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Rick Rubin & Kanye West Accept Award For Use of Roland TR-808

blame it on JES7 April 24, 2014

This year at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (part of the Tribeca Film Festival), pioneer producer Rick Rubin, along with Kanye West, were honored for the way they revolutionized the use of Roland’s TR-808 drum machine – using the 30 year old piece of technology to create avant-garde sounds that include albums from LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Run D.M.C. (Rick Rubin) and 808s & Heartbreaks and Yeezus (Kanye West).

Although the two weren’t able to attend the awards, they did submit an 80 second sequence in collaboration with director Mark Romanek (“99 Problems” and MJ’s “Scream”) to share their thanks, dubbed to a kung-fu narration. Props to Fader.