Brooklyn Bodega Interviews DJ Premier

Whether it’s an Emcee hungry enough to jump into any cypher anywhere, or a B-Boy mastering his helicopter while staying on beat, or a pre-Giuliani era graffiti artist bombing subway trains to spread his signature style all across The City, or a DJ cutting and juggling and mixing and scratching to rock the party more righteously than the rest -- Hip-Hop is competitive. Every element. It’s been that way since Kool Herc figured out how to maximize the sound coming from his father’s Shure P.A. system to out-blast his neighbor’s speakers. Ironically, as The Culture transitioned from the alternative to the mainstream, much of Hip-Hop’s naturally ingrained competitiveness morphed into an often gluttonous grab for market share. More emphasis is placed on record sales than a respect for the craft; than a respect for the essence of the way of life so many claim to love. In an interview with BrooklynBodega.com in Brooklyn Bowl’s green room -- minutes before his set following the 2010 Show And Prove Super Bowl and performances by Large Professor and Pete Rock -- DJ Premier discussed the “deejay mentality”, the competitiveness of the Illmatic studio sessions, the transition from deejaying to producing, rocking previous BHF’s, the upcoming Pete Rock Vs DJ Premier album, his respect for Hip-Hop and how he's "inspired by wack shit and by dope shit". BB: You’ve been down with Brooklyn Bodega for years, rocking the 2008 and 2009 BHF’s. Describe what the day is like, having the festival in Brooklyn, performing in front of the crowd. I remember you screaming on the audience to pick up the energy [in 2008]. Premier: I do that anyway. It could be anywhere. I don’t care if we’re in church. We’re going to pick it up if I’m on stage, that’s the bottom line. I mean, I’m not a rapper but I am an Emcee. So, as an Emcee, I gotta control the crowd. They must do what I say or they get no music. I get paid to do my job, so if I don’t feel they’re meeting up to the standards of what I know I’m putting out to them, then they’re going to have to give it to me by force. That’s MCing. A lot of the events don’t go down in Brooklyn like they used to. Everything’s usually Manhattan oriented. But I love the fact that there are functions that are raw like what we do and Brooklyn Bodega always really does their thing out in DUMBO, knocking out all the gigs out their in the Summer time and I’m always proud to be a part of it. This is actually a last minute addition for me to do this gig. When I heard the line up, I was like “yeah, gotta be down with it.” I’m actually recuperating, just coming back from Korea and Vietnam for two months. Just got back six days ago and my sister and her family came down, stayed at my house. I had to take them out for the last six days. They just left yesterday, so this is my first day really having a day to myself and where am I? At Brooklyn Bodega about to do my thing at Brooklyn Bowl. It’s all good because I love Hip-Hop, I love Brooklyn and it’s a beautiful thing all the way around. BB: The underlying thread between yourself, Pete Rock and Large Professor, for most people, is Illmatic. All three of you worked on that project. It’s one of the first projects where different producers [from different groups] were pulled to work with an Emcee that wasn’t in the same group. What were those studio sessions like? When you were making beats and submitting beats for [Illmatic], was it competitive? Were you like, “I gotta bring some heat because I know Pete Rock always [brings it]”? Premier: Oh, hell yeah. The original “Represent” that I did was before “The World Is Yours” and “Life’s A Bitch” and before “One Love” -- when I heard those tracks, that’s why I changed mine to the one you heard on the album. The one on the album is a remake. That’s the remix. When I heard “The World Is Yours”, I was like “Goddamit Pete!” I was there when he laid the scratches. I was there for the vocals. I was there for “Life’s A Bitch” and met Nas’s father [Olu Dara], where his father played the trumpet. I was there, I met AZ. So it was just very competitive. That’s why I told Nas “Let’s do another one” because all of us are going to have to come with super A game and everybody knows what to bring. BB: What was Nas’s response when you [suggested doing another project all together]? Premier: He said it’s going to eventually happen. It’s up to him. He’s the man in charge. BB: This year’s BHF is now a week long. And one of the events is “Salute The DJ” where we highlight