How was your 4th July?
DJ Premier: Aww man it was good, just spent some time with my son. He just turned three, he’s a little silly kid like me.

You said he’s three?
Yeah, I started late.

Better than starting early.
No question. I’d be a good father regardless but being in the hip-hop world, you don’t grow up as fast as everybody else when you had a career like me and Guru had.

What do you mean by that?
When I was 19 I had a record deal. And we weren’t ever platinum artists but we had platinum respect. So the things that come with being in our industry that we always dreamed about, the groupies and all the partying, all the sex drugs and rock and roll, we did it. So when you get spoiled by that lifestyle … it’s hard to nail down a girlfriend that’s steady when you meet girls that just want to be down because you’re an artist or a star or for the fame. You have a different type of guard up; do they love me for me or is it because I’m famous? My radar has always been that way so for me to have children and all that, it took longer because of how non-trusting I was of the girls I’ve been with and girls I’ve met. You look for that one that completes you and until that happens you just gotta keep livin’ and keep rockin’.

So you two didn’t grow up as fast both because you’ve been able to do whatever you want since you were 18 and then you had that extra level of cynicism about women.
Exactly … but other than that, I’m just blessed that we survived the wildness. Some people didn’t, not just in our genre, in rock, pop music, everything. Some actors, everybody in entertainment, the Heath Ledgers of the world, the DJ AM’s … the depression of the industry. I’ve been down all those roads, not depression, but down the roads of all those temptations. Some people have an off switch but some people don’t. Some people need therapy, some people don’t. I’ve always been able to turn it off myself just because I know how to talk to myself and say “enough, get back to work” and that’s how I’ve always been. That’s why I’ve never been in the tabloids or anything on that level. I’m just having a good time and enjoying it.

Speaking of people who have had issues with fame, what’s your relationship with Kanye like? I know you’ve been in the studio with him.
Kanye … I haven’t talked to him in several years. Last time I talked to him was at Watch the Throne because I took Guru’s son and my nephew, who’s 19 now, he wanted to meet Jay Z. We had all access. He got to meet him and meet Ye. Ye was on tour with us when Common had the Electric Circus tour [in 2002] and it was Gang Starr, Common, Floetry, and Talib Kweli. Kweli brought Kanye halfway through the tour on the road, we were like “What is Kanye doing here?” He wasn’t even rapping then, he was just producing. I asked Kweli and he said, “Man Kanye gave me my first hit ever on radio with “Get By” and he didn’t charge me. He gave it to me free. So I’m giving it back to thank him.”

I remember going backstage on a random night and Kanye goes, “Ayo Premier, I’m about to drop an album called College Dropout and I’m rapping on the whole thing. And as I soon it drop it’s gonna go double platinum.” I looked at him like, “That’s a bold statement to make if you never rapped before. Everybody knew he could make those beats. But so Kanye’s always been that way from the first time I ever met him, way before he had a dollar in his pocket. When people started saying, “Oh he’s arrogant, he’s an asshole,” I’m like honestly, he’s been acting like that before he got famous. So I won’t knock it. And yo, then the album came out and it went double platinum!

You know what I like about him? He’s very passionate about his shit. You can say he’s crazy and nuts and out of his mind, with Kim and all this stuff, but he’s passionate and that’s why you gotta love Ye for who he is. Honestly, he reminds me of Guru with his wild emotions and the way he thought and took stuff to heart and spazzed out a lot. I been seeing that through my whole career with Gang Starr. His passion is just so great … and he’s a good dude … he either likes you or he doesn’t. Same with the fans and the people that perceive him, you either like him or you don’t. But he’s always given me free kicks, I asked about them Yeezys and he said “I already got a box, I’ll send em to you”. The only thing is I haven’t gotten my Graduation plaque … I’m gettin a little angry about that!

