#014 | Lessons in Creativity from Rick Rubin and Questlove

Muse-Letter 014 - April 03, 2023

Yoooooo! What's up fam!

Welcome back to The Muse-Letter. This week we are taking a lesson in creativity from Rick Rubin and Questlove, and looking into a new song previewed by Drake and Go-To Yeat producer BNYX.

Thank you for reading and being part of the Muse-Letter community. As always, I appreciate all the support. Let’s get into it!

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Drake Previews New Song with Go-To Yeat Producer BNYX

Drake is starting to make artists look bad by never leaving the studio. It seems like lately, the famous singer-rapper is always working on something.

The Canadian legend posted a song to his Instagram story that he’s working on. The story showed a laptop plugged into a DJ table, and Drake playing an unknown song. While the song is playing, it displays Drake’s iconic singing-rapping voice as a verse is thrown over the track about how hard it is to find your significant other while in the industry.

“I need someone that’ll be patient with me.
Someone to get money with, not take it from me.
They don’t even need to be as famous as me.
I don’t think I’ll meet ’em at the places I be.”

Bynx shared the story on his Instagram page. You can check out the track below.

You can hear the signature of producer BNYX on the track who is known for basically being Yeats's go-to producer. BNYX has been making his name in the industry, and most recently for receiving a Gold RIAA record for Yeat’s song “Out The Way” earlier this month. Not only has BNYX worked with Yeat but he has collaborated on music with Lil Uzi Vert, Coi Leray, and rapper-comedian Zack Fox.

BNYX re-posted Drake’s IG story of the song on his page and recalled the time when Drake inspired his production style. “I remember when I used to add the Drake acapellas to my beats to see if they was hard. Now look,” BNYX wrote.

Tagged in the caption was BYNX’s fellow producer Sad Pony who helped create the beat for the Drake song. Sad Pony is an even more well-known rap producer as he has worked with the likes of Lil Yachty on his recent album Let’s Start Here and Drake’s recent collaborative album with 21 Savage for the song “Jumbotron Shit Poppin.”

Drake has released three different studio albums since the summer of 2021, this is including the previously mentioned album with 21 Savage which was released in November 2022. Beginning in mid-June of this year, Drake is hitting the road with Savage for their It’s All a Blur nationwide tour.

We don’t know when this song with BNYX is going to be released or if it’s part of an album, but I will be keeping my eye out for it when it’s dropped.

Lessons In Creativity from legends Rick Rubin and Questlove

Taking on the lessons of Rick Rubin and Questlove could further your creativity and encourage ideas that lead to some sick work.

Creativity is a foundational skill in most fields of work to help build success. It’s needed to attack problems with fresh eyes, develop new ideas, and discover solutions. Not everyone is born with a great sense of creativity, but it can be worked on and developed through practice. How do you practice creativity you ask? Well, we can start by taking a lesson from some well-respected experts in the field: Rick Rubin and Questlove.

Prioritise Time For Practice.

The first thing to do when wanting to build your creativity is to make time for it. Anything you want to develop and build on requires focused time and practice. Of course, we all have busy schedules and so if you’re committed, you’ll find the space to prioritise it, just like Rick Rubin. Rubin works with massive names in the industry and so he needs to set aside time to listen to new music and discover new sounds and techniques. This helps Rubin to freshen his mind and open himself to new ideas by prioritising time for his craft and developing his skill consistently.

Look For Inspiration In Everything At Any Time.

Something else to consider as a vital step in the practice of creativity is finding inspiration. As most musicians and creatives know, inspiration can hit us from anything and everywhere. It can be art, having a conversation with someone, nature, or man, it can even be in the shower. Well-known producer Questlove, mentions finding inspiration from old records to TV shows. Questlove is constantly helping his creativity flow by looking for inspiration in places people wouldn’t expect by exploring and finding new ideas to run with.

Play Around and Take A Leap

Creativity involves playing around and experimenting with things. Doing this can lead you to results you never expected and give you a new perspective. Rick Rubin is widely known for experimenting with new ideas and trying different sounds, styles, and techniques when making music. His willingness to encourage artists to take a step out of their comfort zones and take risks has led to revolutionary work in the past, and will probably result in more in the future. Rubin has created a reputation as one of the most innovative producers in the music industry because of his openness to new ideas and his taking chances that others wouldn’t dare to.

Collaborate With Others

We all know that working and collaborating with others is a key practice for creativity. It helps to bring new ideas and perspectives to the table that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. It’s a large reason why I bring on board professional musicians to collaborate with on my YouTube channel. You can bounce ideas off one another and come up with something so unique and special. Questlove is a member of the hip-hop band The Roots, and they are known for their collaborative approach to music-making. The Roots work with other artists in various genres and has led to the most creative and original stuff.

Review, Revamp, and Revise.

The last thing a practice for creativity should have is time for reviewing, revamping, and revising. It’s important to take the time to reflect on your work as it can help you find room for improvement or learn what worked well. Rick Rubin sometimes spends many months or even years on his work to ensure he’s putting out something innovative and inspirational.

By taking on the lessons of Rick Rubin and Questlove, you can pursue a practice for creativity that brings you sick results.

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Thanks for reading this week's newsletter. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to providing you with more content that helps you level up throughout 2023. In the meantime, make sure to take a look at the top-quality sounds I use on my website! 👇🏿

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Appreciate you, fam.

-Ocean