the importance of the deejay and being the backbone of this culture from the beginning. We spoke with DJ Rhettmatic a couple weeks ago on Bodega Radio, and he pointed out the natural progression from [being] a deejay to [being] a producer. Premier: Yeah, that’s what I did. BB: Describe that progression for you? Was it as natural as it sounds? Premier: Yeah because, as a DJ, we’re supposed to pay attention to detail. Our ears are what tells you what’s hot. And we’re supposed to judge for ourselves what’s hot what we think people should like hear. So when I was taught by Chuck Chillout, Marley Marl, Red Alert, and The Awesome Two and all them and everybody doing their thing in the 1980s when I was living in Brooklyn, they weren’t given a playlist. They were saying “this is how I’m playing it. This is how I’m cutting it up.” That was a dream [to Emcees]. You wanted you’re record cut up. You wanted a DJ to take two copies [of your record] and see what he’s going to do to slice it up, to do different things. That means he’s been listening to the whole structure of your song, and now he’s doing his own version of it. That was a big deal. Now everybody is so nonchalant with it, but I refuse to let that go. The more we preserve it, the more it will last. So, while I have breath and life, I’m going to keep doing it that way. It’s a respect thing. I respect the culture. I don’t just love it, I respect it first, then I love it. If you respect it, you’re not going to ever let it go away because you don’t let go of something you respect. BB: In an interview with Prefixmag.com, you mentioned the “battle mentality” as a producer. When you’re a battle DJ and you’re picking tracks to chop, you pick out [pieces] that represent you on the cut. You just mentioned now that the culture seems to be more [nonchalant]... Premier: Regardless, when it comes to the production side as a deejay, it’s almost like you should know how to do it since you’re good at juggling, cutting it, breaking down the record into different pieces -- you should be able to do the same thing with the construction of the track. I think DJ Scratch is amazing with his beats. Alchemist is not a deejay but he spins a little bit, to the degree that through his beats, you can tell there is a deejay element in there. Many of the guys don’t deejay at all and they have dope creativity too, but they’re still limited if they don’t have the deejay mentality. The deejay mentality is totally different. We are the time keepers of everything. Not everybody can keep time. I’ve seen some black people that can’t dance on beat. So, not everybody can keep time. BB: Pete Rock announced this week that you two are working on a project together. Premier: Yeah, Pete Rock VS DJ Premier. He’s doing six songs with whatever artist he wants. I’m doing six songs with whatever artist I want. I’m doing a Premier solo album that will be a little more high level. But this is just more underground, raw. I’ve already reached out to my first two, so I have four more to add and then it’s done. BB: Who are the two artists? Premier: I’m not saying. It’s a battle. But we’re going to leak a song each week and I already know who I’m going to leak mine with. I actually just got the number from somebody else and I’m going to talk to them tomorrow, get them in the studio this week and get it in. BB: There are a lot of newer, younger producers who embody your trademark style. Marco Polo, MoSS, Exile [among others]. How does it feel to have a generation now following your blueprint? Premier: Dope. Dope because, Khrysis and even 9th Wonder -- even though he’s been around for a minute with Little Brother -- he’s still a youngster to me. I love Khrysis. I love !llmind. I love Oh No. Marco Polo’s dope. I love Madlib. Of course MoSS, that’s a given. I can’t really count Nottz [because] he’s already been established. Audible Doctor and the cats that work up at FatBeats -- Brown Bag Allstars -- they’re doing their thing. Shouts to J57, he’s dope. To hear a younger generation still keeping it raw like that lets you know that we can’t stop. I’m not going to let them take my spot and I like what they’re doing. I’m like “Ooh, that’s dope. Aight, let me go make a banger.” I’m influenced by wack shit and by dope shit. When dope shits coming, even more so I want to make ill joints because if I’m influenced by a joint that they made, I want to do one just as ill. Wack stuff just makes you make a beat period because you know you’re better than them, so you do it with your eyes closed.