Legendary record producer Rick Rubin has joined the team at Genius, a website that lets users annotate song lyrics online, leading to the famous producer spilling cool info about some of his most famous projects.
Rubin’s work and influence is clear across the scope of popular music – MTV called him “the most important producer of the last 20 years”, and the list of artists he has worked with sounds like the who’s who of the music industry, covering everyone from Tom Petty to Slayer, AC/DC and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
His annotations on Genius reveal stories from some of his more famous projects, as well as see him just commenting on albums that have impressed him. He tells stories about getting Johnny Cash to record his infamous Nine Inch Nails cover, hearing Angus & Julia Stone in a New York restaurant and inspiring them to reform, and working on the collaboration between Kanye West and Paul McCartney.
Originally started as Rap Genius in 2009, Genius was originally a website that annotated hip hop lyrics. Since then the website has grown steadily, taking on thousands upon thousands of annotations. The site expanded in 2014, changing its name to Genius, and covering other forms of media. You can now annotate everything from the new Marilyn Manson album to The Gettysburg Address and Professional Wrestling promos.
Influential pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones also recently joined the Genius team, after writing for The New Yorker for 11 years.
Read all of Rick Rubin’s annotations here.
