Before there was hip hop there was DJ Premier, and as a leader in this dynamic genre of music, he still reigns as one of the greatest producers in our history. His resume entails a list of your favorite rappers’ favorite rappers. The likes of key figures such as Big L, Biggie Smalls, Nas, Jay-Z, Guru, KRS-One, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane are all on the same page. And despite the music game drastically changing since his inception, DJ Premier still hangs his hat on what has brought him respect and success all these years. All of which transcends onto his latest music compilation project “Get Used To Us”. As our video segment is underway, Premo as he’s known to many shares with us some of the insight of his early workings, his days with Gang Starr, and some of most memorable moments in the music industry.
Let’s start with your early beginnings, can you share with us on how you got started with production/beat making?
In terms of just getting into beat making, I just wanted to do what Mantronix was doing. I was a big Marley Marl fan, but I didn’t understand what equipment was. I remember seeing the little drawings on the Mantronix album cover, and it would have him holding the drum machine in his hand, and I’m like “what is that, it says A-R-T-8-0-8” (laughs). Then I’m just like you know, I got to get one of those! All those quick little drum rolls you hear from Manny Fresh and all them dudes, and even Manny Fresh will tell you, Mantronix was one of his influences even though he did all that Cash Money stuff back in the day. So you gotta give it up to him, you got to give up to Marley, Larry Smith, you got to give it up to Rick ruben, DJ Jazzy J of the Zulu Nation, Grand Mixer Dxt, Howie T, Full Force, there’s just so many people who made it so great to make me get into a drum machine. DJ-ing is a whole different aspect, and that’s my favorite period.
When did you first realize that you were a producer?
With producing, I didn’t even know I was a producer at the time, but I wasn’t like “say your lines like this,” “that line was a little quivered,” “lets go back to this, lets punch in right here, why don’t we delete that line and put that word..” I was already doing that but I didn’t know that’s what production.
You’re renowned for having your trademark “Premier” sound, is it something you can put into words as to how it’s so different from everyone else?
Once I was given the chance to showcase my style, I’m from the era from when you had to be original. Like KRS-One said, “You gotta have style and learn to be original and everybody’s gonna wanna diss you, like me we stood up for the South Bronx, and every sucker emcee had a response, you think we care, I know that they they’re on the tip, my posse from the Bronx is thick!” That was my…not was, that’s still my mentality, you think I give a god damn, nah. I read a comment just recently when I was defending Drake and J.Cole for being younger guys that have some lyrics, because that’s what it’s about. PERIOD. If you can make simple rhymes and your record is dope then you can’t front on it, look at top billing for example. It’s the same thing with hip hop.It’s a competition for me, so when I talk about J. Cole and Drake and all of them, yea they got rhymes, and I know their levels of rhymes are going to be limited because they’re not old enough to know what I know and just don’t have the same level of experience. They missed the 80’s, which were overshadowed by real killings and real violence.
Maybe they refer to the mainstream aspect?
One guy even wrote, Premier is just trying to get
down with them and he just wants to be part of their mainstream and I’m like “Yeah, I want to do stuff for Drake, I want to do something for J.Cole” because it’s going to come out right and it shows a newer generation the potential of skill which can be forwarded to the youngsters. It almost makes you mad at first but you cannot allow that. However, it also makes you see how they analyze stuff, and the stuff they type to try to knock you down. It just lets you know how they’re not really part of the culture.
It’s just like wearing sneakers, when you are not able to distinguish between fly sneakers and ugly ones. Them cats probably have on the corniest kicks right now too! (laughs) or they have on some nice ones, but when you question them in person on the history, they can’t answer but one or two questions.
So when would you say it dawned on you that you officially discovered your sound?
