 Rihanna co @-@ wrote " Rockstar 101 " in collaboration with the song 's producers The @-@ Dream and Christopher " Tricky " Stewart . Her vocals and the instrumentation for the song were recorded at <unk> Sound Studios in Los Angeles , California , the Boom Boom Room in Burbank , California and Triangle Sound Studios in Atlanta , Georgia . It was mixed by Jaycen Joshua at Larrabee Studios in Universal City , California ; he was assisted in the process by Giancarlo <unk> . Rihanna 's vocals were produced by Makeba Riddick . The song was engineered by Marcus <unk> , Brian " B @-@ <unk> " Thomas , Andrew <unk> and Chris " <unk> " O <unk> . Additional engineering was done by Pat <unk> . Guitar was provided by Tim Stewart , while Monte <unk> performed additional keys . The song features a guitar performance by Slash , the British @-@ American musician , songwriter and former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N ' Roses . 
