All language subtitles for Shangri-La.2019.E1 ∙ Magic

So, Rick,
how do we tell the whole
history of Shangri-La,

of the studio,
and of your role in it?

It's about
the artists, the conversations
that come out of it

and whatever story
we weave around it.

In some ways,
this is like a vehicle

to show the processes

of the different people
that we get to talk to.

It's not about me at all.

It's just, it's challenging.

- No, I know.
- Super challenging

because it's like
a hall of mirrors.

-If you're reflecting
what an artist brings...

- Yeah.

...then I'm looking at

a reflection of a reflection.

- Yeah.
- So...

Hall of mirrors
is a great way to look at it.

Nothing would please
me more.

♪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...♪

♪orchestra playing
romantic soundtrack♪

Welcome to Shangri-La.

It's magical.

Through magic, you start
understanding principles

of how there's really
extraordinary magical,

and then there's really
little mundane magic moments.

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

"Wow, that's so exciting,"
it's like, "I wonder
how this works?"

Anything's possible.

There's something so simple
and naive about all this

that I suspect there's
been a shrewd guiding
intelligence somewhere.

Whose idea was it?
How did it all start?

OK, so, Rick,
what is Shangri-La?

Maybe give us a little tour,
what is this Shangri-La?

It's a clubhouse, you know.

This is where we get together
and play, make records.

Yeah?

Any of these places
that have been around
for a long time,

there's an extra added feeling
of coming to a place

where a lot of good music
has been made.

It seems like it's somehow
in the walls.

There's a sense of holy ground.

I don't know if it's
the energy collected
in the space,

or if it's just
people's belief.

It doesn't really matter.

Nah, I never met him.

There's a mystique
to Rick Rubin.

He has a beard.
He's usually, uh, shoeless.

What do you
know about him?

Honestly, he was in
a "99 Problems" video by Jay.

♪You crazy for this one, Rick♪

I think him and Russell
did the Def Jam thing.

Beastie Boys stuff maybe.

The Beastie Boys!

See, the Beastie Boys are
the most important thing

in music today.

I could sit here and lie
and be like, ohhhh!

I don't know shit about
this nigga, man.

He was part of this incredibly
cool thing in the mid-'80s.

And then he could have spent
the rest of his life always

just looking for who's like
the new rapper from Queens.

The fact that he's been
interested in helping

so many different
types of artists,

that's kinda proof
of where his priorities lie.

I love this.
Oh my fucking God.

This is really, really
cool to me,

cuz it's nothing in here
that's not needed.

It's one sandbag right there.

Why? Because that was
enough to hold that mic

where it was supposed to be.

The idea is to
not have any art on the walls,

so your brain is
as empty as possible.

Wow.

So you aren't
thinking about a picture.

You have to come up with one.

That's cool. Deep.

It's interesting.

Ehhhh.

But it's cool.

Cuz a piece of me is like,
"Oh, shut the fuck up."

But a piece of me is like,
"Wow, that's, uh...
that's cool."

- What up, G?
- How are you, Tyler?

My pleasure, Rick.
What up, man?

I love this just cuz
the only shit that's here

is what's supposed to be here.

No decoration.

No, I could tell.

The studio was built in 1976
and has been here ever since.

Wow. What's the--
Why do you not like wearing--

That's crazy.

I automatically
came to the conclusion

that you don't like
wearing shoes.

-Why do you...?
-I like being barefoot.

I most like to be barefoot.

I don't think humans should be,
are supposed to wear shoes.

I think that's right.

Like we're supposed
to feel the earth

and, "Oh nigga,
an earthquake is coming."

Like we're supposed
to have that, but we're idiots.

A hundred percent true.
The earth actually

has electrical
and magnetic energy

that goes into our body
if we are naked on it.

And if we are covered
all the time,

we don't get to feel it.

In terms of health
and in terms
of knowing things,

but like part of
the life source is being
tapped into the earth.

I don't know, it feels,
feels really in tune with...

You're so goddamn free.

I think I'm free,
but you're on

a-whole-nother level
of fucking free.

Shangri-La is a little
bit like Valhalla.

The fact that it's so beautiful

and by the beach
and the air is different.

And there's like some
feeling about Malibu

being this place that
people ascend to.

