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DJ Premier

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DJ Premier

Christopher E. Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known as DJ Premier or Premo, is a prominent African-American hip hop producer and DJ, and the instrumental half of the duo with Guru called Gang Starr. He was introduced to DJing while attending school at Prairie View A&M in Houston, Texas. DJ Premier's original stage name was Waxmaster C, the "C" taken from his first name, Chris.

Considered by many hiphop fans to be one of the greatest producers in the genre's history, DJ Premier has produced over five-hundred tracks, for many groups and solo artists since the early 1990s. These include notable tracks for artists such as Jay-Z ("D'Evils", "So Ghetto"), Big L ("The Enemy"), The Notorious B.I.G. ("Unbelievable", "Kick In The Door", "Ten Crack Commandments"), Nas ("N.Y. State of Mind", "Nas Is Like"), M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga"), Jeru the Damaja ("Come Clean", "My Mind Spray"), KRS-One ("MC's Act Like They Don't Know"), Mos Def ("Mathematics"), Non Phixion ("Rockstars"), Royce da 5'9" ("Boom"), and Pitch Black ("It's All Real").

Biography

Collaborations

Outside of Gang Starr, some of Premier's most lauded work is his collaborations with Jeru the Damaja and Group Home. With the former, Premier crafted one of the East Coast's landmark albums in the form of The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994. Their follow up to this, 1996's Wrath of the Math, was regarded as a solid effort but not on par with its predecessor, although it did contain Jeru's biggest hit to date, "Ya Playin' Yaself". Group Home's Living Proof (1995), although greatly overlooked at the time of its release, has eventually come to be looked upon as a masterpiece and many have cited it as Premier's most coherent work to date.

In 1997,. DJ Premier collaborated extensively with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group, Buckshot Lefonque, for their debut album. During the making of music video director, Hype Williams' 1998 film, Belly, DJ Premier collaborated with neo soul leader D'Angelo for a song called "Devil's Pie", which was originally intended only for the film's accompanying soundtrack. However D'Angelo soon changed his mind and decided to include the song on his sophomore album Voodoo (2000) In 2006 he co-produced Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics album.

Technique

Samples

DJ Premier's style of production epitomises the New York sound from his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work, when he is creating a new track for that same artist. In addition, his photographic memory of rap lyrics allows him to distinctively "speak with his hands" by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases [1]. Premier's non-Gang Starr collaborations are well-known for his often-imitated signature of combining short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. For example, for the chorus of Mos Def's "Mathematics", Premier cuts, in quick succession:

"The Mighty Mos Def..." (from Mos Def's "Body Rock"),
"It's simple mathematics" (from Fat Joe's "John Blaze"),
"I revolve around science..." (from Ghostface Killah's verse on Raekwon's "Criminology"),
"What are we talking about here..." (unknown origin),
"Do your math.." (from Erykah Badu's "On & On"), and
"One, two, three, four" (from James Brown's "Funky Drummer")

On certain artists' work the vocal samples will all be vocal samples of the artist from the artists' past work; "Nas Is Like" and "2nd Childhood" with Nas are two well-known examples of this.

Melodies

Premier usually creates a two-bar melody that repeats itself throughout the song. The aim of this is to showcase the MC's skills by bringing focus away from the beat, while creating the song's mood and a solid backdrop. Premier often changes speeds, filters and chops his breaks and adds scope to the melody with chimes and strings.

He has also shown innovation by playing rarely-used elements into a rap song (such as the xylophones on Biggie's "Kick in the Door" or the ambient nature sounds on Nas' "Nas is Like"), and his wide range of instruments (the piano loop on Jay-Z's "D'Evils" versus the strings on Rakim's "New York (Ya Out There?") and production techniques (he played the melody backwards during the second half of Jay-Z's "A Million and One Questions (Rhyme No More)").

Drums

Premier's drums have been known for complimenting his melodies. For example, during Nas' "NY State of Mind", two bars have a simple round of kicks and snares; in the following two, a complementing second set of drums plays out. This is repeated throughout.

Future projects

In the December 2005 edition of hip hop production magazine, Scratch [2], Premier revealed that he had been in the studio recording with pop starlet Christina Aguilera for her upcoming album. He also spoke of his plans to release a solo album, "A Man Of Few Words"; a full-length project with long-time collaborator, Royce da 5'9", and another with Teflon, affiliate of friends M.O.P., both in 2006. In May 2006 DJ Premier produced Verbal Threat single "Reality Check". He is working with legend Kool G Rap on a track that will be on G Rap's upcoming EP. A rumor surfaced that Premier was to produce Nas' next album in its entirety, and the two were interviewed about it in Scratch Magazine, but due to Nas' signing with Def Jam it appears the project will feature other producers as well. It has also been announced that Premier will do some production on Canibus' new album (there was a rumor he was producing an entire collaborative effort between him and Royce Da 5'9, but Royce said it was false). There are also rumors that say Premo is producing entirely the next posthumous Big L project, in cooperation with Lord Finesse.

Discography

Albums

Selected production credits

For a full list of DJ Premier's production credits, see #External links
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