Welcome to the world of DJ Premier, where the beats are crisp, the scratches are precise, and the rhythm flows seamlessly. As one of the most influential figures in hip-hop history, DJ Premier has left an indelible mark on the genre through his innovative production style and unparalleled skill behind the turntables. With a career spanning decades, he has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the industry, shaping the sound of hip-hop for generations to come.
Known for his signature sound characterized by gritty samples, head-nodding beats, and impeccable scratching techniques, DJ Premier’s influence extends far beyond the realm of music production. His work with legendary rap group Gang Starr and countless other artists has solidified his status as a pioneer and a legend in the hip-hop community. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or a newcomer to the world of DJ Premier, prepare to be inspired by his words of wisdom, insight, and creativity. Below, you’ll find a collection of DJ Premier quotes that capture the essence of his artistry and the passion he brings to his craft. Feel free to use these quotes to adorn your social media feeds, create inspiring posters, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the man behind the music.
I don’t shop beats. That was never my method coming up. I think it’s very strange to have a CD of 30 or 40 beats and then just pick one. DJ Premier
That’s the thing with social media: it’s a gift and a curse. It’s cool on one level, but it’s also bad. DJ Premier
The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super-dead it he would have said, ‘Yo, I want out.’ And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr. DJ Premier
I’m not a tough guy, but I’ll throw down just like the rest of them if I have to. DJ Premier
The majority of my life is spent doing nothing but godly things, especially when it comes to dealing with other people. DJ Premier
God knows I’m a good guy, I’m known in the industry as a good guy. I’m not known to be a foul, evil dude that you’ve got to watch out for and my name is not muddy in the industry. DJ Premier
When I miss Guru, I bump one of our records. Then I shed a tear and get back to work. DJ Premier
You can’t do seven successful albums and just hate each other. Our yin and yang, and night and day, is what made us great when we went into the studio. DJ Premier
I’m not really a crying type. DJ Premier
Yeah, Travis Scott’s dad taught me how to ride minibikes and how to repair the engines. His name’s Jack Webster. Jack had a drum set and his brother had a bass. So I used to play with them, and that’s what started me wanting to get into music and take it serious. And this is before rap. DJ Premier
A lot of Friday nights, Guru and I would go kick it with Biggie, since he was just three blocks down from us. DJ Premier
You have to know who you’re making music for. DJ Premier
I know what a Gang Starr album that’s done is supposed to sound like. DJ Premier
I’m all about competition; still am to this day. That’s how you should be, but not with any malice. From Mike Will Made It to Boi-1da to Mike Zombie, I’m out to get ’em all and it’s that friendly competition that keeps us all on our toes. DJ Premier
Dre is someone I’ve looked up to since 1985 when he came to my college and performed with The Wrecking Crew. DJ Premier
Bad Name’ is just that head-nod, traditional loop over a breakbeat, chopped up, and it sounds like the way I do my thing. DJ Premier
I remember Bumpy Knuckles came in wearing all mink everything and said, ‘Yo, when I spit my verse, I gotta pull my guns out and aim them.’ He was serious! I told him that I was going to duck in the event that those guns accidentally went off. He pulled out the twin glocks, spit his verse in one take and said, ‘I’ve got a meeting to go to’ and left! DJ Premier
I’m a big rock ‘n’ roll head, I love country music, I love yodeling music. But I’m still black and funky. DJ Premier
I’ve been sequencing all of my albums, from any Gang Starr stuff to Jeru to Group Home, all of it. I pay a lot of attention to that and really always have. I’ve even helped sequence friend’s projects. DJ Premier
Guru’s like Tupac. He just records and records and records. DJ Premier
Travis Scott’s dad was one of my OGs when I was a kid in Texas. Obviously Travis was nonexistent yet because his father wasn’t even married back then. DJ Premier
I’m real particular about delivery. You can write the illest rhymes in the world, but can you deliver it right? DJ Premier
I think the fact that Gang Starr kept getting more and more successful was the reason we never thought about our age. DJ Premier
I grew up in a town called Prairie View. It’s like 45 minutes outside of Houston. DJ Premier
Everything I do is in a New York state of mind. I’m indebted to preserving the sound of the city. DJ Premier
Everybody knows with rap artists, if you can’t go to the hood, it’s almost like you’re not authentic, even if you’re a dope artist that’s respected. DJ Premier
I listen to my early Gang Starr interviews, I’m like, damn I was really trying to sound like a New Yorker then. DJ Premier
I’ve done some scoring in the past, but I want to get into it on a bigger level – a Danny Elfman level. DJ Premier
I’m a country boy. DJ Premier
My musical knowledge goes beyond hip-hop. DJ Premier
I’ve always cared about how certain songs fade into other ones and which songs should follow others. I studied that as a consumer and fan before I even got into music. DJ Premier