Also cuz you gotta be rich
to live in Malibu.

You feel like you're going
to a different dimension
or something.

You're above it all
in a kind of weird,
sacred space.

I know Shangri-La
Studios is a studio where,

if you're doing music,

and you get called up
here to do music,

then you're kinda doing it.

-How you doing?
-Good. How you doin'?

I'm good.

I could tell there's no TVs
in this bitch.

There's no anything in here.

Yeah, it's just furniture
and a studio.

I got like a hundred TVs
in my house.

My friends would be
bored as fuck here,
ya know what I'm saying?

I think it's dope, though.
I told him I wanna record here.

I wanna record and see
what I can come up with.

Cuz you kinda exclude,
you kinda, you really like,

you kinda get away
from the world

if you do it the proper way,
you know?

Like I would turn my phones off
and then just, like, detach.

You know what I'm saying?

And I'd bring a TV
cuz ain't no TVs in this bitch.

I'd go buy one at
the local Walmart.

DRAM:
I love it at Shangri-La.

It's like a true
musicians' paradise.

You got Rick and he just
comes in, he magically appears.

You know, it's just
air underneath his feet,
you can't hear him.

Do you wanna listen on the bus
while he gets bass sounds?

-Yes.
-Cool.

Let's do it.

♪That money can go,
yo money come and go,
oh, oh, oh, yeah♪

♪Ooh, if you gotta check
in your name♪

♪For a hundred
thousand dollars♪

♪Honestly, what would you do?♪

♪What would you do?♪

♪Ooh, what would you do?
what would you do?♪

♪Ooh, if you got
that check in your name♪

♪Would you try to fix
everyone's problems
with dollars?♪

♪Cuz what's it to you?♪

So Rick had a thing
going on on Twitter.

I don't know if he still does,
but it's only two tweets.

The first one is,
"Hi, I'm Rick Rubin."

The second one is,
"Now playing,
now listening to."

And one day,
all of a sudden, he just put,

"Now listening to
'Get Money' by DRAM."

And I'm like,
oh my fucking God.

People start asking me like,
"Yo, you see this?"

I'm like, "Yo, shit's
crazy, bruh.
What the fuck?"

I was looking
for new music
on SoundCloud.

I was like,
"Wow this is different
than everything else."

Had maybe 300 listens.

And what, February 6th, 2015,

I came out to Malibu
to Shangri-La
for the very first time.

That's my favorite one.

Most soulful.

Yeah, yeah, just keep
playing it back.

You're probably gonna
lead the session in there.

But it'll be one of
the best bands

you've ever played with,
like last time.

What songs have I
heard you play this on?

On this kit?

Let's see.
Well, I Will Survive. Um...

-Got To Be Real. You know those?
- Yeah.

I Want You ,
Marvin Gaye stuff.

Uh...man, I don't, I can't...
You know, quite a few.

Working with Rick,
you have the absolute power

to be as free
as you want to be.

♪You know what it is
You know what it is♪

♪You know what it is...♪

Watch it unfold.
It's really interesting.

It's not just artists.

If you're open
and pay attention

people will tell you
what they need to say.

Everything just feels
so claustrophobic

in, in, in my,
in my outputs,

with every single thing,
and that's so not me.

No, I feel that.

♪Huh, every time I turn around♪

♪I'm only viewing you♪

♪Huh huh, every time
my eyes close♪

♪I know that I see you, too
huh huh huh♪

♪Every time they open
I do not appear to you♪

♪Oh whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa♪

He has just
this authentic eagerness,

to really, really see
where you're at with this shit.

Where have you been with it,
what do you have working up?

♪suspenseful music playing♪

I can remember as a child
the "Paul is Dead" myth.

I could see him on TV,
and he was dead.

And the Beatles
were leaving clues

about his death in the artwork.

I was sort of obsessed
and terrified.

I started keeping the heavier
of the Beatles' albums,

turning their
binder to the wall
so I couldn't see them.

Magical Mystery Tour
was one that had many clues.

In my childhood bedroom,
there was a poster

of the Beatles over my bed,
and I was afraid

because Paul is dead
but he's alive.

It just was so confusing to me.

You don't really know...

♪eerie soundtrack playing♪

...where is it fiction,
where is it reality.

