The Rick Rubin Word Association Game

In the recording industry, there are music producers — and then there’s Rick Rubin. In just 30 years, he’s made award-winning records with the biggest names across genres: from Johnny Cash to Kanye West, to Metallica.

For a man with such an expansive musical vocabulary, Rubin is a man of few words. Very few, perhaps from his many years of practicing transcendental meditation. When Kurt Andersen got the rare chance to talk with Rubin about his career in the business, we couldn’t resist asking him to play this free association game with us.

Can you match the music acts with Rubin’s descriptions? Listen to the audio above for the answers.

1. Beastie Boys
2. Public Enemy
3. Slayer
4. Red Hot Chilli Peppers
5. Tom Petty
6. Johnny Cash
7. Dixie Chicks
8. Adele
9. Jay Z
10. Kanye West

A. “Soulful”
B. “Activist”
C. “Hard”
D. “Cool”
E. “Artist”
F. “Classic”
G. “Aggressive”
H. “California”
I. “Fun”
J. “Wisdom”

Listen to the full interview on this weekend’s show.

PLAY: The Matthew McConaughey Word Association Game