Do you ever feel limited in by people calling you and wanting that signature DJ Premier sound?
Nah because I know that they know what that sound and the name attached gives them, so I get it. On top of that, it’s fun to do all styles of what I do … I don’t want to be just a hip-hop producer. I want to do a Miley Cyrus record, an Eminem record, an Iggy Azalea record because my version of that sound isn’t gonna come out fucked. That’s how much I worry about my name as an artist. When I go in with any artist part of my job is to make sure that it comes out way more than right. Jay Z and Biggie and Nas always listened to my direction. They listened and they applied it and I also listened to their opinions and that’s why the records came out so good. They didn’t come out because of luck … we’re all good at what we do but it’s also us all knowing when it’s a good record that’s ready to leave the studio. That’s what I like about Dr. Dre, he said “I don’t let nothin’ leave the studio until it’s really really ready.”

How do you approach something like a Disclosure remix? That was a departure from what you usually do.
My manager said, “Hey man, let’s go on a writing trip.” I was like a writing trip? I don’t need to do that … I was getting’ all cocky like I’m Premier, but he was like, “Nah let’s tap into some new stuff, let’s go to London and stay out there and hook up with all the new people.” My publishing company had a list of people looking for [remixes] and Disclosure was on there. I already was liking what Sam Smith was doing, so they threw me that “Latch” record. I was like, “Uhh … I don’t know if I should touch that one” but my manager kept pushing me and the labels told me they’d love a remix. They just wanted Premier style, I didn’t have to follow what was on the radio … sometimes a label will come to you and say they want a dance version for the radio, I gotta tell them I’m not their guy. But for “Latch” they just handed me the stems and stayed out of my way.

I put it on double-time, slower to make it more like an R&B record, something I would envision having my name on. When I did it, they immediately were like “wow we love it,” Sam loved it, I met Sam and Disclosure when they were in New York. Sting came backstage! I was like, “Wow, Sting is coming to say what’s up to Disclosure … that’s a big deal!” and I just like the fact that all the way across the board they looked for everybody.

That story where you and Jeru walked in on Biggie eatin chicken butt naked and he told Jeru, “My name’s Biggie, not Barkim” … is that true?
Absolutely. We were at a motel … not even a hotel and were getting ready to back home after a show in Virginia. We all had rooms next to each other and the whole Junior Mafia was there, we all followed each other and drove our cars down because Biggie didn’t know how to drive. So he’s sitting there … he had boxer shorts on, he wasn’t butt naked but still he’s sitting there titties out, not even stressin all these guys in his room, he was comfortable. And he had a big ass bucket of chicken. Jeru was just startin’ to get into wanting to lose weight, he was going vegetarian and learning martial arts. Him and Afu-Ra were already planning to do that karate in their videos, and they did it. They started going to class every day and every time they came into the studio to record they wanted to use me as a guinea pig. I was like, “Don’t try that shit on me.” Anyways, the next thing you know, we were about to head back to New York we go check to see if Biggie and them were ready to drive back. Jeru walks in and says, “Damn, you eatin all that chicken? You should really be eating healthier.” Biggie said “Mannn fuck all that! I’m eating this shit. My name is Biggie not Barkim!” We all laughed our asses off.

When him and Biggie and Puff were beefin’, did people know he was deep into martial arts? Were people more wary of Jeru because they were worried he was gonna turn around and karate chop the shit out of somebody?
At that time, they were just perfecting their craft. They were just learning it then when “Ya Playin Yaself” came out and we did the “One Day” record. But I’m not sure if they saw the videos and thought he was doing the stunts, but they were definitely going to class every day. He’d come in the studio and stand his leg all the way up to the ceiling. They were into it hardbody. But honestly if it came down to a fight, we all been into fist fights together … we had Gang Starr brawls and M.O.P. brawls.

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Saigon: This is the most honest album I ever did, and I went and got DJ Premier, because I always wanted to work with Premier. A lot of people don’t know this, but I like to use one producer for most of my projects. I think The Greatest Story Never Told Chapter 2: Bread and Circuses was the only one where I really didn’t. The Greatest Story Never Told, Just Blaze pretty much did the whole record. When I did All in a Day’s Work, I did the whole project with Statik Selektah. When I did most of my mixtapes, Scram Jones would do the whole mixtape. Even when I was working with Alchemist, me and Alchemist did eight or nine records. But I never worked with Premier up until this point. I had a project on his album, but we never had a Saigon/Premier record. We got four of them on this new album, and he just came with the perfect backdrop for what I had to say. So when I started working with him, the rhymes started coming easier, and I think lyrically, this is by far my best work.

