DJ Premier
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DJ Premier
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> | ||
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| Background information
<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Christopher Martin</td></tr><tr><td>Also known as</td><td colspan="2">DJ Premier</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">March 21, 1966</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Houston, Texas</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Hip Hop</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Producer</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument(s)</td><td colspan="2">Keyboard |
Christopher E. Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known as DJ Premier (and Premo or Primo as his fans, fellow musicians and critics call him sometimes), 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. Contrary to popular belief, DJ Premier is not a founding member of Gang Starr. Following an invitation by Guru, he joined the 1987 founded group in 1989.
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[edit] Background
He 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, the "C" taken from his first name, Chris, although he had already changed it to DJ Premier at the time he joined Gang Starr.
[edit] Collaborations
Considered by many fans to be one of the greatest hip hop producers, DJ Premier has produced countless 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"), Common ("6th Sense"), 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"), Pitch Black ("It's All Real"), 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") and Royce da 5'9" ("Boom", "Hip-Hop").
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 Livin' Proof (1995), although greatly overlooked at the time of its release, has eventually come to be critically acclaimed.
In 1994, DJ Premier collaborated extensively with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group, Buckshot Lefonque, for their debut album.
[edit] Technique
[edit] 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 encyclopedic 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"),
- "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..." (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.
On Jeru the Damaja's "Physical Stamina," however, Premier sampled and chopped up recordings of seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s.
[edit] 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 usaully melancoly 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 Notorious B.I.G.'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)"). When Primo sampled an obscure funk electronic song from the 80's to construct Gang Starr's 1991 hit "Just To Get A Rep" he became an object of fasatiation to many would be producers & DJs. The effect amounted to a water like, liquid feel to the track.
[edit] Drums
Premier's drums have been known for complementing 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.
[edit] Clean Versions
Another trademark of Premier is evident throughout the clean versions of his productions. Premier is known to edit the obscenties out himself, replacing them with a sound effect. This makes the clean versions of the songs much more listenable and fills the void of the absent words.
[edit] 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" vinyl singles for NYG'z and Blaq Poet. "Works Of Mart", which is also the name of his publishing company since the early 90s, was founded in mid 2006 and released 12" vinyl singles for Tef (aka Teflon) and FABID (H. Stax and Mike Rone) and a mixtape.
Since the early 00s, DJ Premier has mentioned several times the plan to release a solo album entitled "A Man Of Few Words", which has yet to be released. Other long confirmed, delayed, but still unreleased upcoming projects are a collaboration album with Nas, Blaq Poet's album "The Best That Never Did It", Teflon's album "Contraband" and the NYG'z album "Pros and Cons".
As of early 2006, like many other artists, he keeps in touch with his fans through his blog on myspace.com, on which he has announced upcoming productions for Amerie, Canibus, Kool G Rap and many other yet to be released artist songs.
- More on this topic is to be found in the main article for Gang Starr.
Gang Starr's current status and future are unknown.
[edit] Discography
- For a full DJ Premier discography, see external links
[edit] Full Albums
- Gang Starr albums are listed in the group's main article.
- Jeru the Damaja - The Sun Rises in the East (1994)
- Group Home - Livin' Proof (1995)
- Jeru the Damaja - Wrath of the Math (1996)
[edit] Selected production credits
- Nas - Illmatic (1994) -- (3 tracks)
- The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994) -- "Unbelievable"
- Buckshot LeFonque - Buckshot LeFonque (1994) (5 tracks)
- Crooklyn Dodgers - Clockers Soundtrack (1995) (1 track)
- Guru - Jazzmatazz, Vol. II: The New Reality (1995) (1 track)
- Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996) -- (3 tracks)
- Nas - It Was Written (1996) -- "I Gave You Power"
- M.O.P. - Firing Squad (1996) (7 tracks)
- Jay-Z - In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997) -- (2 tracks)
- The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death (1997) -- (2 tracks)
- Rakim - The 18th Letter (1997) -- (2 tracks)
- Jay-Z - Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998) -- "Intro - Hand It Down"
- M.O.P. - First Family 4 Life (1998) (5 tracks)
- All City - Metropolis Gold (1998) (1 track)
- Jay-Z - Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter (1999) -- "So Ghetto"
- Nas - I Am... (1999) -- (2 tracks)
- Mos Def - Black on Both Sides (1999) -- "Mathematics"
- Nas - Nastradamus (1999) -- "Come Get Me"
- Freddie Foxxx - Industry Shakedown (2000) (2 tracks)
- M.O.P. - Warriorz (2000) (5 tracks)
- Big L - The Big Picture (2000) -- (3 tracks)
- Afu-Ra - Body of the Life Force (2000) (5 tracks)
- Nas - Stillmatic (2001) -- "2nd Childhood"
- Freddie Foxxx - "Konexion" (2003)) - "Konexion"
- Pitch Black - Pitch Black Law (2004) (2 tracks)
- Royce Da 5'9" - Death Is Certain (2004) -- "Hip Hop"
- AZ - A.W.O.L (2005) -- "The Come Up"
- Big Shug - Who's Hard? (2005) -- (10 tracks)
- Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics (2006) (5 tracks)
- Agallah - You Already Know (2006) -- "New York Ryder Music"
- AZ - The Format (2006) -- "The Format"
[edit] External links
- yearroundrecords.com Year Round Records website
- DJ Premier at MySpace
- Gang Starr Trackology fan site, includes extensive DJ Premier discography
- TheRapCella.com DJ Premier Discographyda:DJ Premier
de:DJ Premier es:DJ Premier fr:DJ Premier it:DJ Premier nl:DJ Premier