In 1992 when we did “Daily Operation”, then I was like “pssh, ain’t none of ya’ll can mess with me.” I still have that competitive approach to me. There are a lot of talented beat makers out there. Me and Just Blaze just got in from Chicago where the finals of the Red Bull Beat Battle took place. These kids were making beats and I was impressed. Me and Just Blaze felt bad eliminating the worst guy but his beat was just not good enough. So what I did was tell him “Your version was not bad, and your other beats that you did weren’t bad, so I’m going to give you my direct email so you keep sending me stuff and I’ll give you honest feedback on what you’re doing. You’re on the right track, but you can do better and I’m not gonna let anyone get past not doing better than what they’ve done.” Back in the days, nobody was letting us do that, you know. I wanted Public Enemy, the whole Bomb Squad, and Dr Dre from N.W.A., I wanted them to recognize my talent and to get their respect. You got to be on to the level of what they’re doing because they’re selling millions of records and they’re obviously doing it right. It’s just like playing football or whatever, you want to get the ring. I want the ring, I want it every year. I’m Brett Farve-ing it, it’s just that I’m having a better season than he is. What are they 3-7? (laughs) You know, Kobe got five, he wants another one, the Yankees got 27 and they want another one.
Definitely. Motivation is integral in progressing. Can you tell us about your first music setup ever?
My first setup was a Radio Shack mixer and it didn’t have a cross-fader. It had knobs, so I was like close enough. (laughs) I just wanted to see the little VU meters move around, anything that made the meters do that stuff, I just wanted to see that (laughs).
I also had one SLB-1 turntable, which was a belt drive Technics turntable. I remember when my neighbor Michael had one sitting on his dresser, he had no mixer plugged into his receiver and he just had a Technics receiver, I was just amazed. That was before I knew how to scratch, and he just had the regular rubber mat on it, but I was like, “I’m getting one of those!” and I eventually saved up to get the SLB-1.
I’ve always been the guy who saves up his money to get what he wanted. I didn’t care if it was a paper route, I used to install and fix car stereos and make cassette tapes around the neighborhood.
Speaker-wise, I had the Realistic speakers, which is a Radio Shack brand now. I wanted the ones where you can pull off the mesh cover off so you can see the woofer and the tweeter. Then I used to take pictures. I’d go get them developed and
showed everyone “look at my speakers” (laughs) and I didn’t have two turntables, just one and at the time, I just knew how to blend two beats together, I didn’t know how to cut or scratch, work the fader. I didn’t learn that until college like 1984-1985.
How did Gang Starr form?
Gang Starr already existed before me. There are different generations of it. For one, it originated in Atlanta although they’re all from Boston. The first Gang Starr was Big Shug and his brother Dana. He named himself Suave D. He was the DJ and Guru was the MC. They were a singing and rap group at that time. Guru can sing you know what I’m saying. He had a really dope voice, and he knew his music. He’s older than I am, he’ll be 50 on July 18th 2011. Even if you’re not physically here you’re still, your birthday still goes on. So I don’t say he was, or would’ve been, I say he will be 50. I’m 44 so, that’s why even when I see all those wrong dates on his birthday and stuff I’ll be like “yo, how do you not know this dudes history and you don’t even have his birthday right” you know what I’m saying? But it is what it is. But the first generation was Big Shug, Suave D, and Guru. And Guru studied at Morehouse in Atlanta. So when they decided to form Gang Starr, it was in Atlanta,. That’s why when I have an Atlanta hat on, it has a big significance to me since it signifies the beginning of Gang Starr. So it started there, and then Shug started getting caught up in the streets, went to jail, Suave broke out then which led to the formation of the second generation which was Guru, Dame Mo Deeski, Mike D – DJ 12BDOWN, and Mike’s brother, Tracy or Gangstar T.
So how did this transition you into being an integral part of Gang Starr?
