| DJ Premier | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christopher Edward Martin |
| Also known as | Preem, Primo, Premo |
| Born | March 21 1966 Houston, Texas, United States |
| Origin | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Genre(s) | East Coast hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | record producer, DJ |
| Instrument(s) | Drum machine Keyboard Sampler Turntable |
| Years active | 1989 – 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), better known as DJ Premier (and affectionately Premo / Preemo / Primo / Preme / Preem by his fans, fellow musicians, and critics) is a prominent American hip hop 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 virtually his entire professional career. The Source magazine named DJ Premier one of the 5 greatest producers in hip-hop history, while editors from About.com ranked him as #1 in their "Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers" list.[1]
Contents |
Background
Chris Martin was introduced to DJing while attending school at Prairie View A&M in Prairie View, Texas. DJ Premier's original stage name was Waxmaster C, although he had already changed it to DJ Premier after he had relocated to Brooklyn and formed Gang Starr. He chose the name Premier because he wanted to be the first to do what he did.
Collaborations
Besides co-producing almost the entirety of the Gang Starr catalog with Guru, DJ Premier has created countless classics for many groups and solo artists since the early 90's - working with virtually every major rapper from the period, with the exception of 2Pac. These include notable tracks for artists such as Nas ("N.Y. State of Mind", "N.Y. State of Mind Part II", "Nas Is Like", "Represent", "Come Get Me", "2nd Childhood", "Memory Lane"), The Notorious B.I.G. ("Unbelievable", "Kick in the Door", "Ten Crack Commandments", "Rap Phenomenon"), KRS-One ("MC's Act Like They Don't Know", "Outta Here"), Jay-Z ("Million and one questions", "D'Evils", "So Ghetto", "Bring It On"), Common ("The 6th Sense", "The Game"), Big L ("The Big Picture (Intro),""The Enemy", "Platinum Plus"), M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga", "Anticipation", "Breakin Tha Rules", "New Jack City"), Mos Def ("Mathematics", "Tinseltown"), Dilated Peoples ("Clockwork"), Snoop Dogg ("The One & Only", "Batman & Robin") and Royce Da 5'9" ("Boom", "Hip-Hop"), Method Man ("N2Gether Now"). 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 the 1996 follow-up, Wrath of the Math. 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. Though almost exclusively a hip-hop producer, DJ Premier collaborated extensively with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group, Buckshot Lefonque, for their debut album. He also recently 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" in 2006. Other non hip-hop artists that appear in Premier's production credits include big names such as 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.
Production style
Premier's signature style is, essentially, a two-bar break to make up the rhythms of his tracks, and a scratched chorus. His early Gang Starr work relies heavily on melodic samples, but starting with Jeru's The Sun Rises in the East in 1994, he began to use ominous atonal samples as well. (These may have been inspired by the atonal piano samples that figured heavily in Wu-Tang Clan's groundbreaking debut, 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers); Premier uses a sample from 36 Chambers track "Tearz," Wu producer RZA's ominous laughter, to comprise the chorus from Jeru's "Ain't the Devil Happy.") One notable exception to Premier's style is his more varied beat from Nas' classic track, "Represent"; the chorus is much more musically distinct from the verses than is typical for him. Also, though most of Premier's tracks contain the crackles and pops from the records he samples, he has employed more polished beats in his more mainstream productions.
Evolution of sound
Over the years Premier's work became considerably less jazzy and his more recent productions were notably less grimy, perhaps to meet more mainstream expectations. His work with Gang Starr, however, continued to exhibit hints of jazziness and maintained a dirtier sound although and he recently released new work on the last two tracks of Mass Appeal (which were culled from the Japanese release of The Ownerz. In his earlier tracks, Premier would sometimes switch up the melody in the chorus and would add more layers, though his work became increasingly more basic and, often, one can hear the same two measures repeated throughout an entire song. In the early 1990s, DJ Premier would cut in a single vocal sample for a chorus, whereas more recently he developed a technique in which he stringed a number of snippets together.
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.[2] Premier's non-Gang Starr collaborations are well-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")
On certain artists' work the vocal samples will all be vocal samples of the artist from the artist's past work; "Nas Is Like" and Nas' "2nd Childhood" are two well-known examples of this. By no means does Premier rely solely on hip-hop and soul samples. Premier also sampled and chopped up recordings of seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s on Jeru the Damaja's "Physical Stamina." According to Premier himself, in 1989 Large Professor (formerly of Main Source) taught him how to filter samples to create his own basslines.
Melodies
Premier usually creates a one or two-bar melody that repeats itself throughout the song, usually using a combination of orchestral and ambient samples. This template of simple repetition leaves plenty of room for the MC to spread out. He has also shown innovation by playing unusual elements into rap songs (such as the bicycle bells in Group Home's "Supa Star" 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" and the strings on Rakim's "New York (Ya Out There?"). When DJ Premier sampled an obscure funk electronic song from the 70's to construct Gang Starr's 1991 hit "Just To Get A Rep" (Jean-Jaques Perrey's "E.V.A."), he achieved a water-like effect. This beat alone made him an object of fascination to many would-be producers and DJs. The 1993 single "Come Clean" has become legendary for a melody resembling that of children banging on water pipes.
