DJ Premier says that he and Nas will be working on a long-discussed album together soon.
“It’s coming,” DJ Premier says during an interview posted by Phenom Blak. “I just saw him last week. It’s coming. He has another project to drop on Def Jam, then he’s a free agent. Let him get that out. It’ll give me time to get my artists ripped and ready. Then we can all tour together or something.”
DJ Premier and Nas have worked together throughout Nas’ career, including the rapper’s acclaimed debut album, 1994’s Illmatic. DJ Premier produced three of the collections 10 songs, “N.Y. State Of Mind, “ “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” and “Represent.”
The only guest rapper on Illmatic was AZ, who appeared on “Life’s A Bitch.” DJ Premier said that he didn’t know whether or not AZ would appear on his forthcoming album with Nas.
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“Nas is in charge,” says DJ Premier, who has been discussing doing an album with Nas since at least 2006. “I’m just the producer.”
In addition to his work as one-half of Gang Starr, DJ Premier has also produced for a number of other artists, including Nas, Jay Z and The Notorious B.I.G.. DJ Premier says that he tries to tailor his production to the artist with whom he is collaborating, especially if he’s worked with them before.
“When I go in,” he says. “I’m totally thinking of that artist in every way in order for it to sound like I’m making the right thing for what will bring them out better than the last record we did.”
DJ Premier uses samples as the foundation of his music, but he says that he’s evolved from his days of relying heavily on the material of James Brown and funk artists as source material. Now, DJ Premier says he gets samples from a variety of sources.
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“It could be a dog that just got ran over by a car and the way he squealed, I was like, ‘Yo. I’m making a beat out of that,’” he says. “But shit’s gonna be funky.”
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