3 Groundbreaking Rick Rubin Tracks That Blend Hip-Hop and Rock (And Transform Both Genres)

In the early 1980s, when Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons launched Def Jam from Rubin’s New York University dorm room, hip-hop was an underground movement. To point out its unpopularity, Rubin told 60 Minutes in 2023 that many didn’t even view hip-hop as music.

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Rubin helped change the perception. But first, he changed the way hip-hop records sounded. He wanted to replicate the power he felt at New York City’s clubs. Eventually, the producer expanded upon the sampling he heard from live DJs and began blending hip-hop with rock records. It broadened hip-hop’s audience and transformed both genres, as you’ll hear below.

“Microphone Fiend” by Rage Against The Machine

Reading the album credits of Rage Against The Machine’s debut, there’s a curious note: “No samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record.” The band wanted listeners to know, for example, that you weren’t hearing a DJ scratch vinyl. It was Tom Morello transforming the electric guitar like Eddie Van Halen sampling Public Enemy. RATM’s covers album Renegades begins with “Microphone Fiend” by Eric B. & Rakim. This is exactly the power Rubin envisioned all those years ago inside his NYU dorm.

“Rhymin & Stealin” by Beastie Boys

I still remember the first time I heard Licensed To Ill. Most of my friends were skaters, and one day we were hanging out at the park watching each other crash hard onto concrete. Someone brought a boombox and put on this cassette. We all stopped and listened. John Bonham’s drum groove from “When The Levee Breaks” begins the jam, but this isn’t Jimmy Page’s guitar riff. It’s “Sweet Leaf” by Black Sabbath. Lawsuits have since stopped how records are sampled. But “Rhymin & Stealin” perfectly describes Rubin’s genius on this track. Don’t overlook The Clash rip, too.

“Walk This Way” by Run-DMC and Aerosmith

Instead of sampling an old record, Run-DMC re-recorded “Walk This Way” with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. The original appeared on the band’s 1975 classic Toys In The Attic. Meanwhile, Run-DMC were already rapping over the looped intro—a popular breakbeat at the time. That’s how they planned to record it. Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels didn’t even know it was called “Walk This Way”. But Rubin suggested they remake the song instead of just sampling its beat, which intrigued Jam Master Jay. The collaboration revived Aerosmith’s stalled career. And culturally, it continued the commercial rise and eventually dominance of hip-hop.

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