DX: How was it in the studio with Premier, and how did y’all link up for this project?

Saigon: Well I had been waiting for this Premier beat for…not even exaggerating, for like 11 years. Preem will tell you, I’ve been waiting 11 years to work with him. It got to the point where me and Preem were about to fight, ‘cause I’m like “Yo man, what the fuck? You keep tellin’ me this and that.” Like we about to have a physical altercation? But he was like, “You know what Sai, you right, you right.” Because he knew I was right, and I wasn’t just trying to start shit. I’m thinking, “I love you as a big brother,” ‘cause me and him are close, but [he was] killin’ me! Before I retire, can the world hear Saigon and Premier together?

He actually gave one of my records to REKS. The last single on REKS last album, the Premier record, was my beat. So he finally gave me one, then he took it back and gave it to REKS [laughs]. I was like, “Ah, shit no.” He’s such an honorable person, he said, “You know what, Sai? Being that I made you wait so long, let’s go in. Let’s do more than one. Let’s bang out a few.” And when I get in that zone, when I get in my Yard Father Zone, we made some great records. We made some records that are gonna shock the people.

We did one with Big Daddy Kane… Ah man, it’s pretty damn nuts. I got another record called “Mechanical Animals,” where I took four generations of Hip Hop and put them on one song. It’s like Kool G Rap reps the ‘80s… Memphis Bleek, who is so underrated to me as a emcee ‘cause he’s been behind that big ass sun named Jay Z all his career [laughs]. It’s hard to shine behind Jay Z, but Bleek could really rap. But he’ll rep the ‘90s, I will represent the 2000s, then I got Lil Bibby from Chicago who will represent like the 2010s and the new, young era. And we all come together on one song to show that four generations of Hip Hop can rock on one record, and it can still sound incredible.

Read the full interview with HipHopDX here

Related: Saigon Says DJ Premier Has Produced Most Of His Next Album

DJ Premier is in great spirits, and for good reason. He’s a fairly new dad, and his success has afforded him the time to be both the DJ Premier that we all know, and the dad his son needs. He’s also taking a leap on the business front. In an independent venture, Premo has put his own shingle into the online world with both his new website PremierWuzHere.com and web series “Bars in the Booth,” which through four episodes has featured emcees like Papoose and Dres from Black Sheep. He also just wrapped up a supporting performance alongside Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall in June. So in Premo’s case, life is good.

Business and family aside, his name is attached to a slew of new projects, most notably with MC Eiht and Joey Bada$$. But as is usually the case with Premo, the list is much longer and more extensive and he’s also got a few aces up his sleeve.

“I’m actually doing a couple secret albums,” Premier revealed to DX. “It’s not Nas, but it’s one of many great ones that’s gonna be dropping.”

The most important takeaway from chatting with Premier is how excited he is right now. The website and merchandising are an entrepreneurial manifestation of his lifelong affinity for apparel. Not only is he selling classic DJ Premier threads, he’s getting more involved in the design, and having fun with his successes outside of music.

“I should’ve had the site up back in 2005, but that was me not happy with everything in my circle, and now the team I have, it’s just beautiful. And we all work hard to be Number One. That’s our motto: ‘Work like you’re Number One, and you will be Number One.’” A true savant, DJ Premier has maintained the utmost integrity for more than 20 years. And with age comes wisdom. Whether it’s his own son, his nephew, or even Joey Bada$$, DJ Premier has embraced his status a mentor and leader for the next generation.
Read more…

For over two decades, DJ Premier has provided hip-hop junkies with classic production supporting some of the genre’s biggest artists. His ability to craft beats seamlessly with his scratches and boom bap sound has always placed smiles on people’s faces, and his methodical approach in the studio has etched him into firmly into hip-hop history as one of the greatest producers to ever do it. Besides landing on tracks with Jay Z, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G., he’s also always been appreciative of the artform that he helped developed. DJ Premier sat down with XXL to break down his five favorite beats of all time.

