PRhyme duo, DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9 discussed their top three most underrated producers and rappers. In a recent conversation with 247HH (March 28), Royce Da 5’9 listed Black Thought and Big Sean as his top two most underrated emcees, with Pusha T and Fabolous tied for third.
“Black Thought is the most underrated emcee ever in the history of music,” Royce said. “Period… Yes he gets his just due. Yes he’s successful but that has nothing to do with what I’m speaking about. You go to the barbershop, people talk about their top five lyricists. Because he’s such a good technical rapper, because a lot of what he do doesn’t necessarily represent for the popular climate would be sometimes, kind of like myself, it’s almost like if you don’t rap like you’re trying to get into the night club, then you automatically get pushed to the left of certain conversations. As far as rapping, Black Thought is the #1 most underrated emcee.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m biased to a certain style of rap,” he said before continuing, “so I’m gonna go here: Big Sean raps to get into the club, he raps for commercial radio and he doesn’t get respected like he should from technical rappers. But, if you listen to his new album and listen to what he’s doing now, he’s probably one of the best rappers right now. So I’m gonna put him at #2. I’m always gonna go with either Pusha T or Fabolous at #3. I never felt like they got the props that they deserve. I feel like they get props. I don’t feel like they’re in the right conversation.”
For his list of top three most underrated producers, DJ Premier listed Nottz, Bink!, and his assistant, Jim Crates.
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“He’s just so funky,” Premier said of Nottz. “It’s like when I see that Nottz produced it, even if I get an email that says ‘Produced by Nottz,’ I’m just like I can’t wait until this downloads. I know it’s gonna be sick. And that funny look that he always has like he’s mad, that’s how the track sounds, just like that facial expression. It’s just that dark and not normal and you’re guaranteed to nod your head. Bink!, when he did The Dynasty stuff, I was just so blown away by what he did with Jay Z at that time. Everything from ‘1-900-Hustler’ to ‘You, Me, Him & Her,’ to just everything. Bink! is a very underrated producer.”
Premier also explained that producers Statik Selektah, Alchemist, and Moss no longer qualify as underrated since all three are “making noise.”
Watch the full interview below.
For more information on PRHyme, view the DX Daily below:
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