Guru said “I want you in the group,” but I initially refused because I wanted to bring my guys along from Texas but they weren’t interested in them. My main emcee came to NY with me to try and get things to click so we could regroup and do things up here. However, he became frustrated and joined the Navy. Thus, I readdressed the situation now that I don’t have my guy. I didn’t really plan on joining the group because that just wasn’t my mission, I wanted to produce. Then they said “Hey, why don’t we cut a couple records and see if we can get something popping between ya’ll”. That is when me and Guru started to build. I had met him a year prior and we just talked, smoked a blunt together in a club, and he took me around, but it went no further than that. Once I was about to join Gang Starr, me and him started to talk on the phone a lot more on how were going to style the first record. That’s when I did the “Words I Manifest”-beat. He did the rhymes over the phone, I had to go back to school to take some exams, I then came back and the record took off. We were surprised it took off, and from there I signed the contract.
How would you address this invisible struggle between mainstream versus “underground hip-hop”?
You know that’s the reason why we were respected. For example, EPMD stayed true to the grit. Every album was grimey and hard, and they’re from Long Island, coming hard. And they didn’t let the money influence them. They were getting their decent share of money because they were an independent label getting gold albums, so they were probably clocking more paper than us because we’re getting bigger figure deals but we got to re-coop all of that. You know, and that itself is another issue in itself. When you start thinking about that in terms of “yeah I got a nice house, I got two BMWs”, you think am I going to lose all of that because they don’t want to support the more underground stuff. And then the major labels try to catapult you to the mainstream level since the
streets have already reacted to your music. But this was never our intention.
That’s why N.W.A., Public Enemy and them blew up, they stayed gritty and the kids in the suburbs wanted that gritty feel. And this has not changed. They are trying to get a closer look at the streets through our music.
I have always wanted to be where the danger was, even when I first started out in Texas. I wanted to feel and see what made these records coming out of these areas sound like that and that’s why I came here at a time, because NY was the only place to get accepted. Texas only had a few groups back then.
So you just recently dropped “Get Used To Us”- Can you give us a little background on this new compilation project?
I planned it a couple of weeks. I’m actually doing this to stall the albums. The albums I have are all near the end of being done. I got to mix, sequence and get it mastered. I had an album drop in 2008 with the NYG’z, I dropped a Blaq Poet album in 2009, so instead of being like, “No we’re not going to make December,” I said let’s do a compilation real quick. It still carries its weight, the music and everything is air tight. I got the veterans like KRS-One, Grand Puba, Freddie Fox and Lady of Rage. Then I got a newer generation of what’s really good, like Royce, Joell Ortiz, Saigon, Papoose and Teflon from M.O.P. So I got that both segments locked down. It’s a nice little combination of all these projects I’ve been doing, I just pulled songs from each project and compiled them in order to have something to drop and it’s going to be that official.
Speaking of KRS-One can you tell us more about that project, as well as the Pete Rock collaborative project you have set up?
Well KRS-One just came back from tour. He was out in Europe for two months doing his thing over there. So we sat down, and his idea was to do a trilogy. “Return of the Boom Bip Volume One.” It is going to be the first one and will drop on my label Year Round Records. The second one he’ll place it wherever he wants to place it. The third one will be a live DVD and live CD where we’ll go to five different cities. He wants to do London, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and maybe two other places and rip the shows down from those first two albums. We’ll pull the best ones audio-wise and then put that out. Then of course the video footage which we’ll offer as a package, where you can buy all three albums or buy them separately.
Just like the Barbie and Ken doll. Buy them all together or sold separately you know what I’m saying (laughs). I’m from the Barbie and Ken era, I had sisters and they had the EZ bake oven so that’s what the album really is. Then when the new year comes around, it’s going to be back to back with the album drops. DJ Premier & Pete Rock, DJ Premier & KRS-One, NYG’z, Khalil, Nick Javas, boom-boom-boom, album-album and that’s how it’s going to come.
What are some of your most memorable moments in the music industry?
Some of my most memorable moments were definitely being in Gang Starr. We made some of the best in history. We’re considered icons and legends so that is something special. I went to the club the other day for my friend’s birthday. All of a sudden all these big bouncers came out like “Oh Premier” starting to get on their knees and praising. When Pharrell sees me, he salutes me.
