DJ Premier

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DJ Premier
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Edward Martin
Also known as	Preem, Primo, Premo
Born	March 21, 1966 (1966-03-21) (age 43) Houston, Texas, United States
Origin	Houston, Texas, United States
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	record producer, DJ
Instrument(s)	Drum machine Keyboard Sampler Turntable
Years active	1987 – Present
Label(s)	Wild Pitch/EMI (1987–1990) Chrysalis/EMI (1991–1998) Virgin/EMI (1998–2003) Year Round (2003–)

Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966^[1]), better known as DJ Premier is an American record producer and DJ, and the instrumental half of the duo Gang Starr, together with MC Guru on the lyrical side. Originally from Houston, he has lived in Brooklyn, New York, for virtually his entire professional career. He is hailed as an architect of "hardcore East Coast hip-hop known by its heavy drums and sparse loops."^[2]

The Source magazine named DJ Premier one of the five greatest producers in hip-hop history, while editors from About.com ranked him as #1 in its Top-50 Hip-Hop Producers list.^[3]

Contents 1 Collaborations 2 Samples 3 Influences 4 Relationships with artists 5 Personal Information 6 Discography 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Collaborations

Besides producing almost the entirety of the Gang Starr catalog with the Guru, DJ Premier has created countless classics for many groups and solo artists since the early 1990s. Or DJ Premier provides the scratches for artists' tracks rather than producing them. These include notable tracks for artists such as

• Christina Aguilera ("Ain't No Other Man," "Back In The Day," "Still Dirrty," "Intro (Back To Basics)," "Thank You"
• Nas ("N.Y. State of Mind," "N.Y. State of Mind Part II," "Nas is Like," "Represent," "Come Get Me," "2nd Childhood," "Memory Lane," "I Gave You Power")
• Rakim ("When I be on tha Mic", "New York", "It's Been a Long Time", "Waiting for the World to End")
• AZ ("The Come Up," "The Format")
• Kool G Rap ("On the Rise Again" (featuring Haylie Duff), "1st Nigga (Remix)")
• The Notorious B.I.G. ("Unbelievable," "Kick in the Door," "Ten Crack Commandments," "Rap Phenomenon", "Machine Gun Funk [Remix]")
• KRS-One ("MCs Act Like They Don't Know," "KRS-One Attacks," "I Can't Wake Up," "Mortal Thought," "P Is Still Free," "Higher Level," "Rappaz R. N. Dainja," "Wannabeemceez," "Outta Here", "Bring It To The Cypher", "Criminal Minded '08")
• Big Daddy Kane ("Show & Prove", "Any Type of Way")
• Jay-Z ("D'Evils," "Friend or Foe," "Bring it On," "Million & One Questions," "Friend or Foe ’98," "So Ghetto")
• Common ("The 6th Sense," scratches for "The Game")
• Crooklyn Dodgers ("Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers")
• Big L ("The Big Picture (Intro)," "The Enemy," "Platinum Plus", "Ebonics [Premo Mix]")
• M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga ’96," "Breakin tha Rules," "New Jack City," "Stick to Ya Gunz," "Brownsville," "Salute," "Lifestyles of a Ghetto Child," "Blood, Sweat, and Tears," "Downtown Swinga," "Handle Ur Bizness (Remix)," "I Luv," "Salute Pt. 2," "Premier Intro," "Every Day," "Face Off," "On the Front Line," "Follow Instructions," "Roll Call")
• Mos Def ("Mathematics")
• 50 Cent ("Shut Your Blood Clot Mouth")
• Dilated Peoples ("Clockwork")
• Snoop Dogg ("The One & Only," "Batman & Robin")
• The Lox ("Recognize", "None of Y'All Betta")
• Verbal Threat ("Reality Check")
• Fat Joe ("The Shit is Real (Remix)," "Dat Gangsta Shit," "Success," "That White")
• Capone-N-Noreaga ("Invincible," "Grand Royal")
• Royce Da 5'9" ("Boom," "My Friend," "Hip-Hop," "Hit ’Em!" "Ding Ding," "Shake This")
• Ludacris ("MVP")
• Xzibit ("What A Mess")
• Kanye West, Nas, KRS-One, and Rakim ("Classic")
• J-Live ("School's In", "The Best Part")
• Afu-Ra ("Defeat", "Mic Stance", "Equality", "Monotony", "Lyrical Monster", "Blvd.")
• Black Eyed Peas ("BEP Empire")
• Limp Bizkit ("N 2 Gether Now" featuring Method Man)
• Mobb Deep ("Peer Pressure", "Cop Hell")
• The Lady of Rage ("Microphone Pon Cok", "Unfucwitable")
• Termanology ("Watch How It Go Down", "How We Rock", "So Amazing")
• Kanye West (scratches for "Everything I Am")
• Reks ("Say Goodnight")

and many more.^[1]