Drums
DJ Premier's drums have been known to complement his melodies. For example, during Nas' "N.Y. State of Mind", (Samples Kool & the Gang - "N.T pt.2") 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. Ultimately, the simplistic patterning used to structure his drum beats helps to define the inimitable sound characterizing the typical DJ Premier track. Rarely, if ever, do patterns veer from their programmed two to four bar loops. Drum rolls, cymbal crashes, and hand claps are usually absent. DJ Premier's drums are amongst the most distinctive in the genre, known for being especially punchy, crisp, and well-defined. This is a characteristic that has manifested itself more prominently in the latter half of his career, although this is only a generalization.
Multiple beats
Although not entirely unique to Premier, he is well known for producing songs that consist of more than one beat. When this is the case there is usually a short introduction instrumental to bring in the track. He has also used outro beats but these are less common. O.C.'s ("My World"), M.O.P.'s ("Face Off"),Jeru the Damaja's ("Scientifical Madness") and Big Shug's "Tha 3 Shugs" are good examples of this. Jay-Z's "A Million and One Questions" (flips halfway through changing from a light preemo beat, to a dark bass headnodder) and several tracks on Group Home's debut album also make use of this technique. Possibly the first and one of the most noteworthy instance of DJ Premier making use of this technique was on Gang Starr's third album, Daily Operation, with the song "I'm the Man." Guru, Group Home's Lil' Dap, and Jeru the Damaja took turns on the mike while DJ Premier provided three separate instrumentals, appropriating the styles of each individual emcee. This same formula was then recreated two years later on Hard to Earn with "Speak Ya Clout."
Clean versions
Another trademark of DJ Premier is evident in the clean versions of his productions. Premier is known to edit the obscenities out himself, replacing them with sound effects. This makes the clean versions of the songs much more listenable and fills the void of the absent words.
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 B 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."
Relationships with artists
The details concerning DJ Premier’s falling out with certain artists are hazy and vague, having seen little publicity. Jeru the Damaja, M.O.P., KRS-One, and Group Home were artists who worked with Premier extensively early in their careers but have since parted ways. This was the case with other emcees such as Nas and Jay-Z; however, in the latter cases, it is likely that major-label interference was the main reason that DJ Premier’s involvement was ruled out from more recent projects. DJ Premier was fully responsible for the production of Jeru the Damaja’s first two albums. Jeru released two albums since then, with Premier having nothing to do with either of them. 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. KRS-One is yet another artist who since split ways with the mega-producer and, according to Preem, the estrangement also had monetary strings attached. As his career progressed and his reputation grew, Premier’s beats increased in price, making it less economical for rappers to have him on their albums. Although the truth eventually was revealed that the emcee could no longer afford the US$30,000 asking price tag for a track produced by Prem. When KRS-One was recording his first solo works, DJ Premier would charge $5,000 a track. As time went on, this then became $30,000 and this inflation is the supposed reason why the two have not collaborated since KRS’s second solo album. Recently, however, the two worked together for the remix of the track “Classic,” featuring performances by KRS, Rakim, Nas, and Kanye West; and Premier also made an appearance on KRS' album Hip Hop Lives. 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 its second album was because Guru said he would rhyme on it.
Label ownership and future projects
DJ Premier currently owns two record labels. Year-Round Records was founded in 2002 and has so far released several DJ Premier mixtapes as well as 12-inch vinyl singles for NYG'z and Blaq Poet. Works of Mart, which is also the name of his publishing company since the early 1990s, was founded in mid-2006 and released 12-inch vinyl singles for Tef (aka Teflon) and FABID (H. Stax and Mike Rone) and a mixtape. In 2004, he took ownership the now-defunct legendary D&D Studios. After much-needed renovations, it was reopened as HeadQcourterz Studios, named for his fallen friend. Since the early 2000s, DJ Premier mentioned several times his plan to release a solo album titled A Man of Few Words, which has yet to be released. Other long-confirmed, -delayed, and still-unreleased upcoming projects are a collaboration album with Saigon, Nas, Blaq Poet's album The Best that Never Did It, Teflon's album Contraband, and the NYG'z album Pros and Cons. He is also working on the lead single for Kool G Rap's upcoming album Half a Klip, which is set to be released January 24th, 2008.
Discography
- For a full DJ Premier discography, see DJ Premier discography.
- Gang Starr albums are listed in the group's main article.
References
- ^ Henry Adaso; Ivan R., Renato P., Bhaskar S., Henry A.. Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers pp. 8. About.com.
- ^ http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=10&csid1=869
External links
- DJ Premier at MySpace
- yearroundrecords.com Year Round Records website
- DJ Premier Trackology A list of all the DJ Premier productions
- DJ Premier Forum The One And Only Online Forum for DJ Premier Fans
| Gang Starr |
|---|
| Members: Guru | DJ Premier |
| Albums: No More Mr. Nice Guy | Step in the Arena | Daily Operation | Hard to Earn | Moment of Truth | The Ownerz |
| Compilations: Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr | Mass Appeal: Best of Gang Starr |
| See also: Gang Starr Foundation | DJ Premier discography |
