When the Wu-Tang documentary was announced I thought, four hours on one subject, but with ten members there were plenty of stories to spread around. And the ODB and their one copy album could support their own documentaries in themselves. And I kind of want the latter because it got short changed in their documentary. But really, it was hard to think that there were many other subjects that could substance four episodes.
Then I watched Showtime’s latest documentary Shangri-La. And you know what; it also manages to be compelling throughout its four episodes. The docu-series focuses on creative conversation and the emotional side of music-making, using legendary music producer Rick Rubin's iconic Malibu, CA studio, Shangrli-La, as the backdrop.
Unless you read liner notes, you may not know Rick Rubin’s name, but if you have listened to music in the past thirty-five years, you definitely have herd songs he has produced no matter what you listen to. You could listen to pop (Adele), rock, (Tom Petty), heavy metal (Slayer), country (The Dixie Chicks), alternative (Red Hot Chili Peppers), folk ((The Avett Brothers), he even produces comedy albums (Andrew Dice Clay). He is most linked to rap after starting Def Jam in his college dorm room launching the careers of Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy. When Jay-Z says, You’re crazy for this one Rick” in 99 Problems, that is Rubin he is referring to.
Shangri-La has had a long rich history long before Rick set foot there in 2006. It was featured in another famous music documentary, Martin Scorsese’s The Last when The Band’s bassist Rick Danko gives Scorsese a tour of the studio back in the late seventies. Oh, and Shangri-La use to be the summer home of one of the biggest television shows at the time. Probably someone you will never guess.
But is really is not just the long history of Rubin or even Shangri-La that makes this documentary, it is that this documentary is pretty weird. The series is peppered with images of a young Rick with his later day trademark beard and balding long hair. Then one of the first talking heads is Tyler the Creator basically saying he does not really know who Rick Rubin is. Kind of a weird choice for a docu-series about Rick Rubin. And I am all for it.
Some other people who stop over to Shangri-La include David Lynch, the lead singer of Vampire Weekend (watch to found out which song off their latest album he did not include because it sounded like a song Smash Mouth would do for a Shrek movie), David Blaine (Rick is a huge magic guy), Triple HHH (Rick is also famously a huge wrestling fan), Jerrod Carmichael, and it also features Mac Miller’s last recording sessions.
This is also the first docu-series that I can think of that kind of has an episode end on a cliffhanger. Episode three ends with news coverage of last year’s California wildfires, which left me thinking, oh await, is this studio I just spent three hours with about to burn down. You will have to turn into episode to find out. But the show is definitely worth the watch just because it is a very weird and entertaining watch. Of course if you do not get the weirdness, it does not really matter to Rick Rubin. When asked, “does it matter at all that people didn’t understand?” his answer is simply, “Never.”
Shangri-La airs Fridays at 9:00 on Showtime.
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