Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze Revisit Their Early Years on Rick Rubin's Podcast

The Beastie Boys have been making the virtual press rounds to promote their “live documentary” helmed by frequent collaborator Spike Jonze titled Beastie Boys Story out now via Apple TV+. Today they joined Rick Rubin for a very special installment of his Broken Record Podcast to reminisce on the collective’s time together, first starting when Rick was their DJ during his year’s as an NYU student.

Interestingly enough, Rick never talked to the Beastie Boys about their high school experience even though they first connected around that time. Rubin was a little older than the group and they would often hang out in Rick’s NYU dorm room. That segment definitely brings some laughs as all three of the Beasties expected to be meeting girls in the college environment — instead they just ended listening to vinyls with Rick culminating in their all-time classic record Licensed to Ill which celebrates its 35 year anniversary later this year.

Ad-Rock and Mike D talk about the legacy of Adam “MCA” Yauch and the early formations of the group while collectively finding their own voices and place in life. Stream the full episode here.

In more music updates, Freddie Gibbs joined HYPEBEAST for the new feature Freddie Gibbs’ Name Holds Weight to talk about his new collaborative project with The Alchemist, Alfredo.