The Diary Of A CEO · Transcript · · Updated
Rick Rubin: The Only Skill That Matters Now Is The One Thing AI Can Never Steal! – Transcript
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- Rick Rubin experienced a severe depressive episode and panic attacks in his early 30s after feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under him.
- Rick Rubin states that artificial intelligence is a wildly powerful tool that can be used for either good or bad.
- Rick Rubin shares that he came to realize more recently that the art he and artists make is created as an offering to God.
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Jay-Z wrote in a way that no one else wrote. All the other rappers that I worked with spent a lot of time writing lyrics. And I never saw Jay write lyrics. And when I played him the beat for 99 Problems, he said, "Okay, just keep playing it over and over again." And he sat in the back of the room. You could hear him mumbling or humming. After 20 or 30 minutes, he's like, "Okay, I got it." And ran into the other room and did the first verse. He did, let's say, three takes.
And then he came in, he listened to him. He's like, "Oh, yeah. I think the second one's good." It just happens in his mind. >> >> And then this big list of people that you've worked with. I mean, it's just this unbelievable list. Jay-Z and Kanye Adel, Justin Timberlake, and MC Jagger and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Why do you think these people call you? Because I've been making things for 40 years and I started making music as a hobby. It ended up taking on a life of its own and becoming a business. And that list, they're not special. I would say they're ordinary people who made a decision. I
think of Eminem as a good example. Eminem is someone who's always writing because he wants to be the best he could possibly be and he's insanely obsessive about that. It >> appears that some people are just like inherently more creative than others.
>> Well, creativity is beaten out of us over the course of our lives. We go to school, we're taught to follow rules. The rules are not there to help us. The rules are there to control us. We're not taught to be free creative thinkers. So, I'm suggesting we break free and express ourselves freely. How? Well, all of the best things involve risk. It's only through the risk that the greatness is shown. And so something needs to die.
That lifestyle in that moment, that career path, that relationship, that's what needs to die. Is there a step one in that direction for people that want to hit the reset button? >> Yeah. The first one I I'll say is >> your early 30s, you had a depressive episode yourself.
>> Yeah. It was really a tough time. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. started having panic attacks and couldn't sleep and got really sick and it felt like I was shot with a poison arrow. Take me into that part of your life. So, um, here is a strange fact. Most of the people watching this right now, about 58% of you aren't yet subscribed to this
channel. Statistically, that is probably you. So, could I ask you a small favor? If this channel has ever given you any value at all, please could you do me a favor and hit the subscribe button. It [clears throat] costs nothing. It helps us more than you could know. And the bigger the channel gets, as you've seen, the more we can invest in the guests and the production. So, thank you so much.
And I hope you enjoy this episode. >> I'm going to start Rick where my curiosity is. >> Yes. >> How do you sort of self-categorize or selfidentify in terms of like your profession?
>> H I would say I'm involved in art and creativity. And what is your involvement in art and creativity? >> Might be as a coach. It might be as a uh collaborator.
>> It might come up in a film project or it might come up in someone who's has a startup who wants to talk about what are the things creative solutions. any any problem that we have or any anything we want to get better at, there's usually a creative path to improve or at least to test to see if there are other ways around. Often the
accepted version of how to move forward is another limitation. >> I'm very curious about your principles as it relates to finding the solution, whether that's in business or whether it's in music. Um, and I'm I'm really interested in if there's any similarities in the process of finding a solution because I'm an entrepreneur. I guess I'm a podcaster as well. I do investments all day every day. I'm in the pursuit of a solution to a problem,
a people problem, a creative problem. Do you have any highle principles that are broadly applicable irrespective of the type of problem you're solving? >> I'll tell you an interesting one. A word I've been thinking about lately is indefensible. Indefensible is a funny word because it's a it's a really projorative word. It's a strong projorative.
If something is indefensible, it's not just bad. Indefensible is is really extreme. I'm thinking that in making art, indefensible is actually a good thing.
Maybe not only a good thing, maybe a necessary thing. that you take things to the extreme that are indefensible. I can't tell you why.
I can't tell you why because it's beyond reason. So, I'm I'm in that camp of reason is a is a tiny sliver of how decisions get made.
And I I would be much more in the camp of intuition or maybe some sort of a guide guidance from the universe.
Openness to being guided by something more something the creative force of the universe. You could call it God. I call it God. You're not required to. What art that you've been involved in creating would you would you define in the moment as being indefensible?
>> A little over a year ago there was a meme about vibe coding. >> Mhm. >> The way it started was if something new happened. A guy named Andrev Carpathy coined the term vibe coding. I didn't know what it was. That same day that he coined the term and tweeted about it.
Someone put a picture of me with my wearing headphones with my eyes closed, hand on a mouse. And that image became associated with vibe coding. Had nothing to do with me. I saw it. I didn't know what it meant. But then over the next few days, friends started sending me hundreds of this image associated with vibe coding in all different ways. And I thought, hm, [clears throat] now the the old me, precreative act me
would have laughed and moved on with my life. And one of the things that I learned through working on the creative act, one of the things it talks about a lot is we're given information all the time around us. There are all these uh opportunities or invitations being made all the time. In the past, if someone told me about a movie that sounded like I didn't want to see it,
that doesn't sound like it's for me, I would I would ignore it. But if two or three people say you might want to see this movie, I might even if it's not interesting to me, it's almost like the universe some too much energy behind this. So this was an example of a lot of energy coming towards me relating to vibe coding. I don't know what it is.
And I thought, okay, how do I participate? If I want to participate in this thing that's going on, [clears throat] an experiment, creative experiment. And I thought, okay, I'm going to write a joke tweet related to vibe coding. I thought about it and came up with tools will come, tools will go, only the vibe coder remains. And typically the tweets get
10,000 20,000 views. I look the next day and this joke tweet has a million and a half views. It's like something's going on. It was an indefensible act. There was no reason for me to do it. But I'm feeling this energy coming at me from all of these different directions.
I participate. I I answer the invitation. Comes back. there's interest said hm what would be the next step and the next step is well I still don't really know what vibe coding is maybe I'll write a book about vibe coding I put aside all of my real work my professional work to dedicate myself to this book on vibe coding
and again I couldn't explain it I couldn't tell you why I can't say it was a good idea none of those things I was following a calling feeling like I was being invited to participate in this thing and this is the way that I could answer the call. So I did.
>> In so many parts of our life, we might get that invitation to participate in something that is none of our business. >> Yes. All the time. >> Yeah. And we and we usually say no because it's not what's on our business card. It's not what we've done in the past. And we are, you know, the more successful we become, the more narrow we become in many respects.
>> Yes. I'm thinking about this idea of like how one resists their label so they can capitalize on all the callings or you know the so they don't miss >> yeah important >> any label that you put on yourself or that's put on you makes you smaller no label supply no label supply we are beyond labels >> it's tempting though isn't it because labels are nice shortcuts at cocktail parties
>> there are also no shortcuts and I hope you don't spend too and shaming cocktail parties. >> No, I don't. Don't worry. I'm guessing what goes on there. >> Okay. So, that's interesting. This idea of sometimes following the indefensible.
>> Well, if you feel a call, even if it doesn't make sense, if you uh for for an artist to write a song and you really feel like this is really this is some this is really meaningful to me. I think no one's going to like it, but I really feel it. I can't defend it. That's the best thing you can do. If you make something where you think this
is for everyone or they're going to love it, it's like uh it's too easy. The most interesting things are challenging. It's challenging to you. It's challenging to the people who see it. The things that are revolutionary. I most of the things that I've fallen in love with over my life creatively art when I first see it often or first hear it I might not like