, half ad-libs.

- Is that what
it originally was?
-No.

Or was it originally
just ad-libs?

No, it was long C.

Even yesterday we never heard
that with the long A.

- How did last night go,
by the way?
- Did not finish.

It was, yeah...

It's a lot of options.

I'm in the maze.

Attachment
in a Buddhist sense,

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said,

"We're falling, we're falling,
we're falling,

but the good news is,
there's nothing to hold onto."

That's great.

And so, this idea of
attachment is false,

because you can't
actually be attached.

You can try to be attached,
and the grasping

keeps you from doing your best

because you can't grasp
and do your best

at something else
because your hands
are over here, right?

And so I think one of
the magic potions

at Shangri-La

is that you're

helping people
detach from that,

so they can do their best,
because now their hands
are free.

The things that
have been vexing us

have been things like...

tempo, do things need
to be re-recorded,

are there any obvious like
arrangement shifts?

But...

because we put the most time
into these songs,

there is an element of
like... confusion.

Because the problem
of being unable to...

complete your fourth album...

it's not your first album,
it's not your second, the...

The feeling of finding it hard

to stop, like, futzing
with your fourth album...

in the grand scheme of things
is such an incredibly
minor problem.

It's very easy to accept
that feeling

of unfinishedness as reality.

Sometimes I feel like,
for the rest of my life,

I could just be like
tinkering with the album

and then I'll die
and then that's it.

So, our mission for today,

let's say the purpose
for today...

-Yeah.
-...is that you said

you've been going
in circles on several songs.

Yeah.

And let's set
the intention that when
you leave here today,

there will be no more
circling on those songs,
and you will be done.

That's the dream.

Well, it's...
you can decide that.

♪Baby, I know dreams♪

♪Tend to crumble at extremes♪

♪I just thought our
dream would last♪

♪A little bit longer♪

♪There's a time when every man♪

♪Draws a line down in the sand♪

♪We're surviving,
we're still living♪

♪I'm stronger♪

♪Whoo whoo♪

♪Whoo whoo♪

♪You've been cheating on
cheating on me♪

♪I've been cheating on
cheating on you♪

♪You've been cheating on me♪

♪But I've been cheating
through this life♪

♪And all its suffering♪

It's great.
What are your concerns?

Great song.

My concern-- Well...

I've always felt self-conscious
about this song.

There was a while
I didn't want it
to be on the record.

BloodPop always describes--
I think he means in a good way,

but he always describes stuff
as sounding Shrek.

'Cause that's just such a goofy
touchstone for us, is like,

like a Smash Mouth song
from Shrek.

And Vampire Weekend's always
been like perilously close

to like, you know?

We're not that far away from
Smash Mouth in some ways.

So, it's like...

yeah, that feeling of like...

I think you're like
really tripping.

I'm willing to consider
the possibility, but I...

They're afraid to let go.

They almost think they have--

in addition to
the fear part of it,

almost they have
a responsibility to hold on.

Yeah, exactly.

I owe this to my fans.

This is what the culture
has taught us.

You just have to get
to where you're
comfortable with it today.

There is no like
perfection to be had.

I'm ready for that

because we've been
working on it
too long anyway.

I could tell you
from the messages...

Yeah.

I could see that
from this point forward,

and maybe even from
six months ago forward,

the record's
not getting better.

It may be getting different.

Go look at the reviews
for Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.

People gave it one-star reviews,
lots of people did.

Because there's no such thing
as perfect creativity.

Creativity is not the idea
of spackling a wall

that's smoother
than a nanometer.

Creativity means,
I made change happen.

That's what it is.
The motion of making
change happen.

When Miles recorded
Kind of Blue,
he changed music forever.

Right, when Mike Oldfield
made Tubular Bells,
he changed music forever.

Not all music,
but the music that it
rippled through.

That's what we do
when we do something creative.

We make change. Is it perfect?
No, it can't be perfect.

It's been a crazy
couple of days.

Every time we do the take,

it's like it goes to
a completely different place.

Dan thinks that
there's one that we've got
that we could use

and then we do another one
and it's like, maybe that's it.

They're all flawed,

like not one of them has been
like absolutely "that's it,"

but that's kinda
the whole point.

They're all different:
one of them was really dark;

one of them was much more
kinda like joyous.