However, some of Premier's most lauded non-Gang Starr productions have been his collaborations with lesser known artists. With MC Jeru the Damaja, Premier crafted one of the East Coast's landmark albums in The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994, and its 1996 follow-up, Wrath of the Math. ^[1] Also from the Gang Starr Foundation, Premier would produce the bulk of the Group Home's Livin' Proof; although overlooked at the time of its 1995 release, the album has since come to find similar acclaim.^[1]

Though almost exclusively a hip-hop producer, DJ Premier collaborated with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group Buckshot Lefonque, on its debut album. He also found himself in the pop world, producing five tracks for Christina Aguilera's album Back to Basics, which included the first single off the album "Ain't No Other Man," which would win a grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2007. Other non hip-hop artists that appear in Premier's production credits include big names such as Janet Jackson, Brandy, Limp Bizkit, D'Angelo, Craig David, and Macy Gray.

Premier has remixed numerous songs for artists around the world, both inside and outside of the hip-hop realm. He has worked with artists from Russia, Japan, Britain, Canada, and even produced a track for former porn star Heather Hunter.

[edit] Samples

DJ Premier's style of production epitomizes the New York sound of his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work when creating a new track for that same artist. In addition, his encyclopedic memory of hip-hop lyrics allows him to distinctively speak with his hands by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases.^[4] Premier's non-Gang Starr collaborations are known for his oft-imitated combinations of short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. For example, in the chorus of Mos Def's "Mathematics," Premier cuts the following in quick succession:

"The Mighty Mos Def" (from Mos Def's "Body Rock"),

"It's simple mathematics" (from Fat Joe's "John Blaze"),

"Check it out" (Lady of Rage from Snoop Dogg's "For All My Niggaz & Bitches"),

"I revolve around science" (from Ghostface Killah's verse on Raekwon's "Criminology"),

"What are we talking about here" (from the movie Ghostbusters),

"Do your math" (from Erykah Badu's "On & On"), and

"One, two, three, four" (from James Brown's "Funky Drummer")

[edit] Influences

In an interview with XXL Magazine, DJ Premier was asked how his sound evolved, to which he replied, "Marley Marl is my number one inspiration. Jam Master Jay, Mixmaster Ice and UTFO. Grandmaster D and Whodini. DJ Cheese, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa. Jazzy Jay, even Cut Creator. Seeing them do what they do. It’s black music, it’s black culture, it comes from the ghetto. How can you not relate to ghetto people when that’s the rawest form of blackness? Even though it’s not a good place in regards to the economy and how bad people have it in the neighborhood, the realism’s there, and that’s what we were born out of. So I very much pay respect by doing the same type of music in return." ^[5]

[edit] Relationships with artists

DJ Premier was fully responsible for the production of Jeru the Damaja’s first two albums, "The Sun Rises in the East" and "Wrath of the Math". Jeru released two albums since then, with Premier having nothing to do with either of them. ^[1] The supposed reason that the two are no longer affiliates is that there was apparently a financial dispute between them, and Jeru felt that Premier was cheating him out of his fair share.

As far as Group Home was concerned, Premier commented, "They don't respect what fed them," in a 2003 interview, going on to say that the only reason he produced a track on their second album was because Guru said he would rhyme on it.^[6]

[edit] Personal Information

On his right arm there is a tattoo that states "Reputation is the cornerstone of power". According to an interview, Premo derived it from a book he read titled The 48 Laws of Power during a ride in a plane. ^[7]

[edit] Discography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• DJPREMIER.NET DJ Premier Official Web Site
• DJ Premier at MySpace
• yearroundrecords.com Year Round Records Web Site
• DJ Premier Trackology A list of all the DJ Premier productions
• Video Interview with Primo
• [1] Thermal Soundwaves interview with DJ Premier
• DJ Premier Credit List (Discography) - beatbuggy.com

v • d • e Gang Starr Foundation Groups Gang Starr • Group Home Rappers Afu-Ra • Bahamadia • Big Shug • DJ Premier • Guru • Freddie Foxxx • Jeru the Damaja Gang Starr albums No More Mr. Nice Guy • Step in the Arena • Daily Operation • Hard to Earn • Moment of Truth • The Ownerz Related DJ Premier discography • True Master • Reks • Ed O.G. • M.O.P.