DJ Premier Breaks down “One Of The Best Yet” Track by Track
source: The Voice Newspaper
DJ Premier Breaks Down His Classics With Nas, JAY-Z, Biggie & Gang Starr
On August 8, legendary hip-hop producer DJ Premier sat down with Genius for the latest installment of Genius Level, our live conversation series with icons of the music business, including influential artists, songwriters, producers, and executives. The event was hosted by Genius’ Head of Artist Relations Rob Markman and sponsored by Cîroc and Breather. During the wide-ranging interview, Premier reflected on his legacy in hip-hop, from his early days has half of Gang Starr to his work with legends like Nas, JAY-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G.
Jump To A Topic:
Intro (0:00)
What’s The Greatest DJ Premier Beat? (1:24)
The Making of Nas’ “NY State of Mind” (2:40)
Gang Starr’s First Press Photo (5:27)
Premier’s Early Exposure to Music (6:04)
The Origin of Gang Starr (8:52)
The Making of Gang Starr’s “Just To Get A Rep” (13:24)
Why Guru & Premier Made The Perfect Team (15:24)
What’s The Greatest Gang Starr Album? (17:11)
Will There Ever Be a Posthumous Gang Starr Album? (18:22)
How KRS-One Turned Premier Into The Hottest Producer (20:38)
The Making of Biggie’s “Kick In The Door” & Jeru’s “Day One” (22:32)
The Making of JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt (26:42)
JAY-Z’s Original Black Album Idea (28:26)
Working with Kendrick Lamar (29:09)
The Making of D’Angelo’s “Devil’s Pie” (31:13)
Working With Christina Aguilera (34:58)
How Premier Makes Beats in 2017 (37:20)
Dabbing & Keeping Up With Modern Rap (38:38)
Sampling Adrian Younge on PRhyme (39:47)
Hearing A Sober Royce Da 5’9” Rap For The First Time (41:25)
How Premier Picks Vocal Samples (44:09)
Guru’s Famous “Lemonade Is A Popular Drink” Line (45:40)
On Break Records & Sample Snitching (46:44)
On Working Under Pressure (50:13)
PRhyme 2 Update (52:46)
Collaborating with A$AP Ferg (54:21)
Goodbyes & Thank Yous (56:30)
Props to Genius.com
A$AP Ferg & DJ Premier Made a “Raw New York” Song Together
Last night in Brooklyn, Genius held its second in-depth interview event Genius Level with legendary hip-hop producer DJ Premier. During the wide-ranging discussion hosted by Genius’ own Rob Markman, Premier addressed a question from Genius community member Skhills about his favorite unreleased record.
Although Premier explained that he doesn’t keep much unreleased music in the vault, he’s excited about an upcoming song he recently recorded with Harlem rapper A$AP Ferg:
I just did a joint with A$AP Ferg. It’s dope, it’s straight raw New York. It’s Preem Ferg, it’s not ‘New Level.’ I love ‘New Level’ and all that stuff, but it’s a Preem joint and he went in. The Ferg joint is head nod Preem, and it sounds like we connected, not Ferg over here and Premier over here, it’s merged together. It’s real simple but dope scratches.
Premier is referencing Ferg’s 2015 Future collaboration “New Level,” which served as the lead single for his sophomore album Always Strive And Prosper. “New Level” peaked at No. 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was eventually certified Gold.
The Gang Starr veteran went on to explain how he and Ferg immediately had chemistry in the studio:
We went in to see if we could even vibe and we clicked right away. We did it in a day and we’re like, ‘Let’s throw it out right now just to get the streets warm to show that you do styles like this as well.’ A lot of his stuff has more of a sound that’s popular with the youth right now. He even said, ‘I wanna do it like you did it ’90s style,’ and he came to the table.
Ferg is gearing up to release his new mixtape Still Striving on August 18; while a full tracklist hasn’t been released yet, his DJ Premier collaboration could very well end up on that project. The unreleased track will mark Ferg’s first time working with Premier.
Props to Genius.com
