DJ Premier is undoubtedly one of the most highly regarded Hip-Hop producers of all time, but who are the other great music producers that has influenced him? In this interview by DJ Vlad, he gives his top 5.
Interviewer: “If you were to name your top 5 producers, excluding yourself of course, who would they be? Not in any order…”
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1) James Brown
“Definitely James Brown. Just the way he commanded the band…when I was a kid, it was called soul music, when James Brown came out, it was called funk. To create funk, not everybody can do funky stuff. D’Angelo told me this a long time ago, he said “yo Preme, there’s a lot of people that I love that makes beats, and you’re one of them but you’re funky, and not everybody’s funky that makes beats.”
“There’s beats I like, I’m like “oh that’s my shit”, but it ain’t funky though. And that’s why I’m talking about certain producers that are out now, they’re not in our class about how we’re funky and that’s not taking anything away from what they’re doing.”
Name Drops Boi 1da
“I love Boi 1da…He has his lane. He and Drake have actually created a sound that everybody’s trying to do now.”
“…And then I like that Drake gave credit to Big Sean for some of those flow patterns he does. Even he said that everybody’s doing that style now, they’ll say the line (in the lyrics) and then give you the other part…They’re doing it and they’re consistent, and I like how he’s not trying to be a hard rock or whatever, just doing him.”
Name Drops Kanye West
“He brought back sampling at a time when keyboard orientated hip-hop was dominating which was cool, that’s our lane, I just don’t do that style. I don’t touch that, but if I hear Scarface with that church organ [imitates sound], he does it funky though!”
“I just can’t bump nothing that’s not going to make me just start getting all these crazy faces and letting it all out. It’s a stress relief. Hip-Hop is a stress reliever…That’s why I’m going to keep doing it. Fuck all that age shit. I’ll be 45 and I’ll still be better than all these guys. Line em’ up for me, none of them are going to fuck with me from scratch! Let’s make a beat.”
2) Marley Marl
“Marley Marl is the ultimate Hip-Hop producer for me. That’s just where I got my Hip-Hop funk, it’s from him. He’s James Brown of Hip-Hop for me, no one did it like him.”
3) Mantronix
“Mantronix…he always had the newest drum machine first, and he already mastered how to work it. Then we get him and be like “yo, how you get all them [imitates snare roll]”. Even Mannie Fresh gave it up about that, cos we recognize. Mantronix, definitely.”
4) Rick Rubin
“Rick Rubin, definitely. He started Def Jam to begin with. Number two, white dude, Jewish dude, loving a ghetto culture and making it bang! ‘Hold It Now Hit It’ (Beastie Boys track produced by RR), you cannot deny that record being ill!”
5) Dr Dre
“Dre reminds me of what I do. He done albums and albums and albums, and I know he has a bigger team now but he can do that. Dr Dre can still do it on his own. He done NWA alone, the production and the organization of it.”
Someone asks “If you can just pick one Dr Dre record?”
“One Dre record that just really did it for me, I would definitely have to say…man ‘Fuck Tha Police’. The organization of it, the anger of it, it just builds. I was like “yo nobody’s doing this!”
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