Click on the picture for the interview

Nas recently discussed his admiration and love for longtime friend DJ Premier and dished on just how great of a music producer he is in an ever-changing rap game.

Nas stated that, Premo does not realize how iconic his craft is.

“I would say outside of Gang Starr, I kind of opened up those flood gates because after I worked with him, he did Biggie, he did Jay [Z], so, right around in that same period, it wasn’t just Gang Starr and KRS-One, he also had the new guys coming in. He had me, Big and then Jay. So he was our sound. He was the sound of hip-hop.

I don’t even know if Premier knows it – I don’t even think he knows how incredible he is. … Behind closed doors, when it’s just him, I don’t know if he really gets how incredible he is. It’s just how he is. He’s always trying to strive for perfection, in my opinion.” (BBC Radio 1)

Related: Nas – Illmatic Tour ’14 Full Live @ Dour, Belgium

Today DJ Premier is receiving the Life Time Achievement Award @ 2014 Global Spin Awards, we from djpremierblog wants to congrats him for this big honor! More media to follow, but first this interview before the awards:

Music Times: Now that you’ve been honored by the Global Spin Awards for your lifetime work as DJs, what do you think your legacies will be?

DJ Premier: I still just can’t believe I’m being honored. I mean I’m just thinking about other DJs that came before me that definitely deserve recognition before I do — well not before I do because I put my work in — but there are so many other DJs I look up to that don’t get recognized and people like me recognize them because without them I wouldn’t have done what I chose to do as a DJ/Producer, a recording artist and an entrepreneur. But I’m definitely honored because of the fact that they’re focused on giving me that type of attention and it let’s me know that what I’m doing is the right thing.

Music Times: What is the role of the DJ today in breaking music?

DJ Premier: The role is to always break the records based on what you feel what people need to hear. That’s the school I come from, and that’s the reason I have a radio show every Friday night from 10 p.m. to midnight EST on Sirius XM satellite radio channel 44, which is Hip Hop Nation. It’s called “Live From HeadQCourterz,” and that show is strictly to break anything new that’s hip-hop that I think sounds like the purest form, which is dope beats, dope rhymes. It doesn’t matter if it feels popular to radio. It has to feel popular to me or has a sound that I think people need to hear because I’m a tastemaker, which is what we all are as DJs. Every DJ has different jobs in this culture. We all do it differently. Some people have to follow playlists, but me, I set the playlist. I’m glad I have that window and I make sure that I only do it that way.

Music Times: Where are you finding the best music these days?

DJ Premier: It gets sent to me. It’s crazy. There’s people that are like “I got your email from so-and-so. Check this out, I think you might like it. I listen to your show every week.” So then I’ll download and listen to what they send and I’m like “Wow, this is hot.” And I’m excited to play it that Friday.

Music Times: How important is flexibility and having a taste for different types of music?

DJ Premier: When I’m out of town, I’ll get DJs who make it seems exactly as if I’m there because they do it live. I don’t like to pre-record. I can get DJ Scratch, I can get Kid Capri. I can get DJ Finesse, who does a lot of more EDM stuff and dance music, but as soon as he’s doing my show he’s playing straight underground, raw rap. You should be that flexible to DJ. If I have to do an EDM party, I can do it. If I have to do a rock party, I can do it. If have to do a party for weddings, where you have to have pop, rock, soul, new wave, dance, whatever, you got to be able to do it. Then you go right back to an underground show and playing straight gutter. There are certain DJs that are kind of dependent on one style. But a versatile DJ is what you are supposed to be if you want to be able to last in this game. You want to be able to do more than just one style because once that style starts to slow down, what are you going to do? Sit there and say “My life is over” or find something that can still keep you active as a DJ and get you work.

source

You can watch the Global Spin Awards live in a couple of hours here (but I don’t think it works outside the USA)

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.

source

“U Looz”