Justin Bieber teams up with Rick Rubin

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/15/justin-bieber-teams-up-with-rick-rubin

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One of them has been a key figure in the hip-hop revolution, has worked on some of the landmark albums of the past 30 years, including Slayer’s Reign in Blood and Johnny Cash’s American Recordings, and is regarded as one of the most important producers is music. The other has urinated on a picture of Bill Clinton, abandoned a pet monkey in Germany and thrown eggs at his neighbour’s house.

Nevertheless, it appears as though Rick Rubin and Justin Bieber might be working together. Bieber posted a snap of the pair together on Instagram, and his manager Scooter Braun reposted the picture with the caption: “Working on some history!”

Gossip site TMZ has reported that the two men went into the studio on 13 January for their first session together.

Bieber has not released a new album since announcing his retirement to his “beloved Beliebers” on Christmas Eve 2013. It was a retreat from the music industry that lasted mere days, before his management announced it was all a joke designed to highlight media misreporting about him. “Regarding his recent tweeting about his “retirement”, Justin felt that this was the best way to respond to the latest in a long line of inaccurate or wildly exaggerated media reports about him,” Alison Kaye of Scooter Braun Projects said. “He chose to channel his frustration into playing along with this baseless rumor and even used “beloved” to tip off his core fans that it wasn’t real.”

Before his “retirement”, Bieber had been working with credible hip-hop artists, so the Rubin collaboration isn’t a complete shock. The Canadian singer’s 2013 compilation Journals included collaborations with with Lil Wayne, Future, Big Sean and Chance the Rapper. Confident, the track featuring Chance the Rapper, was released as a single. Despite approving reviews, it only entered the US charts for one week, at No 41, though it did reach No 1 in Denmark.