Rick Rubin cited professional wrestling as one of his groups’ early inspirations.
“Early on, the Beastie Boys were very influenced by pro wrestling,” Rubin says during an interview with Rolling Stone. “One-hundred percent. The idea of being bad-guy rappers, saying really outlandish things in interviews, that all came from a love of pro wrestling. We didn’t say it because it was true – we said it because it was entertaining. To me, it was performance art. We were as inspired by pro wrestling and Monty Python as we were music.”
The Beastie Boys were among the early successes for Def Jam Records, which Rubin co-founded with Russell Simmons. The Beastie Boys’ only album for the imprint, 1986’s Licenced To Ill, was just certified diamond by the RIAA.
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