1. Eric B. and Rakim – Eric B. Is President (Produced by Eric B.)

DJ Premier: Just because I’m a real big James Brown fan. No one had taken the drum roll and the hit off of “Funky President” and make it play the “Over Like A Fat Rat” melody from Fonda Ray [starts beat boxing] and make it go [continues beat boxing] and back into the drum beat, and then bring the music back in. The way it just came around, I just never heard an arrangement that funky, but simple. And with Marley Marl’s handles on it. It just made it official.

2. Biz Markie – Biz Is Goin’ Off (Produced by Marley Marl)

DJ Premier: You know, the way Biz rhymed to it and [Big Daddy] Kane wrote it. It was just a record that you can’t deny. It was that funky. The way Marley was just stepping and stuttering of his kicks, and the delays and echoes. It was everything.

3. EPMD – So What Cha Sayin’ (Produced by Erick Sermon, Parrish Smith & DJ Scratch)

DJ Premier: This [record] just blew my fucking mind. I was like, “This was not right.” It was not right. Who does that? Who just murders a thing like that? One of the greatest records to be done in hip-hop is “So What Cha Sayin’.”

4. Nas – The World Is Yours (Produced by Pete Rock)

DJ Premier: That was a bonafide Pete Rock and Nas collabo.

5. MC Shan – The Bridge (Produced by Marley Marl)

DJ Premier: To take the record scratching and put it in reverse and go [makes scratching effects] and then [add] “The Bridge, The Bridge, The Bridge.” It just sounded like, “What is that?” All the echoes on Shan’s voice were unreal. It was unreal.

Source & Props to XXLMag

Cool interview with the guys of Life and Times:

Just before I go into my first question, he blurts out his newest collab with a “secret” artist. “I’m doing a project that I can’t mention yet. It’s a full album. I just completed it with an artist and we’re gonna announce it in maybe in the next week or two. It’s already done. It features Ab-Soul, Mac Miller, [and] Slaughterhouse is on it,” Premier says. I futilely attempt to get him to reveal the artist and he doesn’t acquiesce, but instead explains the album’s inner workings. Premier adds, “That’s all I can really tell you right now. It’s a really unique project. It’s a project where I sample only one artist and only used their samples for the entire album. I strictly just use that one person – took all their samples, broke it into pieces and made my own beats out of it, and scratched it – the whole album. It was gonna be an EP, but it turned into a whole album. It’s gonna have nine tracks on it. It’s a really cool project.”

In inquiry of his sleeping habits, he chuckles and enlightens me about the importance of a power nap in between recording sessions. What some artists accomplish in the course of three to five years – maybe even longer – Premo will wrap up in the course of one year. “There’s more. That’s just off the head,” Premier further states before proceeded to talk about his new record with rock crooner-guitarist, Ed Sheeran. “He had five albums that he had played for us when I was in the studio with him. He’s even doing a hip hop album with [The] Game and he’s toying with Rick Ross separately. Then, [he’s] doing three other albums. I did a record called ‘The Manor.’” The Premier produced record will be featured on a future Ed Sheeran album.

Beyond Premier’s wealth of knowledge is his deep connection with genres of all sorts. That passion for music is overwhelmingly apparent in how he talks about his projects – it’s much like the proud praise a fiancé expresses about their partner to others. Premier says, “I’m a fiend to music. That keeps me out of trouble, keeps me out of jail, it keeps me from dying early. It’s not an easy business to be in, but I was always a fan and very critical to music where I was like, ‘Man, if I ever get a chance to make a record, I’m gonna show people how it needs to be done.’ That’s still my attitude.” I sit back, enjoy the conversation, and allow myself to be immersed in the human encyclopedia of music and living rolodex of beats. Here are the lessons.

“I just got done doing a remix for Sam Smith who’s pretty bubblin’ right now. It’s called “I’m Not The Only One.” I did a cool, hip hop version. It’s still mellow, but I put my hard drums to it and my style of mellow piano. I did a remix for Disclosure earlier last year and Sam Smith was on it called “Latch.” So, we met when they performed at Terminal 5 in New York and I met Sam. He was like, “Yo man, I got three singles dropping. Maybe you should get on the third one.” That’s how that happened.

