Rihanna coed @-@ wrote " Rockstar 101 " in collaboration with the song 's producers The @-@ Dream and Christopher " Tricky " Stewart . Her vocals and the instrumentation for the song was recorded at Serenity 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 Lino . Rihanna 's vocals was produced by Makeba Riddick . The song was engineered by Marcus Tovar , Brian " B @-@ LUV " Thomas , Andrew Wuepper and Chris " TEK " O 'Ryan . Additional engineering was done by Pat Thrall . Guitar was provided by Tim Stewart , while Monte Neuble performed additional keys . The song feature a guitar performance by Slash , the British @-@ American musician , songwriter and former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N ' Roses .