right-click

The Force Is So Awakened in Rick Rubin, He Made a Star Wars–Themed Album With Help From J.J. Abrams and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit - Portraits, October 7, 2015
Curate Rubin will. Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images

Eminem once called himself Rick Rubin’s “little Padawan” — and wouldn’t you know it, now Rubin’s making an entire album inspired by Star Wars. The rap game’s Yoda has curated Star Wars Headspace, a compilation out February 19 that will sample sounds and dialogue from the entire franchise. In other words, you can now hopefully look forward to cute BB-8 noises looped together with Wookiee talk and heavy breathing. Flying Lotus, Rustie, A-Trak, Baauer, Röyksopp, Kaskade, Shlohmo, GTA, Galantis, and more have contributed to the production. But the two names that really boost the project’s Star Wars cred are Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and cantina songwriter (among many things) Lin-Manuel Miranda, who made the song “Jabba Flow” for Force Awakens together (under the name Shag Kava) — now that song is getting the Rubin treatment with a remix called “Jabba Flow: Rick Rubin Re-Work,” which is apparently a Jabba the Hut tribute. And you thought you were a Star Wars fanboy.

According to FlyLo, the producers weren’t allowed to sample John Williams, but they were given full permission to play with the franchise’s entire sound archive. You can listen to Flying Lotus’s “R2 Where R U?” (which features R2-D2’s beeps), Baauer’s “Cantina Boys” (featuring a Tusken Raider battle-cry and Darth Vader’s breathing), and Rubin’s own “NR-G7” below, and nerd out.

Rick Rubin Curates Star Wars–Themed Compilation