Word: rubiner
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Rubin doesn't read music or write lyrics, and has no idea what the knobs on a mixing board do. "I had my doubts," says the Dixie Chicks' Emily Robison. "How do you produce music if you can't say, 'O.K., from the D chord I want to hear going to the G?' But somehow it just works." Rubin's dominance of this year's Grammy Album category is unprecedented. So is the fact that other than platinum sales, his nominated discs--one country, one rock and one pop/soul--have absolutely nothing in common. Factor in his other big releases...
...That's why he deserves Producer of the Year," says comedian Chris Rock, a close Rubin friend and fan. (Rubin is nominated for a Grammy in the category and appears a lock to win.) "Most producers have their own sound, and they lease it out to different people, but we know it's still their record. The records you make with Rick are your records. He makes it his job to squeeze the best out of you--and not leave any fingerprints...
Combine artistic success with the fact that he rarely strikes out commercially and it's no surprise that Rubin is also highly sought after by record companies. He's currently discussing a role as co-chairman of Columbia Records. A Rubin associate says, "Negotiations are going on, but there's still ground to cover," while a source close to Columbia says, "Rick is a transcendent creative force. He'd be a huge hire...
Even jaded pros speak with squishy, New Age adulation of his mysterious abilities to make other people better, a reputation enhanced by the Bhagwanesque curtain of hair across his face. But Rubin, 43, feels he's credited with more magic powers than he actually possesses. "So much of what we do is just common sense," he says. Rubin co-founded Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons out of his New York University dorm room in 1984 and had a huge influence on the early history of rap (that's him as DJ Double R on the Beastie Boys' Licensed...
...Rubin does have a gift for setting people at ease. In the Malibu, Calif., home he shares with his girlfriend, he shuffles around barefoot in loose khakis and a white T shirt, trailed step for step by a lazy-looking dreadlocked puli. He has three laptops full of music in his living room but can't work iTunes on any of them, and when friends stop by, he greets them with well-intended but lung-collapsing hugs. He's your classic effortlessly amiable clumsy dude--a metaphorical Buddha in a terry-cloth robe...