Rick Rubin Annotates Kanye West, JAY Z, James Blake, D'Angelo, and More on Genius, Talks About Kanye's "Only One"

Lyric annotation website Genius seems to be expanding by utilizing its service in creative ways. Recently they had invited mega-producer Rick Rubin to annotate the lyrics for songs he had contributed to, such as material by Kanye West, Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, JAY Z, Slayer, LL Cool J, the Dixie Chicks, and more. He also gave opinion to tracks that aren’t his, such as work by D’Angelo, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Ghostface Killah, James Blake and more. Read all of the annotations here and check out his commentary on the Kanye West-Paul McCartney track “Only One” below.

“I was in St. Barths two days before the single came out. Kanye said, “I’m thinking about putting out ‘Only One’ tomorrow at midnight.” I said, “Should we mix it?” He was like, “It hasn’t really changed — it’s pretty much what it was.” I hadn’t heard it in almost two months, so I asked him to send it to me, and he did. And I said, “I think this can sound better than it does.” We never really finished it. So we called all the engineers — and I’m trying to get all this to happen all remotely — and we got maybe three different engineers. This is the day before New Year’s Eve, and we’re all finding studio time, getting the files. Then they all start sending me mixes. I thought one was better than the others, and Kanye agreed. One guy mastered it, because it was due, and they turned it in. I had another guy master it, and it was better, but it was already too late. I think it switched the following morning. It was in real time! Like as soon as it was better, we had to switch it. That’s how it works in Kanye world. It used to really give me anxiety, but now I just know that’s what it is. That’s how he likes to work.”