Watch Rick Rubin Return To The NYU Dorm Where He Founded Def Jam

Rick Rubin, Russell Simmons, Adam Horovitz, and more reflect on rap’s best rags-to-riches tale.

October 17, 2014

It's the kind of story that will never stop inspiring kids bouncing between classes and concerts, convinced that everything they like is perfect and everything they hate sucks. Rolling Stone enlisted director Josh Swade to shoot a mini-documentary in which Rick Rubin visits 712 Weinstein at New York University, 30 years after the dorm room served as Def Jam's first office. Rubin, Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, Adam Horovitz, and more all reflect on how Rick piled drum machines floor to ceiling, shipped white-label vinyl from the dorm's mailroom, and threw parties with the biggest rappers in the country next door to kids studying for finals. For our own look back, read Rubin's 2004 FADER profile.

Watch Rick Rubin Return To The NYU Dorm Where He Founded Def Jam