I get a serotonin reaction
in my brain when those
two things happen.

And it might also be
similar to the one

when there's an unusually
breathtaking sunset.

It hits you in a way
that stops you.

I feel like all of those
make me wanna look deeper.

Look deeper.

Look deeper.
Look deeper.

When the Beatles, I heard
they were meditating

I wasn't one bit interested.

And I thought you'd become
a raisin eater,

a nut eater, you know,
and like this.

-Yeah.
-And I thought it was
kind of a fad.

And it was my little sister
who called one day

and said she started
transcendental meditation.

Which, I always say I heard
a change in her voice.

More self-assuredness,
more happiness.

And then something clicked

and I couldn't get
enough information.

In the transcendent,
there's no time
and there's no space.

Time and space are
born out of that.

It's totally unmanifest,
the most abstraction ever.

It's actually our self.

They say the transcendent
is the self with a capital S.

Know thyself, that's that.

Yo, it feels...
It feels like Jamaica.

There's something--

I think it's like
the wood paneling
and the incense.

That's not the chord
but that's the root note.

Wanna try going around
the rig of the cycle

a few times and do that?

All right. So...

So, as opposed to telling you
what you should do

and like, "do this, try that,"

it's kinda like the whole
"less is more."

It's kind of even
in this space...

like, you see
the room is kind of,

you kind of realize like
that's his approach to life.

Can you make a loop outta that?

Can I also get a, um,
a minor distortion?

I've always interpreted
what an artist does

as having an antenna
to draw in this information.

Like I don't think it comes
from us, I feel like--

-It's outside, yeah.
-We're more a vehicle

it can come through.

-We're like a radio. Yeah.
-That's what it feels like.

Yeah. Exactly what it's like.

♪La la daa daa daa...♪

Is there an alternate bass line
that it could go to?

Instead of coming up
with more chords,
could the bass

just change under
what's going on

to accomplish what
you wanna accomplish

without writing new chords?

Yeah.

Very hypnotic vibe.

Yeah, right?

What are you feeling next?

I think add drums.

Something like that.

In the stage right after
the idea comes,

when you see something go

from a good theoretical idea

to blossoming in the world,

it's like a revelation
when it happens.

Yeah, you're
translating the idea.

It's so beautiful.

♪I've been runnin'
my whole life♪

♪I can't just turn around
and then try♪

♪When you cry, dear♪

♪You make a fool of me♪

♪Heard that you've
been acting crazy♪

♪How could you,
my poor sweet lady♪

♪Bad mixes with the good♪

♪This life ain't free♪

♪Ah-ah♪

-It sounds great.
- It's good?

Yeah, and there's some
good words in there too.

- I caught
one-two, one-two.
-Yeah.

I have another track.

I remember I got
the opportunity

to get an interview
at Shangri-La.

And I remember thinking like,

even if nothing
comes from this,

like, I'm gonna get to see it.

If you're a musician at all,

you know how like
nerve wracking it can be

just playing music
in front of people,

let alone like singing
or creating that music.

So, like, being invisible
is really important.

If I'm doing a good job,
no one knows I'm here.

No one notices
the technical side of things.

Everything just goes smoothly,
like an artist sings a melody

and suddenly that melody
is like in the computer

and like being processed
and chopped up into a beat.

That's like an A-plus
sorta day right there.

I was in music school and...

came out here for
a summer internship,
and I never left.

Just put
all my chips into this.

There's no clocks around here,

if anyone's ever
paid attention to that.

Clocks and TVs.

You don't need
to know the time.

You don't need to know
what's going on in the news.

Just like, join
the Shangri-La bubble,

and, uh, just live
in it for a while.

Rick is really focused.
You know, all the time.

And if you say too much,
or go for a handshake,

or something like that,

it could break his Zen,

and that's not what
we're here to do.

Applying to colleges,
I had to write an essay
on one person

I'd want to have
lunch with someday,

and what I would
talk about with them,

and I wrote that paper
like about Rick.

I remember just looking back

at like the wide variety

of artists
he had worked with.

It all seemed
like super risky.

Like going from
like Beastie Boys

straight into Slayer,
you know.

Stuff like that just
didn't make sense to me.

And I kinda wanna learn
from him and understand like

why he was making
these like leaps of faith.

