When The Beastie Boys released their debut album Licensed to Ill in November 1986, the was a revelation. It was definitely a hip-hop album, but it also contained elements of punk and metal. A big part of that was the contributions of Slayer guitarist Kerry King.
Slayer was working in a different studio down the hall from the Beasties when producer Rick Rubin asked him if would like to play a solo on a song called No Sleep Till Brooklyn. He thought about it briefly and thought, “Yeah, okay.” He agreed to do it for a one-time payment of a couple hundred dollars.
Of course, Licensed to Ill took off and ended up selling over 10 million copies. Kerry looks back on that deal now and thinks “Damn, I should have taken points on album sales.” He would have made millions.
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