How did the group with DJ Premier start?
We originally were supposed to do it with Slaughterhouse, and it didn’t pan out for a number of reasons. So I ended up getting on the phone with Preem and just asking him how he felt about just me and him doing it based off of our schedules.
Being sober, you have to find things that inspire you in order to truly do it. You lose interest in things, man. Like, you’ve been going to the studio for 20 years, rapping. [Laughs] Now it’s like, okay, you have to find something that drives you to the studio. So this was that thing. Any opportunity that I get to be able to work with Premo, I try to take it. I’ve been working with him on every single album, no matter what the situation is. So once we got three or four songs in, it was starting to feel like the stars were lining up. Everything started falling into place, and I’m into that. So I was like, alright, cool. And by the time we got to nine [songs], that was it. It was like, if we’re gonna do this, let’s do it.
DJ Premier hasn’t been in a group since Gang Starr. Was that weird for you?
It still is a little bit. And it’s only when we go down that road with the comparisons. I try to avoid that at all costs, and I try to big up Guru—God rest his soul—as much as I can. We look at it like we’re kind of continuing the legacy. I don’t feel in my heart that I’m doing anything that he wouldn’t 100 percent approve of. So we just move like that.
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