We're going into
the control room.

It's a little unique.

Oftentimes you'll see the glass
will be in front of you

so you're looking
directly across to the artist.

But when they built this room,

they decided to have
the glass off to your right

so it actually makes
for a better listening
environment

because you're not hearing
the reflection off of the glass.

This is the pool table
from The Last Waltz.

They begin the film
playing "cutthroat"
right here on that.

OK, Rick, what's the game?

-Cutthroat.

Object is to keep
your balls on the table

and knock everybody else's off.

One more room I wanna
show you guys is the library,

where we keep a lot of
sort of our musical artifacts

and inspirational pieces.

A lot of people don't know
we have it here,

but it's right through here.

So this all used to be part
of the original house,

and we've turned it
into our library and archive,

where we have thousands
of old recordings and books

and things that
we like to refer to

when we're
needing inspiration.

Hey, Josh, what's up?

-Hey.
-How's it going?

- It's going great.
-You wanna come down?

Sure.

-I'm just giving a tour
of the space.
- Cool.

What are you working on?

Rick's got me trying
to figure out

if we can make
any connections

between these original texts

and some new recordings
he's working on.

Wow.
What have you
discovered so far?

Well, I see traces
of what I think we
could kind of see

as some of the roots
of the idea of radio

in some of these texts.

Um, I would say not
the technology itself,

but some of the bigger ideas
of transmitting sound

across long distances
and connecting people.

We're surrounded
by all these incredible books.

Volume after volume
of everything
from western philosophy

and histories of spirituality

to really important
archival histories
of rhythm and blues,

um, some really rare
heavy metal texts
that are really important.

And that's one of
the great joys
of working here,

is that we're really
surrounded by secrets.

We're surround by
all of these items

from history that people
have overlooked,

that they think they know things
but the truth lies in here.

I led a pretty
sheltered life as a child.

I didn't have much of
an outward life.

Most of my experiences
happened in my room

and in my head,
often with music.

Frantic rock and roll,
when I was really young,

that was the energy
that I liked.

It was the Beatles' version
of the Chuck Berry

Just Let Me Hear
Some of that Rock and Roll Music

that just made me insane.

Because you'd get that
feeling from music.

It's like that feeling of like,
I don't know why

this thing that I can't
touch is making me

feel all of this emotion

or getting me so excited,
or making me so sad.

Chuck Berry, Little Richard.

If you listen
to the Little Richard records,

they sound like they're
gonna explode.

♪When you're rockin'
and rollin'♪

♪Can't hear your mama call♪

There's always been
the love of music

and the love
of that feeling
of like, um...

hearing something
and it taking me away.

I've never been into drugs
or drinking or anything

and I feel like music has
always been, sort of, my...

that's been what's altered
my consciousness.

-Same here, yeah.
-It just, it takes me
out of myself.

You know, it takes me
and it touches me
in a way that...

it's like you can't even
put it into words.

Yeah, I know exactly,
cuz I don't drink or anything.

As a child,
I usually just sat
and read the credits

to all the albums
and the liner notes

and I love the smell
of the paper.

That's like Zhané's
first album,

Faith and Mary J. Blige's
first album.

Erykah's first album.

Was that what your parents
were listening to?

That was my mom.

It started off with,
you know, O'Jays

and Teddy Pendergrass,
and, um...

you know, a little
We Will Rock You

kinda mixed in there.

My moms is Motown,
Stax, Atlantic.

And she was the DJ
in the house?

Pretty much.
Meaning you don't go outside

until you finish these chores,
so you're forced to listen.

And it plays over, and over,

and don't touch
that record player.

I have this theory
that I'm like

tumbling into my inner
child or something
because I'm listening

to all the things
my dad would play

when I was really small,
like Miles Davis
and a lot of Stevie.

-My step-dad Walter,
if you met him--
-I don't think so.

He played jazz in the house
and that's how I got into music.

Beautiful.
What was the first thing
that got you into music?

The Delfonics
and like James Brown.

I got really into Radiohead
when I was young.

We loved folk music.

A lot of Buddy Holly
when I was growing up,
loved Buddy Holly.

Velvet Underground,
Beach Boys, Bob Marley.

1999, by Prince.

Haven't heard that
in a long time.

