Samsung Planted A Famous Producer In Jay-Z's New Ad As A Prop
“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,” Rubin told XXL. “Just listen to it and talk about it, and that’s what we did. It was fun.”
So the famous producer had no creative input on the creation of the album. In fact, he was busy working on Kanye West's new album "Yeezus" when Jay-Z was cutting his tracks.
“I liked what I heard, but it was a little difficult—after just coming from the Kanye sessions—to listen to Jay’s album, because they’re so different. I was in a very alternative and progressive headspace, and Jay’s record is a more traditional hip-hop record.”
That means Rubin served as a very intentionally placed marketing tool used to promote Jay-Z's new album, in spite of his lack of involvement.
Rubin has partnered up with Jay-Z in the past, ever since 2004's "99 Problems," so it would be an easy mistake to assume he worked on the new songs as well.
Samsung dropped $5 million on this campaign — which gives the album to the first million people who download a Galaxy-specific app for free.
Watch the ad here: