DJ Premier interview

Premier is one hip hop's greatest of all time. No doubt. And I was lucky enough to interview him by phone. Nice, honest guy he was too - spoke his mind and none of that US hip hop surliness. This interview appeared in Metro last Tuesday...




‘Oh shit the AC/DC album is out! Buy that!’ blurts DJ Premier excitedly to one of his entourage, before apologising for interrupting our phone interview. ‘Sorry, I’m an AC/DC fan and I’ve been waiting to get the new album.’

It’s good to hear DJ Premier a producer with a 20-year history in hip-hop is as enthusiastic about music as ever. Premier’s the instrumental genius behind Gang Starr, the revered duo that combined Premier’s trademark clean, sparse backdrops with Guru’s husky street rhymes, and through timeless classics including You Know My Steez, Mass Appeal, and Code Of The Streets, brought a luminous lustre to hip-hop’s golden age.

He’s also collaborated with Nas, Biggie, Jeru, Krs One, Jay Z, Common and Mos Def, amongst many others, and The Source magazine rates him as one of hip-hop’s Top Five greatest producers. He DJs tonight at Matter (Sway’s also on the bill) where his two-hour set features rapper Blaq Poet, who’s Premier-crafted LP is forthcoming on the producer’s Year Round Records.

Has Premier’s production methods changed over the years? ‘I stick to tradition and source obscure samples - there are websites that try to work out what I sample, I like the fact that fans see how deep I go. I love the art form of sampling,’ he says. ‘I go and buy records and find something that I can twist into a hip hop beat.’

‘You have cats that go on online, including friends like Alchemist and Showbiz, they find samples and manipulate them in a way that I appreciate,’ continues Premier. ‘I’m dig records and look for something unique that’s going to fit the sound I’m looking for – I hear a sound in my head then I try to find the sound to match.’

What does Premier think of American hip-hop’s love affair with Auto Tune? ‘T Pain brought it back, and Kanye’s doing it - everyone jumps off on something that becomes popular and tries to extend it,’ says Premier haltingly as he carefully chooses his next words. ‘Kanye is one of the best producers of the new generation and it’s good that he dares to be different. Everyone might be doing it, but I WILL NOT DO IT. I’m going stick to my script.’

In Premier’s script hip-hop is New York street music, rather than glossy pop muzak for daytime radio. ‘Hip hop came from the ghetto and someone has to preserve the origins, even if the mainstream goes in other directions. Artists like Jay Z are not in tune with the streets because of their success and tax bracket,’ he says. ‘Everyone around me is so hood and so ghetto, and so am I - even though I’m from Texas and ride horses - I’m country but ghetto. Blaq Poet is raw with hard beats and hard rhymes like KRS One, Marley Marl, Kool Moe Dee, and NWA, he’s hardcore yet his lyrics make you go wow.’