That'd be fun to listen to.

Yeah. Did you know
every song on that record

uses the analogy of a car?

-I didn't know that.
-Every single song.

Yeah, I'd hang out

with the white kids
who would skate

and they introduced me
to like rock,

all types of rock stuff,

and stuff that I wasn't
too familiar with.

I love ZZ Top.
I love them.

- They're great.
-Yeah.

One of the questions that I have
about what Shangri-La was like

back in the day was like,
how remote was this back then?

There's some mythology
around Shangri-La,

as a place where
music was created.

It goes back to Elvis even.

We would hear that
Elvis lived here.

I think Elvis did live here.

If he didn't,
it was good enough
to think he lived here.

There was a good little guru
that was 15 years old.

Maharaja something, right?

He had this place,
you know, before we got it.

I think he came here
when he was 11 originally.

So this used to be
his master bedroom,

and then that was
the meeting room,

where the, you know,
the people came

to meditate and do their thing,
whatever they do, right?

There's a lot of myths
about Shangri-La.

Bob Dylan lived in
a teepee on the lawn.

The studio was a brothel before
it was a recording studio.

Used to be a bordello.

I think you can tell
by the wallpaper.

That decadence, that softness.

OK, there's that bedroom where
Bob Dylan jumped out the window.

-This bathroom's still there.

Look, all the original
pink tile is still here,
which is amazing.

And there's that shot
of Robbie standing here

talking about
Sonny Boy Williamson
in the movie.

The whole place was
tiled in pink, you know.

Maybe Elvis did that.

What is now a studio,

there used to be
a little guesthouse
there with a stable, right?

Mr. Ed lived in
the stable off-season.

What's out there?

What's beyond the stars?

The place is full
of these great stories.

No, this is nice,
though, it's great.

I mean it's wonderful,
this new look that it has,
it's great.

It's like this fabulous thing

that's been preserved
and, you know, it's historic.

I mean, it's incredible,
really.

The history of this place

goes really, really far back
and we actually document it.

There's a three-volume history
of Shangri-La that dates back,

just in these volumes
at least, to 1890.

The kind of original idea
that Shangri-La gets known for,

um, comes from this
book, Lost Horizon,
by James Hilton,

that was then a few years later
turned into a Frank Capra film.

This place gives me the creeps.

Hidden away like this,
no contact with civilization.

Well, you don't seem
concerned at all.

Oh, I'm feeling far too peaceful
to be concerned about anything.

I think I'm going
to like it here.

That's where most people know
about Shangri-La,

um, and what's really
interesting is that

one of the actors in
the Lost Horizon film

was a woman named Margo,

who was a single-name celebrity

years before Cher,
from Mexico City,

who came to Hollywood
and fell so in love

with the fictionalized
version of it

that she actually was
the one who first came here

and started building
some of the structures

that still stand here on
the Shangri-La property.

-Hey, how ya doing?
-How ya doing, man?

-Pretty good, pretty good, yeah.
-Nice.

You've done good by the place.

I'm impressed
it's still standing,

because there were times
when I thought,
this place is doomed.

This place is gonna be burnt
to the ground before we're done.

It's still a work in progress,
but it's coming along.

You converted it from
Mr. Ed's place to a chapel.

Yes.

That transition alone,
you know, this is beautiful.

Yeah, and I like
the idea of having the...

to be able to work
with the doors open,

kinda indoor-outdoor.

It's fabulous.

Was the bus always here?

- No.
- What do
you do in here?

All kinds of stuff.
We do vocals in that room.

We work on mixes in here.

We mixed half of the two

Kanye West albums ago,
Yeezus, in this room.

- Look at that.
- Isn't that crazy?

When we built the deck,

it was under
where the deck was.

We saved it.

It lives on.

Every artist who comes,
they come and they touch it.

Good rock-and-roll relic.

Yeah.

What I was doing with The Band,

in saying, "We're going to make
a record in here,"

we're gonna make
the studio come to us,

rather than us
going somewhere,

and we go in these walls,
and...

it's not our place,
it's their place.

-Yeah.
-And how do we make
a comfort zone

that everybody
feels free enough
to do their best work?

♪When the rains♪

♪Fall down♪

♪On my door♪

The tapes from
Northern Lights-Southern Cross,

every note was done here.