With Disclosure and also when you conducted the Berklee Symphony Orchestra, I admire that you don’t limit yourself to just hip hop. You have a broad love for music. Do you catch any flack for changing up some of your latest work – being that it’s outside of rap? The hip hop crowd had mixed reviews about your Disclosure remix.

Well, some people will hit me on Twitter like, “Damn. I don’t even want to listen to hip hop because I can’t believe you’re working with this person or this person.” I’m like, ‘Fuck you. I’m a producer. I’m not just a hip hop producer. I’m a producer, period.’ Then, I’m 48 years-old – I was raised on music way before rap was even happening…I’ve known hip hop from the very beginning. I understand the origins of it. I understand the birthplace [and] the birthdate. When they say, “Hip hop is over now. I’m done with it since you’re working with Ed Sheeran or something like that.” I’m like, ‘Good. We don’t need you anyway.’ Then they go, “Oh, I didn’t mean it that way.” ‘Yeah, you didn’t think I was gonna respond.’ I’m gonna respond to you because I’m not angry if that’s your opinion. I want to debate you on what makes you feel that way when you haven’t even heard it yet. When Christina [Aguilera] had me work with her, people were like, “Oh no. Please don’t.” Then when they heard “Ain’t No Other Man,” “Back In The Day,” and all the other records were still constructed like Premier tracks they were like, “Yo, I really love this album. I was really impressed. I was worried, but you totally sound like what we love about you.” Until you hear it, don’t say a word. I never want to be just attached to hip hop. I want to be attached to music – country, rap, soul, jazz, blues, it doesn’t matter, gospel music – I come from all of that.”

Well, you’re definitely progressive. I read a piece on the history of Rawkus Records and you explained how “Mathematics” came about. Of course it’s the 20th anniversary of Illmatic and I know the story behind “Memory Lane” on that album. I noticed that with most of your records, they’re on the incidental side. They’re never planned. It’s like, “Oh! This is an idea. Let’s go with it.” How much of a percentage would you say is organic versus planned?”
DJ Premier: It depends. I was just telling my manager a little while ago, when we were coming up – whenever we’d get a gig to produce or whatever – the label would be like “Here you want some money to take them (the artist) out to dinner? Y’all should meet. Y’all should bond to see if y’all could start making a record.” Now you talk to a label head like, “Hey Premier, we want you to do this record” and I’ll be like, ‘Okay well, let me get them on the phone so I can talk to them and feel if I have a vibe.’ And they’ll be like, “Oh well, we can’t really hook you up with him right now. Just work on the track and just be ready and we’ll book the session.” I’m like, ‘Hold up. I might not even like the vibe of the person I’m working with. Just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’re good to work with. Let me talk to them and give them an opportunity to say “Hey, this is what I want to do…”’ I want to know what their process is because I know my process and it has to be that we’re gonna click. If we’re not gonna click, I don’t care about the money. I don’t want to do it and I’ll back out of a job. It ain’t shit to me. I’ll get another job or I’ll find something else to do. I do a radio show every Friday night 10PM to midnight on SiriusXM Radio and we are very dedicated to breaking strictly new, bangers that hit the area of hip hop. I send my list out every week and everybody trusts me because they can’t stand the music they shouldn’t listen to. I don’t do favors. If somebody wanna come up to my show, if I don’t like the record you can still come up to my show, but I ain’t gonna play your record. You can talk about that you have something going, but I’m not gonna play it just because we’re cool. I have to like it, otherwise I’m worried about everybody going off and saying bullshit about the show. I don’t want that reputation. I’m a tough critic. I want motherfuckers to know that you got to have a banger for me to play and you should want to have a banger so that it gets my cosign. I don’t play around. It’s too late in the day to play around with messing music up as bad as it already is. You can tell that the payola really fucks up our industry in hip hop because in my era it was like a brand new thing with the payola stuff, so it was really rare. So now it’s part of how we do things in our industry.