Thank you very much for coming
to just hang out this evening,

and I hope you feel
this piece of work.

And I don't know
what's gonna happen,

and I'm really glad
that you're here.

Chairs are so far from
the speakers.

- Move closer?
-You could move forward a bit.

I had this notion
I wanted it to be one take,

one take front to back,

like I wanted
the record to be one take.

But then Rick was kind of,
I think,

and Dan as well,
have been saying,

"Well, if there is
a section that

is much better
in a previous take,

why not make the best record
you can make?"

This direction of
doing every take
as one full take

was a really
useful direction.

It doesn't necessarily
detract from that.

Who knows, maybe when
people listen to it,

they're not gonna feel
any of this intention.

I hope they do.

I saw it

Roaring

I felt it

Clawing at my clothes

Like a grieving friend

It said there are
no new beginnings
until everybody sees

That the old ways need to end

What is hard to accept,
we're all one and the same flesh

Given the rampant divisions
between oppressor and oppressed

But we are, though

More empathy, less greed

More respect

All I've got to say has
already been said

You heard it from yourself
when you were lying in your bed

and couldn't sleep, thinking,
couldn't we be doing
things differently?

I'm listening to every
little whisper
in the distance singing hymns

And I can,
I can feel things changing

He was really excited,
did you feel that?

He was really excited by it.

He keeps saying
these things like,

"I never heard
anything like it."

And imagine how much music
Rick Rubin's heard in his life.

It makes me think
like, whoa, whoa,

what have we done,
what is this?

We went from just hanging out

in your dorm all the time,
collaborating,

but we didn't know what that was
or that that's what we're doing.

If we didn't have
all that success right away,

then we might have
had more time

to figure out how to
navigate things

and maybe how to listen
to each other,
speak to each other.

Absolutely.

Or just how to behave.

How to be human beings,
of course.

Rick moved on,
he left Def Jam behind.

I think there was
conflicts there that
he didn't want to deal with.

And he just left.

Now, I don't know
anybody who would have

left something like that,
except Rick.

All the most
interesting things happen

when you're making stuff
that no one else is making.

Hip-hop was like,
I was excited

to be in this creative
community and now,

everyone who's doing it
is only doing it

to kinda capitalize
on something we did

and not bring
anything new to it.

It was nothing new,
it was more of just the same,

and then I started
making rock records.

None of this was
written in stone

The current's force
but the river moves slow

And I can feel things changing

Even when I'm weak
and I'm breaking

I stand weeping
at the train station

'Cause I could see your faces

So much peace to be found

In people's faces

As you mature
in your process of creativity,

we get cautious.

-You start getting careful.
-I do not.

I know that information
is counter-productive

to what I'm trying to do.

I love that.

It is. Like, this is
trying to save me,

-I don't need to be saved.
-Right, I'm an artist.

-I need to go off the cliff.
-I need to go off the cliff.

Def Jam.

That's a hundred orders
I already took today

and everybody wants
them yesterday.

And 60 more over here.

Hey, it's working just like
I told you, right?

-Just like you told me?
-That's right.

We're selling records
we don't even have.

Cut!

Alright, everyone take lunch,

we're gonna reset, got it.

Catch you later, man.

Most people who create,
the first time out,

don't know what
the right answer is.

They have a noise in their head
and they release it.

And then if they succeed,

they are surrounded by people

and priorities to say,
"Try to repeat it."

And that's why all of
the one-hit wonders
are one-hit wonders.

Can you tell if the man
in the water

is swimming or drowning?

What does he think?

When the counter-culture
becomes the culture,

the man pauses
and finds himself
staring at a reflection.

Perhaps the only way
out is to move on.

♪I'm going back to
Cali, Cali, Cali♪

♪I'm going back to Cali...♪

♪Hmm, I don't think so♪

♪I'm going back to
Cali, Cali, Cali♪

♪I'm going back to Cali...♪

♪I don't think so♪

♪Going back to Cali♪

♪Stylin', profilin'♪

♪Growlin' and smilin'♪

♪While in the sun♪

♪The top is down on
the black Corvette♪

♪And it's fly 'cause
it's sittin' on Daytons ♪

♪Nardi steering wheel,
plushed out♪

♪Gold-leaf phantom top... ♪