Rick Rubin Was Not Involved in the Making of Jay-Z's "Magna Carta Holy Grail"

He was just in town for the commercials.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Jay-Z has released plenty of videos in anticipation of Magna Carta Holy Grail, which officially drops on July 4, and we've seen Rick Rubin jammin' out on the couch in most of them while Jay plays him some new music.

While we all rightfully assumed that he played a hand in creating the album after watching the commercials, a spokesperson from Rubin's camp tells XXL that he was not involved in the making of Magna Carta Holy Grail. 

He explained later that he was just in town while they were filming the commercials, saying:  

“The point of me being in the commercials was that he was filming a documentary and he asked me—I imagine he’s just comfortable talking to me—to come listen to the songs with him and just talk about the songs. Just listen to it and talk about it, and that’s what we did. It was fun.”

Rubin says he liked what he heard on Magna Carta but says it was difficult to transition to listening to Jay-Z's new project after just working with Kanye West on Yeezus. "I was in a very alternative and progressive headspace, and Jay’s record is a more traditional hip-hop record,” Rubin says.

Well, looks like he was just having fun and hanging out on the couch, then:

[via XXL]

RELATED: What We Know About Jay-Z's "Magna Carta Holy Grail" So Far

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