RJD2 Doesn't Regret Selling Song for 'Mad Men' Theme

One of today's most recognizable TV show intros, the opening credits of the award-winning AMC drama 'Mad Men' uses a mysterious, eerie combo of swelling strings and a delicate percussion groove. It's the instrumental portion of 'A Beautiful Mine,' a track composed by DJ/producer/musician RJD2 and rapped over by MC Aceyalone, and when Lionsgate Entertainment approached RJ about using the song for the show, he was a bit skeptical. "Lionsgate basically came to us and said, 'Hey, we want to license this song for this thing,'" he tells Spinner. "It was really peculiar because usually when you [license music], they just license both the master recording and the publishing. This time they wanted to buy the publishing. It was kinda weird."

Without having seen a pilot or preview material for the show, RJ was unsure about selling his work, even if it was more of a gamble for the company than for him. "There was a lot of wrangling because that's not the kind of thing I normally do," he says, noting that he turned the offer down several times before finally relenting. In hindsight, he says he realized why the company pushed so hard and would only settle for purchasing the track. "They knew they had a great show on their hands and for whatever reason, a license just wasn't sufficient," he says. "It was almost as if they knew the show was not only gonna go through numerous seasons, but be very successful."


With three solo records under his belt and a fourth, 'The Colossus,' due in January, licensing music isn't new territory for RJ, whose compositions have been the soundtrack to advertisements for Levi's, Saturn and Nike, and featured in various TV shows and films.

Of 'Mad Men,' RJ says Lionsgate made an "extraordinarily shrewd" business move in hounding him for his music, but he's pleased with the way it panned out. "I don't have any regrets or qualms about it at all," he says. "Even just from a creative standpoint, I'm thrilled that it's the theme to one of my favorite shows on television."