I’m super cool with Kanye. DJ Premier
With ‘Family and Loyalty,’ I didn’t already have an idea for that video. So I called Fab Five Freddy. I wanted to get a director that I didn’t have to explain Gang Starr to and he was with it. DJ Premier
Prince, Bootsy Collins, Earth Wind & Fire and Parliament all had albums that sound different. I wanted to show, as a hip-hop producer, I’m one of those that can do anything, because I was raised on so much music aside from rap and hip-hop. DJ Premier
If you don’t have any Coltrane, ‘A Love Supreme’ will do it for you. It will explain everything. Even if you don’t get it, it will still explain everything. That’s how deep it is. DJ Premier
Every now and then there might be a beat someone turned down that I have as an unused beat. But everything that predominantly matches the artist in my 30 years of doing this, it was me walking in and sitting there with no drums, no samples, no nothing, and making a beat on the spot. DJ Premier
I can’t make the new generation like me, because they didn’t grow up on me. So I stick to what I know. DJ Premier
Anyone from our era knows that Guru was in every club and every bar and every spot. He could go all night, all day. And he would never be tired! DJ Premier
Guru always wanted to do what he called a ‘chick record.’ By coincidence, every time we did one, he was either breaking up with one or with a new girl that he loved. DJ Premier
I’m passionate about music in general, not just hip-hop. But when it comes to hip-hop, I don’t wanna see it die culturally. DJ Premier
I’m cool with Dr. Dre, I have his phone number, and he picks up when I call. DJ Premier
Guru and I had a house in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, for a while and we used to have wild parties there when we weren’t in the studio. It was like a fraternity house. DJ Premier
Well, I’ve always held down Guru… His spirit knows this. DJ Premier
I used to lie about my age at first because you always want to be 18, but then you start looking at it and you’re 40, and the money’s still coming. And you’re like, ‘Man, who cares about that?’ DJ Premier
Black men, we’re known for getting into some drama with other black men, specifically black-on-black crime. We’re used to the confrontational attitude. DJ Premier
All my idols have been in the studio with me, because they wanted to be there. DJ Premier
I’ve never sampled just one artist, I’m known for my reputation and my creativity. DJ Premier
Jazzmatazz’ was Guru’s thing, but Gang Starr was his baby. I don’t care what anybody says. That dude loved Gang Starr. DJ Premier
I’m a very spiritual guy. DJ Premier
The passing of my accountant, Mary Coleman, who was the first person I shouted out on ‘In Memory of…’ was particularly devastating for me. She was beyond my accountant. She was my mother away from home. DJ Premier
I like showing versatility. DJ Premier
I’m known for taking a long time getting music out, partially, my schedule is bananas, I’m only human, and then on top of that, I’m a one-man-producer. DJ Premier
When I got my knee replacement and I opened my eyes straight outta surgery, the first person standing there was Guru’s son. DJ Premier
If I gotta do a Jay-Z beat I want to stop everything. Tell everybody hold my calls, everything. DJ Premier
The radio stations strayed away from the raw hip-hop that they were playing in the early 1990s. We were like, ‘All this watered down stuff is dominating the airwaves. We should make a record to make fun of that’ and Guru’s like, ‘Let’s call it ‘Mass Appeal.” DJ Premier
From Jay-Z to Nas to Kanye to whoever, I’m just not the type to say, ‘Hey, let me get on your album.’ If they want me, they’re going to reach out and say, ‘I need a joint from you.’ DJ Premier
I believe in karma; what you do will come back. DJ Premier
I’m a bass player and I’m a drummer – I’m a big fan of bass players. DJ Premier
My mom’s an art teacher, so I always had music in the house. She always had records, and I was mesmerized by the mechanics of how a turntable works. DJ Premier
I was a heavy kid, even though I was into sports and very active. DJ Premier
All of our other albums were consecutive year after year: ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘Step in the Arena,’ ‘Daily Operation,’ ‘Hard to Earn.’ After ‘Hard to Earn,’ a four-year gap is a lot of not having Gang Starr music, as far as an album is concerned. DJ Premier
The great thing was that both K-Ci and JoJo told me to not make an R&B track that was reminiscent of radio hit records. ‘Make a Gang Starr track and we’ll write our lyrics to that,’ they told me. They couldn’t stress it enough. DJ Premier
I remember going backstage on a random night and Kanye goes, ‘Ayo Premier, I’m about to drop an album called ‘College Dropout’ and I’m rapping on the whole thing. And as I soon it drop it’s gonna go double platinum.’ I looked at him like, ‘That’s a bold statement to make if you never rapped before.’ DJ Premier
Jazz came from the streets, hip-hop came from the streets. It’s just a different language. It’s all borne out of hard times, struggle, and the fight to have equality and things be better. DJ Premier
DWYCK’ was only intended to be a B-side of ‘Take It Personal,’ because we had done a record with Nice & Smooth for their album, Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed, called ‘Down The Line.’ They were returning the favor with ‘DWYCK,’ being that we let them borrow the ‘Manifest’ instrumental. DJ Premier