We’ve achieved a lot, so Gang Starr is the most important thing to me, and for Guru to have me be his business and touring partner, that means a lot
to me too. We made good money, and we were able to take care of hundreds of friends and take care of our families. I was able to buy my mom a mink coat she had on layaway to payoff. You know, that feels good to do stuff like that.
Also when we went on tour with Rage Against The Machine which made me even more grimier on stage. It’s an experience seeing how Zack loses his mind on stage, and Brad on the drums and Tom Moriello on the guitar losing his mind, and seeing Timmy come up on the bass. This was also when I first got my tattoo because his tattoo artist was Gary Cosmo and he tatted me up on that tour. I’ve always told myself if I’m ever gonna tat myself up, I want it the same way that I’m bonafide as a producer. I want a respectable true tattoo artist, someone that’s official, and that’s why I tatted myself with Gary Cosmo, and then Mr. Cartoon did the rest on my other tats. These two bonafide people get mad respect and so that’s who I wanted to bless me with their ink. I just don’t go to anybody for a tattoo. All mine have a meaning and I’m not one of those just to get tatted up so I look all tough, nah. Mine are all significant, and all stand for something. Some people get tatted up just to get a look, unfortunately you just can’t remove it afterwards.
Can you tell us how your record label Year Round Records got started?
I started Year Round Records because of how the labels really started to soften up and water down the music, and artists we’re actually going for that. Then when you got over 30 they didn’t even want to deal with you any more. Too many conversations went like
“Ah I think we’re gonna have to let you go.”
“But I’m still dope, but I’m still relevant.”
“Yea but you know you’re not 18 anymore and it’s a young sport.”
Music has an age limit?
Music should be good any time anywhere, music shouldn’t have an age limit. It has a date and a time it as to when it was created. But it doesn’t have a limit. That’s why when you turn on the radio and the dial, you can hear all these variations but it doesn’t say limited to this age. This ain’t, a toy ages 6 and up. It’s music. I’ve done this for 22 years with Guru and Gang Starr, I know what to do now.
The only difference is, we couldn’t get no funding so I had to finance everything myself. I said to myself, I’m going to sell my house and reopen this legendary D&D studios and change it into the Headqcourterz Studio in memory of my homeboy Raz. The Raz who died two days after Jam Master Jay, who I dressed in the casket for his mother. I’ve never done nothing like that. All of these things were just for hip hop and I did it. I wasn’t worried like, “Ahh man I gotta get a smaller crib” I was like “Nah I’m about to turn this into another multi-million dollar empire”.
I know how to move and I know how to dip and dive and that’s another thing too that makes you hip hop. You have to know how to move properly. I always think like I’m being watched and that’s a paranoia of mine but not to the point where I’m kukoo and crazy. I understand how the entertainment world works, because I’ve been in it so long, lived it and I’ve experienced every element of it.
I really do care on every level regarding why I’m on this planet for you know, so my label was the perfect idea. I have three artists, the NYG’z, Khalil, and Nick Javas. They’re all different, they all bring something different to the table.
If you weren’t DJ Premier, what do you seeing yourself doing in life right now?
I have no clue, I mean I was taking computer science in college but the crazy thing is all the crazy languages I learned are no longer here anymore. I know I would’ve elevated if i stayed in that field, but I seriously don’t know. Even if I wasn’t doing hip hop, DJ-ing and scratching, I still would’ve wanted to play bass or be a drummer. I’d want to be affiliated with music in some sort of way. I love sports but I already knew I wasn’t going to be an NFL star, so you have to think realistically where you’re going to be. I already had bad knees after junior high from a motorcycle accident. I was already destroying my body, face first boom, no helmet, teeth knocked out, stitches in my mouth, crutches, missing football practice, so I already knew. Like Nick Javas said, thought “I’d be a legend in athletics but then i had to dead it.” So I found another sport, I love this game, that’s hip hop, music and production and DJ-ing, I love this game.
Interview: Davis Huynh
Photography: Raymond Echevers
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