Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock Recounts How He Discovered LL Cool J In New Interview

The Beastie Boys member is responsible for getting Rick Rubin to work with LL Cool J.

Surviving Beastie Boys members Ad-Rock and Mike D are currently on a press tour promoting their forthcoming memoir the Beastie Boys Book. Recently, the pair appeared on LL Cool J's Sirius XM show, Rock The Bells, where Ad-Rock revealed he discovered the "Around the Way Girl" rapper.

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Ad-Rock begins by talking about how he would often skip school (high school to be exact) and go hang out with Rick Rubin at his New York University dorm room, where he was also running Def Jam.

"So Rick Rubin produced a record with DJ Jazzy Jay and rapper T La Rock called 'It's Yours,'" Ad-Rock said to LL. "And it was a big record in a small circle — in a small scene in New York. Off of that record, people started sending demo tapes in because it was a rap record, and some kids started sending demos in. There was just an address on the record itself."

"And it was actually — I'm sure nobody knew that he lived in a college dorm room. And so he would get all these tapes, and there was a box of tapes. And instead of being at school, I would cut school and go to Rick's dorm, and I’d hang out…I would listen to the tapes, and I heard this one from this kid named LL Cool J…and it was really good. You were rapping."

"I was like 'This guy's really — this kid's really good. You should meet this kid,'" Ad-Rock recalled telling Rubin. "And so, Rick listened to it, and then somehow contacted you."

Ad-Rock also ended up making the beat for LL's first single, "I Need A Beat."

Recently, the Beastie Boys said they have unreleased material but "It's not that good."