It’s interesting you bring that out because I feel like that’s also an issue within the DJ world. There’s a lot of music that’s coming out sounds the same, but because there’s this mass marketing and there’s money behind it and “let’s just all be friends” mentality, there’s not enough honesty going on. It’s reflecting in the music.
DJ Premier: Oh, 100%. At the end of the day, I know pretty much everybody end of the story. I know how it’s going to end. It’s like, “Hey man, have you seen that new movie? Yo, he dies at the end.” It’s like, ‘Motherfucker, why did you tell me?’ That’s how I am. I already saw the movie. I know everybody’s outcome. What it is with me, I still study the game, I study who’s out – like, ‘Oh, you the hot one right now? Let me watch how you behave. Who’s in your videos?’ I watch all of that stuff and that makes me understand what level of where they’re gonna end up. When it’s all said and done, most predictions I’m gonna be 100% right.

I’m sure you’re getting sick of the Illmatic questions, but mine is different! From the three tracks you produced on the album, I definitely feel the connection between the instrumentation along with the lyrics – they go hand-in-hand. When you worked with Nas on those three records, how were you able to decide what sounds would actually work with the lyrics? It’s such a real story, the lyrics are poignant.
DJ Premier: Well, with “Memory Lane,” Nas was laughing at the album cover. It was a Reuben Wilson sample – which I can say because it was cleared – I don’t mind people know that. When we were looking at the cover, Nas was like, “Look at this dude, look at his afro!” He was laughing. When he heard that sample (hums the vocals) in the beginning of the song, that’s all we had looped. Well, I looped it. He was like, “Yo, that’s what I want.” I’m like, ‘Yeah, but it ain’t really hardcore beats.’ We had already done N.Y. State of Mind. I was like, ‘I want to do another one on that level.’ He was like, “Nah, because I already have a lot of hardcore stuff already. I need to get something like that to take it to a different type of sonic sound.” I didn’t really like it. So he was like, “Yo, just hook it up and if it doesn’t work as I lay the vocals, we’ll scrap it.” (raps the intro) I was like, ‘Okay’ and it made me like it. He rapped over it and I was like, ‘Alright, we’ll keep it.’

Everyone has their own perspective of Illmatic. For you, what is it about Illmatic that makes it – as many critics and some musicians express – one of the greatest hip hop albums in history?
DJ Premier: Mainly because of the fact that at that time Nas was this new sound in music, his attitude, his cockiness – like, “Yo, y’all can’t fuck with me” – and just the rawness and the bluntness of the things he was saying from “[Live at the] Barbecue” to “Halftime” – just all of that stuff made it like, “This guy is going to be the next big thing.” It was already understood. With “Halftime,” “Back To The Grill,” “[Live at the] Barbeque,” – we hadn’t heard anything else. Then, “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” dropped and even that put you in a whole different perspective. Nas and Guru – I would sit in all of their sessions and watch them work so naturally together. So, that was a big deal. Because of that I wanted to give him that same feeling that Large Professor gave me when he connected to Nas. Every track that they did together just happened to work. You couldn’t deny it. You can’t deny greatness of that level. You have to accept it for what it is and Nas had that type of an impact.

I don’t trust hearsay, so I will just ask – is it true that you’re actually working on an album with Nas this year or is that a rumor?
DJ Premier: This is what Nas told me recently and every time that we talk this is what he tells me; he says, “Look, I got another new album I got to do on Def Jam and then my contract is over. I’d rather do your album…that’s because we can do whatever we want. There’s no strings. We can just rock out.” Everybody’s like, “When are ya’ll gonna do an album?” I’m not rushing it and I have other things to do. I don’t even take it personal when he’s like, “Yo, I’m working this first.” Whenever he says that he’s ready, I’m going in. So, that was always my way of looking at it. I never looked at it no other way. I ain’t trippin.’

The Producer-DJ Question: Is a DJ a musician?

Oh, 100 percent. Well, you know, not ALL of them. You have a robot DJ, then you a true DJ. But yeah, we’re musicians because we have to keep the timing and the rhythm of the music that you can dance to, bob your head to, cry to, laugh to, whatever.

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props to goodshitradio.com for the hit up!

Props to hiphopwired.com