The Nike joint ‘Classic’ with Kanye, Nas, KRS-One, that was a remix – Rick Rubin did the original, and his was a double-time tempo; mine was a regular boom-bap tempo, and they liked it so much that we ended up doing the video to it. DJ Premier
And hip-hop is about style and finesse and being creative and different, and to do that you have to be ballsy enough to not do what everybody else does. DJ Premier
I came out with sounds that didn’t sound like the usual hip-hop beat. I took that chance because no one would identify with me if I sound like somebody who’s already out. DJ Premier
Guru’s family gave me a piece of his ashes. I saw the gold box of ashes that his father had when we had the memorial service. He had a nice giant gold box that had his name on it. It was really nice. I know all the family members had ashes that they all spread and took on their own. So I said lemme ask is it cool if I have some. DJ Premier
If I feel like something needs to be updated, I’ll break my neck to outdo the original. DJ Premier
Me and Tupac were long-time friends. DJ Premier
Guru had such a different voice from most people. Plus he had a Boston accent! So, I always made sure the beats were tailored to him. DJ Premier
I would always have turntable elements in my records even if it was just one scratch. DJ Premier
All the Public Enemy albums, I knew what records they were sampling but was like, ‘How’d they construct it like this?!’ DJ Premier
When I was 19 I had a record deal. DJ Premier
I don’t usually collab with producers, because I don’t need to. I never have, because I don’t want to break my style of how I do things. DJ Premier
Guru always titled the Gang Starr albums. But once it came to ‘Hard to Earn,’ he wanted me to title it. DJ Premier
I like when people don’t think I can pull things off. DJ Premier
I’m from the pre-Pro Tools era where you had to meet up with the artist and go over things if you wanted to record a track. DJ Premier
Actually, for ‘Family & Loyalty’ I wanted Drake on the track but he was about to go on tour for his Scorpion album, so timewise it wasn’t going to work. DJ Premier
I’m a very humble guy, but of course I think I’m dope. DJ Premier
Jay Z and Biggie and Nas always listened to my direction. They listened and they applied it and I also listened to their opinions and that’s why the records came out so good. DJ Premier
Guru was actually who A&R’d and got Lord Finesse signed because he used to listen to the demos at Wild Pitch. And he was the one who actually said, ‘Yo, this Lord Finesse guy is dope.’ And Stuart Fine signed him to Wild Pitch. That’s how we became labelmates. DJ Premier
I love heavy metal, Metallica. I’m into Jefferson Starship and acid rock. DJ Premier
I’m not really a comparison dude. Even when people say ‘Big or Pac?,’ because they’re two totally different types of lyricists. DJ Premier
My crew used to listen to ‘Taking It to the Top’ by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. DJ Premier
I always followed my heart and if my heart said I gotta pack up and go, I’m gone. DJ Premier
The ghetto music of my era is hip-hop. And Parliament, and Curtis Mayfield, and Marvin Gaye, that was all the ghetto stuff when I was a baby, and then when I was a teenager it was hip-hop and we were taking all those old ’70s sounds and recreating them and putting them into a hip-hop format. DJ Premier
I’ve always wanted to work with Klashnekoff. He’s been around for years! He’s sorta my age but he is dope. The flow, the lyrics, it’s just dope music. DJ Premier
I’ve been listening to Herbie Hancock forever. He’s gone through so many transitions, even before bringing hip-hop to the forefront with ‘Rockit’ and everything. DJ Premier
It’s whatever – people like me and Dre are music people, so we’re beyond just hip-hop. We’re purists. Not everybody who makes beats is a purist. DJ Premier
When you have a deep focus, you can’t go wrong at all. Not when you’re an expert at what you do. DJ Premier
I say if you don’t write your lyrics, then you can’t be the best rapper alive. Not at all. You can be one of the best artists, especially in rap, you gotta write everything yourself. DJ Premier
I get up early all the time. DJ Premier
When I hold a gun, I know how to be sensible about it. I’m not holding it to wild out or just to shoot somebody because I’m mad at him. There’s responsibility in buying that gun, and part of it is dealing with it like a man, and not dealing with it like an idiot, and getting behind iron bars for unnecessary reasons. DJ Premier
Guru died tragically and there were so many rumors about how he went out. I got to see him in the hospital right before he passed, and one of the last things I said to him before I walked out of the room was that I was going to make sure that his family was straight. DJ Premier
I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about. DJ Premier
I don’t have session players come in and guitars, I’m doing the drums, I’m doing the scratching, I’m doing every sound you hear and that’s always been my way. And not only that, I’m very meticulous about it just sounding right. DJ Premier
I like soul, I like rock, I like new wave, I like punk music, I like blues, I like jazz, and I was brought up on all of them from a young boy all the way to my teenage years, when I was wild and crazy, in college. DJ Premier
Everybody deserves a piece of where they live, in some type of fashion. Music is just my way of preserving that. DJ Premier