♪As true as the love♪

♪That dies untold♪

So the things that
I think that are new...

these windows,
I think, were here.

We put in this big door
to get more light.

Now, I did a session here

with Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

Incredible.

Eric Clapton did an album here,

and then I did Neil Diamond.

- Yeah, here too.
- Here.

We share
Neil Diamond together,

we both have
produced Neil Diamond.

-Yep.
-Fantastic.

You said in The Band
you had the drums here.

-Right.
-And then how did
everyone else sit?

What was the whole layout?
Where did you sit?

Like I said, the piano was here,

and the drums were there,

and then Rick and I sat
in the middle of the room.

-We insisted on eye contact.
- Yeah.

Something magical happens
when a band is playing

in balance
with each other.

What's happening is so real.

You know, it's so real from
anywhere you capture it.

That's how they do orchestras.

They don't mic everybody
in the orchestra,

they get the balance.

There are versions of records

where you can hear the takes

leading up to the take,

and you hear the take
before the take that you know.

It's all the same people,
playing all the same parts,

at the same tempo, and...

it sounds pretty much
the same and OK.

-Uh-huh.
-And then all of a sudden

it's remarkable.

It's so abstract.

But you couldn't even say
what changed.

It seems like it doesn't
have to do with the parts.

It's some other...

Other thing.

Something else working

simultaneously
that allows it to blossom.

It's like being open
to the possibility

that these things
that we don't understand
or can't explain

happen regularly

and that it might
even be possible

to support them happening.

You can't make them happen,

but we might be able
to create an environment

that is conducive
to it happening.

We spend a lot of time

prepping the studio
for the next artist.

And that involves
painting the floors

and keeping everything
as new and open-looking
as we can.

It needs a lot of attention
to be in shape for a session.

So when you get here,
there's sort of nothing

in the way between you
and your creative process.

It's really... quite taken
with your place there.

It has an intentionality
about it that's
really something.

There's something
about places

where people make good things
over a long period of time

that just takes on
a certain energy.

I don't know if gets selected

because it had that energy
to begin with,

or it's because of the work
that it creates,

the ghosts are there.

We see it over
and over again
in these places

that you just wanna
go back to and...

for some reason artists
feel comfortable there.

Wow, look at the surfers.

What you seem
to be able to do is

pull the authentic

out of the people
that you work with,

and that's a really
interesting art form.

It's kind of a Zen modality,
I would imagine.

You gotta be pretty clear in
order to get them to be clear.

Yes, and I think
part of it is also

creating the environment
to allow them

to be themselves
and feel safe
to be themselves

without any judgment.

But what is it
you do that makes

so many different,
disparate people
have that experience?

I mean, what do you think?

In all legitimate humility
what is it?

No, I don't know.

So you just trust
your instinctive response?

It's only instinctive.

I have no skillset.
I just am intuitive.

So it's, in the best sense
of the word,

a magical relationship?

Absolutely.
Absolutely.

And my relationship

to the taste involved

is a magical relationship,
and I don't take it for granted.

It's, I know that it...
it's not what's in my head.

You know, it's as much
coming through me

as it comes through
the artists that I work with.

So you're really...

you're sort of an absence,
in a way.

I try to be. It's...

I try to be as...

My goal would be to be able
to produce an artist

and have it be their best work

and never meet them
or speak to them.

That would be
the ultimate version of it.

I've not gotten there yet.

I haven't reached
that level of skill yet.

I've never met Rick before.

At this point,
Rick's contribution
to music has been so massive

that like everything around it
has been mythologized,

so you're quite aware that
you're in this white space

because you're like,
we're in Rick's space.

We're not just in
a white space here,

like there's a reason
this place is white,

and there's one person
who's incredibly
important to music

who has made that their ethos.

So it was just something
very instant.

Like songs just
sort of started coming.

And I feel like this is
a place that you come to

to pull something a bit
out of yourself emotionally.

We're also doing some
stuff for the album.

This amazing, incredible
new singer named Yebba.

I heard some demos
that she did
and I was kinda blown away

and I just said,
if she wanted any help
working on those...

♪But I swear
I feel you with me♪

♪When I howl♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

Does Yebba still need
to write lyrics for Howling ?

