A few days ago I was watching an interview of Rick Ruben on the Aubrey Marcus podcast. It fired me up! Rick Rubin just hits different sometimes. The dude is on a different level.
I don’t think there are many people out there who understand art as well as he does.
Rick Ruban was responsible for producing tons of musical artists. Although you wouldn’t guess it from his looks, he was actually at the forefront of hip hop, and did a lot of work to normalize the genre and help people see the artistic value of it at a time when many people didn’t appreciate it. He started with artists like Run DMC and Public Enemy. He could see the art in the way songs were sampled and the poetry and passion in the lyrics and fell in love with the energy of hip hop clubs.
Later he produced lots of other artists, from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Metallica Rage Against the Machine. Genre doesn’t seem to matter to him, and he doesn’t even limit himself just to music. Now he’s got a unique approach to podcasting and he just put out an ad for RFK Juniors political campaign.
Everything he does is a process of putting together and taking apart, mixing and matching elements in order to see what brings out the best of something.
He doesn’t worry about whether something will be popular or make money, he is focused on the actualization of the art. There is an element of connecting with an audience but that doesn’t come at the sacrifice of an artistic vision.
A true artist will work to find a way to connect without compromising the artistic vision. It may require sacrifices, but the artist will be happier with the final result because it feels more mature and hits harder.
It’s not about catching people with easy gimmicks and whatever is trending. It’s about finding a version of yourself and your creation that feels as if it was meant to be. Maybe the masses catch on and maybe they don’t.
That’s really the role of a producer, to help an artist reach their full potential, by challenging them to discover the best version of themselves.
It got me thinking about how I’d like to do the same thing for other people.
I know what I’m good and and I know what I am not good at. I’m not great at knowing what other people will understand and what they won’t, but I know when something is real. I know when it has the potential to hit hard for anyone who could relate. I know when it has that special magic and I think I can help find it.
It reminds me of when I asked artists to make artwork for my novella’s. I essentially served as the director, giving input into what I think might bring out that special something. Even if it was essentially going to be a piece of my work, I hope I was able to bring out the best in the artists.
I’m not sure when or how I will have a chance to be a director of more artistic projects but I am quite sure it will happen and now I have my eyes and ears open for these opportunities.
And join me on twitch to talk about deep shit while playing RPG games in Japanese :-D
Posted Using InLeo Alpha