Not “Primo”…Not “Premo”… It’s (P-R-E-E-M-O)…
Christopher Edward Martin, better known as D.J Premier or Preemo, is an American hip-hop producer who active since 1987 and one of the most crucial figures to ever do it in this scene. In almost 35 years at one of the most demanding workspaces globally, an industry that sanctifies the new over the familiar consistently, and if you can’t reinvent yourself, you kick out faster than you get in. Yet, more than just surviving by reinventing himself, Preemo wisely used his knowledge and mighty talent to keep adding new ideas into hip hop, change the culture, and make his indelible mark on history.
Premier was born in Houston and moved to Brooklyn in his teens, and where he first met Guru, a Boston native rapper; Preemo joined for Guru collective “Gang Starr”, an hip hop duo, which signifies the opening shot for his career. With the novel style they present in the gang-Starr catalog, Premier and Guru introduced hip hop to something hardly missing. Back in the days, the hip hop samples were mainly taken from funk- disco tracks; by using jazz samples in their songs, they created a new sound that quickly became popular in the scene.
In the ’90s, after the grand success he managed to obtain by his work in Gang Starr, his name went miles ahead of him, and he started to produce for other rising rappers on the east coast. During this period, Premier in practice set the sound that became identified with the golden era of rap.
In 1994 alone, he produced some of the iconic hip-hop tracks of all time, working with Nas’ Illmatic, Biggie on Ready to die, and exclusively produce an album for Jeru The Drama. By this time, to get a beat by Preemo was like having a cheat code. Like Dr. Dre’s work at the west coast, Premier productions designed and defined his era’s sound in the east side.
In the 2000s, Preemo keeps growing and spread his work out of hip hop, and got a commercial success, which led him to produce Cristina Aguilera album and many more artists from the pop culture. Even though the underground audience was disappointed to see their legend make pop, he stayed true to his roots and maintained his music quality.
Despite all of the above, Premier’s influence and legacy on hip-hop are still underrated and need to be discussed more. He brought jazz samples, greatly responsible for the sound which defined as the best years of the genre. He keeps himself fresh and unique throughout his career thanks to hard work, one who learned from the pioneers and kept teaching generations over generations; D.J. Premier is a legend!
The short sample loops, the perfectly timed scratching, hard-hitting drums, deep bass lines, all held together by slightly behind the beat groove, his tracks described as aggressive, gritty, and raw, yet, they also have contained much flow and logic in them.
D.J. Premier tracks tend to be characterized by short sampled loops, perfectly timed scratching, hard-hitting drums, deep bass lines, and lots of weird background sounds, all held together by a slightly behind-the-beat groove. His tracks are frequently described as aggressive, gritty, and raw, but they also have impressive and infectious flow and logic.