-Mm-hmm.
- That'd be
a cool thing to do,

if you wanna do it with her,

like you guys work on that
while we're cutting.

These lyrics to me in this like
pre-chorus type acting thing

is like...

me remembering my mom,

but also in the second verse
I would want it to be

like it's this new thing where
I'm remembering my mom,

finally I'm over the hump where
I can have happy memories.

♪Time will heal...♪

I've never worked
with an artist before

who maybe has something
that's happened to them

that's... this momentous

and this is the record that
they're dealing with it with.

So I just try to be
sensitive to that.

♪I'll be howling over you♪

♪Cuz you're not here♪

♪You've gone somewhere♪

♪But I swear
I feel you near me♪

♪When I howl♪

♪I'll be howling,
I'll be howling♪

♪At the moon♪

I don't know if
you know my story

but my mom shot herself
outside of my bedroom window,

and I found her
the next morning,

and so everything I write

is just completely
obsessed with that.

Right, well, I mean,
for good reason.

From that moment on
and then like nothing behind.

I like forgot her
because I was so struck

by such a lovely person
with a gray body now.

♪Mama, light the windows♪

♪Open sill♪

♪Taking the heat off indoor♪

♪Time will heal me♪

♪I'll be howl...♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

♪I will be howl...♪

It's a memory

but also a reoccurring
theme of me

realizing that this is
a different season of my life.

And I use the word "season"
because my dad's a pastor

and that's the language
that I know.

You're walking into
a new season of your life.

And I really feel like,

when I wrote that song,

that summer is here
to stick around
this time maybe.

♪I...♪

♪I'm waiting for the sun♪

♪To rise up again♪

♪I...♪

♪I'm waiting for the sun♪

♪To rise again♪

♪Waiting for the sun
to rise again♪

♪Howl♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

♪Howl♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

♪Howling at the moon♪

♪I'll be howl...howl...♪

♪I'll be howling at the moon♪

♪The moon♪

♪Howl♪

♪I'll be howling at the moon♪

♪Howl howl♪

♪I'll be howling at the moon♪

♪I will be howling♪

People nowadays

are suffering from
all kinds of negativity,

primarily stress,
and a lot of people

are suffering from
traumatic stress.

Negativity, stress,

and anxieties, tension,
anger, fear,

all these things squeeze
the tube through
which ideas flow.

Negativity is the enemy
to creativity.

But what are we gonna
do about it?

People have to know

that within every human being
is a treasury.

And this treasury is

an unbounded ocean
of pure consciousness.

So within us all
is unbounded intelligence,

creativity, happiness...

love, energy, power, and peace.

If we could contact that ocean,

experience it,

negativity naturally,
effortlessly, lifts away.

Turn the awareness from
out, out, out,

180 degrees to within,
within, within.

And once we're pointed within,

we will naturally
and easily dive

through subtler levels of mind,

then subtler levels
of intellect,

and at the border of intellect,

we'll transcend,

we'll experience
that big ocean, the treasury.

This makes me
feel like it should
just be the banjo.

Well, let's play the banjo.
Do it.

This one's heavy, man.

Yeah, it is.

Put that on your
back every night,

see if you don't get
as fit as I am.

Yeah, Rob, welcome to
a man's instrument.

-The "manjo."

One thing I don't do
is talk about

how heavy it is
every night.

Being on this planet is about

being the best
version of yourself.

And what Rick said earlier on,
"My job is to help you guys be

the best version of you."

He seems to facilitate
that very well.

♪I live in the country♪

♪Because I love
peace and quiet♪

♪But all of my neighbors♪

♪Have closets♪

♪Full of machine guns♪

♪And every Sunday♪

♪They're out there♪

♪Pretending to be Rambo♪

♪And I'm in here♪

♪Pretending like Sunday♪

♪Is still sacred♪

♪Another bang-bang
shoot-em-up movie♪

♪Living room like
a battle ground♪

♪A bang-bang shoot-em-up movie♪

♪Meant to push the envelope♪

♪Make me say wow♪

♪If I never hear gunfire again
I'll be fine♪

♪So please turn it off♪

♪I'm tired♪

♪Of bang-bang♪

♪Bang-bang♪

♪Bang-bang♪

♪Bang♪

The bottom line artistically is,
what serves the song?

