Source: The Breakfast Club / The Breakfast Club
DJ Premier is arguably the greatest Hip-Hop producer of all-time and those who know will remember that you didn’t have a classic album in the 90’s unless you had at least one Premo beat on your project.
All these decades later the Hip-Hop legend is still churning out head-knocking and neck-boppin’ work for the heads that appreciate that gutter and street sound that made the 90’s the golden era of the Hip-Hop genre. Recently, Premo stopped by The Breakfast Club to chop it up with Angela Yee and DJ Envy to talk some Hip-Hop history and the things he’s experienced with some of your favorite rappers.
From discussing how he got put on to The Notorious B.I.G to why he couldn’t get 50 Cent in the booth to how he was able to release a posthumous Gang Starr album, DJ Premier reveals some pretty interesting tidbits he’s lived through in his legendary life.
Here are the 9 things we learned from DJ Premier on The Breakfast Club.
At one point back in the day DJ Premier was signed to Terror Squad and was supposed to do a compilation project where he would produce records for various rappers on the album. His first record was going to be featuring 50 Cent during his mixtape dominance days when no one liked him for dropping “How To Rob” years earlier. Unfortunately, Fat Joe left the label and DJ Premier followed him out the door.
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Interestingly enough, DJ Premier says that right before he was going to record the record with 50 Cent, he got a call saying that 50 wouldn’t be doing it because he was going to sign a record deal with Eminem and Dr. Dre. Even Dre told Premo it was a no go until 50 recorded his first album on Shady Records. That was peak 50 too. Would’ve been crazy to hear what ’04 50 Cent could’ve done with a Premo record.
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Though Premo is from Houston and Guru was from Boston, the two connected on a personal level at the New Music Seminar from discussing the rappers they liked to the weed they smoked. Sometimes that’s all you need to build a tight bond in the hood. Rest In Power, Guru.
Talking about Notorious B.I.G. (RIP), Premier says that Mister Cee would constantly badger him to listen to Big’s demo whenever Premo would go pick up weed from the weed spot. It wasn’t until Guru began to press him to peep “Biggie Smalls” that Premier finally gave him a listen and hung out with him. Though Big was on the cusp of signing with Puffy, Big was willing to sign with Premier, but Premo told Big that Puff’s track record for blowing up artists better suited him. The rest is Hip-Hop history.
When Premier produced the records he did with Jay-Z, he says Hov would be specific with where he wanted the scratches done and when he would want the beat to drop in his rhymes. That’s so Jay-Z.
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For the last Gangstarr album that DJ Premier produced, he says he had to purchase Guru’s vocals from his business partner whom he prefers not to name due to personal reasons. Once he bought them he realized that said business partner sold him vocals he had no business owning in the first place as they were recorded in ’99 and 2000.
Premier says that back in the day the house that he and Guru used to live in in Brooklyn was “the frat house.” Everyone from Easy Mo Bee to The RZA to Cypress Hill before “How I Can Just Kill A Man” fame would all go hang out at their crib. How is that house not a historical monument in Hip-Hop?
Premo recalls how one day Guru got carjacked for his brand new four-runner jeep. A few days later they peeped the perpetrator driving the stolen car and after a quick car chase, the guy crashed into an ice cream truck and died on impact. That same day Gangstarr laid down the track for “Just To Get A Rep.” Cause and effect in Hip-Hop.
