DJ PREMIER

'Christopher Edward Martin' (born March 21, 1966), better known as 'DJ Premier' (and affectionately 'Preemo'/'Primo'/'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

Collaborations

Production style

Evolution of sound

Samples

Melodies

Drums

Multiple beats

Clean versions

Influences

Relationships with artists

Label ownership and future projects

Discography

References

External links

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 joined 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 ("D'Evils", "So Ghetto", "Bring It On"), Common ("The 6th Sense", "The Game"), Big L ("The Enemy", "Platinum Plus"), M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga", "Anticipation", "Breakin Tha Rules", "New Jack City"), Mos Def ("Mathematics"), Dilated Peoples ("Clockwork"), Snoop Dogg ("The One & Only", "Batman & Robin") and Royce Da 5'9" ("Boom", "Hip-Hop").
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 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 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, England, Canada, and has 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 has become considerably less jazzy and his more recent productions are notably less grimy, perhaps to meet more mainstream expectations. His work with Gang Starr, however, continues to exhibit hints of jazziness and maintains a dirtier sound although and he recently released new work on the last two tracks of . In his earlier tracks, Premier would sometimes switch up the melody in the chorus and would add more layers, though his work has become increasingly more basic and you will often hear the same two bars repeated throughout an entire song. In the early 90's, DJ Premier would cut in a single vocal sample for a chorus, whereas more recently he has developed a technique in which he strings 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 rap 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 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.
Premier also sampled and chopped up recordings of seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960's on Jeru the Damaja's "Physical Stamina." By no means does Premier rely solely on hip-hop and soul samples.
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", 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") and Jeru the Damaja's ("Scientifical Madness") are good examples of this. Several tracks on Group Home's debut album also make use of this.
Possibly the first and one of the most noteworthy instances of DJ Premier making use of this technique is 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 take turns on the mic whilst DJ Premier provides 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, KRS-One, and Group Home are artists who have worked with Premier extensively early in their careers, but have since parted ways. This has also been the case with other rappers 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 debut and second album. Jeru has 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, also it is rumoured DJ Premier had a relationship with Jeru's sister which lead to the split.
KRS-One is yet another artist who has since split ways with the mega-producer and according to Preem, the estrangement also has 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 album. 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’ second album. But recently, the two have worked together for 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 is 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 their 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" vinyl singles for NYG'z and Blaq Poet. "Works Of Mart", which is also the name of his publishing company since the early 90's, was founded in mid 2006 and released 12" 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 has since reopened as HeadQcourterz Studios, named for his fallen friend.
Since the early 00s, DJ Premier has mentioned several times his 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 Saigon, Nas, Blaq Poet's album "The Best That Never Did It", Teflon's album "Contraband" and the NYG'z album "Pros and Cons" also working on the lead single for Kool G Rap's upcoming album Half A Klip set to be released October 23rd,2007.

Discography

:''For a full DJ Premier discography, see DJ Premier discography.''
:''Gang Starr albums are listed in the group's main article.''

References

1. Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers Henry Adaso
2. http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=10&csid1=869

External links

★

★ yearroundrecords.com Year Round Records website

★ DJ Premier Trackology A list of all the DJ Premier productions !