♪Bang♪

And anything can work,

if you have an open enough
mind about it.

Let's try something unexpected.

I don't know
what it would be, but...

some unusual sound.

Sure.

-Pick up, and it'll jump
out of the deck.
-Let it fall?

No, pick up somewhere,
wherever you think, yeah. Up.

Let it go?

Well, the six of spades
jumped out of the deck,

folding in the air,

and it landed
under your watch.

What?

Turn your wrist over,
flip your wrist,

see if there's a card
under there.

See if it's the right one.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God!

I didn't even feel it.

So imagine this...

Yeah.

Right?
And I'm gonna mimic that.

The design isn't right,
but the simplicity of the idea.

Yeah, and the beauty
of the imagery.

Yes. But like a kid.
You know, like a dream.

It's interesting
that all of it is about

allowing people to have
that experience

of wonder and awe.

Because when I see
a magic show, I'm always,

unless it's just
sleight-of-hand guys
or something, which I love,

but if I see a magic show,
I'm usually very, ugh.

Yeah, it's boring.

Right, because I don't
believe any of it.

But the guys that I like
are the ones that
they do these things

where you're like,
"He must be really doing that,"

and once you know
that he's really doing that,

then it makes
the magic possible.

It makes it possible
for you to believe that
the magic is possible.

Yeah. Makes sense.

So you started doing magic
when you were how old?

Nine. I was gifted a magic kit.

It looked almost
like a Monopoly board set.

Yeah, one of those funny things.

And it had things
like an egg cup,

and, you know,
the first round.

The silly stuff that
they still repackage.

But I think it also
had a thumb-tip,
which is really useful.

-Yeah.
-Exactly.

And were you ever performing?

-I would perform...
-Just to friends and stuff?

Mainly friends but
when I was really young,

I would do kids'
birthday parties
and stuff.

♪mysterious music playing♪

Which is unusual
because I was really shy.

My love of magic
was bigger than my shyness.

When I was into magic as a kid,

the line between
performing a card trick

and the ability to bilocate
as a human being...

it wasn't so clear to me
that one's fake magic
and one's real magic.

It's all just kinda magic.

Through magic, you start
understanding principles

of how there's
the surface reality,

where I think most people
spend most of their time,

and then there's a whole other

bigger story
going on behind it.

♪mystical music playing♪

And I feel like music is sorta
the soundtrack to that.

The unseen world.

It's all related.

Music is part of
the search for magic.

♪Are you OK?♪

♪Been staring at your face♪

♪From across the room now♪

♪You seem out of place♪

♪Hmm-mm...♪

Well, music is a unifying,

mystical, uh, tool,

and we're all trying
to figure out
why we're on this planet.

We're seeking.

Like, if it wasn't songs,
it'd be something else.

Like building a chicken house.

We probably look at
building these songs

kinda like we would
a chicken house.

I guarantee ya, if we were
building a chicken house,

Rick would probably have
some good suggestions.

No doubt.
He'd be like,
"Take your time."

We'd take our time,

we'd get that thing
just looking beautiful.

It'd be like
the super minimal
chicken house.

The chickens would be very Zen
inside the chicken house,

and they would probably create
their best eggs.

♪ethereal music playing♪

How did you start?

What gave the name Rick Rubin
the name Rick Rubin,

if that makes sense?

Always loved music.

Dedicated myself to it.

I realized that magic
was a full-time commitment.

If I wanted to...

"pursue" is a funny word.

If I was gonna be
interested in music,

there weren't enough
hours in the day
to be interested in both.

The music just took over.

I was lucky to be
in New York City

at the time that hip-hop
was just sort of bubbling.

It was a counter-cultural
reaction

to mainstream music.

It wasn't shiny.

It wasn't polished.

It was raw

and felt more
poetic and personal.

No one got into hip-hop
at that time

thinking it was gonna be
their road to success.

♪Money is the key
to end all your woes♪

♪Your ups, your downs
your highs and your lows♪

♪Won't you tell me
the last time♪

♪That love bought you clothes?♪

♪It's like that
and that's the way it is♪

♪Bills rise higher every day♪

♪We receive much lower pay♪

♪I'd rather stay young,
go out and play♪

♪It's like that
and that's the way it is♪