From living in the first official office of Def Jam Records to directing the music video of Beastie Boys’  “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party),” Tisch alumnus Adam Dubin has experienced an unconventional college career.

Dubin graduated from NYU in 1989 with what he deemed to be remarkable memories. The popularity of MTV was growing during the early ’80s in New York City and aided by his education at NYU, Dubin was granted the opportunity to intern for small production companies under the first music
television network.

“In terms of directing, NYU meant instant respect,” Dubin said. “When I would tell people that I’d gone to NYU there was this aura to it, like ‘Oh, Martin Scorsese went there,’ and everything that precedes it went into the name. At that time, everyone was aware of and conscious of this.”

Almost immediately after graduating, Dubin began his most famous works, which include filming Beastie Boys music videos and Metallica concerts.

“The documentaries I did for Metallica, I think, captured one of the most epic bands of all time, and some very important and key times in their long career,” Dubin said. “It’s more mature work. I think it is an important piece of the history of concert filmmaking. I look at it as a tradition of rock ‘n’ roll film-making.”

Unlike many college students who decide to move off campus by junior year, Dubin lived in Weinstein Residence Hall for his entire college career. His roommate was record producer Rick Rubin, who founded Def Jam Records during his senior year at NYU and ran the company from the shared dorm room.

“The best part of our room being the office of Def Jam was that something always seemed to be happening all the time,” Dubin said. “The worst part was that if you wanted to go to sleep, you weren’t going to go to sleep.”

Russell Simmons, Run DMC, Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J were some of the familiar faces at Weinstein during Rick’s time there. They even attended some of the parties that were thrown in the basement of the dorm.

“Back then, ‘flyering’ was social media, so we’d walk through the village and stick fliers on every pole, so everyone in the village knew about the party,” Dubin said. “Rubin would DJ, and because of his involvement in hip-hop, we had major hip-hop names come down to the dorm and get on the [microphones].”

This was a time when the drinking age was 18 and Weinstein was the epicenter of the music scene, as well as the birthplace of Def Jam Records.

“I feel like I should’ve been filming everything that was going on in that room,” Dubin said. “I wasn’t even taking pictures. Instead it was just happening, we were just living it. It’s all in some of my greatest memories.”

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, March 9 print edition. Email Aicha Fall at [email protected].