Rick Rubin

Frederick Jay Rubin (ROO-bin; born March 10, 1963) is an American record executive and record producer. He is a co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by producing records for acts such as the Beastie Boys, Geto Boys, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, and LL Cool J. He has also produced hit records for acts from a variety of other genres, predominantly heavy metal (Danzig, Metallica and Slayer), alternative rock (the Cult, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, the Strokes and Weezer), hard rock (Audioslave and Aerosmith), nu-metal (Linkin Park, System of a Down), and country (Johnny Cash, The Avett Brothers, and the Chicks). In 2007, Rubin was called "the most important producer of the last 20 years" by MTV and was named on Time's list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". ()