DJ Premier – Page 16 – Grown Up Rap

Why we are all just hypocrites (but with good taste)

The Music Snobs is one of our favorite podcasts, and on the latest episode, the panel of experts discuss that age old problem. In short, the issue is this; are we hypocritical for liking the music of an artist we know has either done or claimed to be doing bad shit? And are we super-hypocritical if we stop liking some artists for the bad shit they have been accused of having done, but give a pass to others, purely because they are so good (case in point: MJ).

It’s an argument that has and always will be most relevant to hip-hop, where a lot of what we like is music about negative subjects. Even the naive rap fan knows that most of what comes out of a rapper’s mouth is fiction, but many rappers would like us to believe that what they are saying is real. We also know for sure that some really have lived the life they rap about, from drug dealing to murder charges, assaults to sexual misdemeanors. Should we be supporting and helping to make wealthy a person we know has broken the law in a horrible way? Here in lies the conflict.

Ultimately, we are all more than a little hypocritical in our tastes. Personally, we pride ourselves on liking only the finest, intelligent, non-commercial hip-hop, yet we’ll confess to having many guilty pleasures, even if we know the content of the song we are listening to is down right immature and several types of wrong.

We’ll also give a pass to a work like Pinata, justifying our love of an album all about slanging dope largely because the whole thing is produced by Madlib. We find ourselves sugar-coating Royce Da 5’9″ and his frequent misogyny on the latest PRhyme album because he’s saying those words over a DJ Premier beat, just like how we’ll excuse the casual homophobia on a Tyler, The Creator or Mac Miller record. And the reason why we’ll do all of this is because we are massive hypocrites. Albeit hypocrites with impeccable taste.

It’s a debate that will rage on forever, but one that can’t be fully ignored. Most of us got into hip-hop because we were intrigued by the stories the songs told us, mostly negative. Over the years, as we have grown up with rap and matured into responsible adults, our tastes in hip-hop have matured too. Yet we’ll still regularly listen to a track like Put it in your Mouth by Akinyele or Bridgette by The Doc, or tracks from M.O.P., Kool G Rap and Biggie Smalls, where they rap about murdering people in all manner of bloody and violent ways, and hundreds of other songs about seemingly bad people doing bad things. And that’s because we are hypocrites.

Listen to the debate for yourself below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Let’s hope 2015 is full of MF Doom goodness

DJ Premier has been busy conducting interviews over the last few days, documenting the sad demise of his beloved D&D Studios. We’ve been reading along with a few tears in our eyes, but there was also some enticing details from Primo about an extended deluxe version of the PRyhme album. That alone would be exciting enough, but when Preem added that one of the tracks will feature MF Doom, us and everybody else started losing our shit.

There’s many artists we’ve dreamed about hooking up with Metal Fingaz over the years, but Premier has always been right around the top. Catch them both at their best, which is pretty much always, and this could be incredible. It would also be the prefect way to kick off a year that, metal fingers crossed, will bring us a lot of Doom.

There’s that long-delayed and almost mythical full length album with Ghostface Killer. GFK himself recently hinted it is coming this year, and for now it has at least been confirmed that Doom will feature with Ghost on his upcoming Sour Soul album with BADBADNOTGOOD.

In a rare interview with Bonafide magazine last year, Madlib also seemed to suggest that he and MF are at the very least throwing around ideas for the next Madvillain project. That news almost trumps everything else listed above.

Who else is on that list of our dream MF Doom collabs, you ask? Well, some are from way back, like the thought of him sharing the mic with Sir Menelik (currently somewhat AWOL from the game), Company Flow era El-P, Edan, Ill Bill and Kool Keith (before you purists go nuts at us, we know Kool Keith was on Venomous Villain, and there are also tracks with El-P dotted around online, but we want a more significant set of hookups).

Current artists on the wishlist include Action Bronson, Your Old Droog, and the modern era El-P (riding shotgun with his Run The Jewels partner Killer Mike of course). A few months back, 9th Wonder also mentioned how he’d love to work with Doom, and the prospect of that is equally incredible.

If just some of these projects see the light of day, this could be another vintage year for good hip-hop music.

Watch Raiders of the Lost Art, Part III

The latest installment of the PRhyme documentary series Raiders of the Lost Art is out now, with DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9″ inviting us further behind the scenes of their new collaborative project.

What impresses most this time is just how serious both artists are taking the social media and promotion, even going as far as personally setting up meetings with some of the most important companies in the world.

Younger artists know just how important it is to get their shit together across Twitter, Soundcloud and YouTube, but its refreshing to see a vet like Primo at the cutting edge too. Compare that to others from the classic era who seem to think its fine not to have an online presence, and it isn’t hard to figure out why they are fading fast into obscurity, while Premier is as popular as ever. We also get to see highlights from the photo shoot that gave us the dope album cover, again thanks to the perfectionism and entrepreneurial spirit of Primo.

Watch the video below, and buy the PRhyme album from December 9.

Album Review: Royce da 5’9″ and DJ Premier’s PRhyme

DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9″ have been steady working together since 2002’s Rock City, an album that featured the certified banger Boom. There have been hits and misses since, but when they announced a few months back that a full length collabo was in the works, it got everyone’s attention. After weeks of teasers and videos, the PRhyme album is now finally here, and its dope.

What hits you straight away is the production, and how Premier has managed to adapt to rappers with a style not typical of the artists he tends to work with. He’s produced for a range of different artists before of course, from west coast groups like Compton’s Most Wanted, to southern acts like Bun B and Ludacris, but the beats for those still had that classic Primo sound. What impresses most here is how easily the music changes to suit an eclectic mix of unique artists that includes Mac Miller (on Dat Sound Good), and Killer Mike and Schoolboy Q (on Underground Kings).

In fact, the entire album is a bit of a change of pace for Premier. There are still classic bangers, like U Looz and Courtesy, but also rich compositions that you wouldn’t necessarily know were Primo beats if you heard them out of context. It’s a refreshing new direction for a producer who, while unquestionably one of the greatest of all time, does tend to get stuck in their own signature sound. This is new-era DJ Premier, holding his own amongst the modern beat makers, with a little help along the way from Adrian Younge.

As for Royce, he’s stepped his game up, with the same sense of purpose and aggression we saw glimpses of on 2011’s solo album Success is Certain, and on his Bad Meets Evil side project with Eminem.

Other standouts include the Common-featuring Wishin, and To Me, To You, where PRhyme team up with the over-hyped but always-impressive Jay Electronica.

There’s a moment on U Looz when Royce points out how stupid it would be to suggest that by joining forces with DJ Premier, he’s trying to be the new Guru. The Gang Starr days are long gone for sure, but PRhyme is shaping up to be a group that over time could well end up achieving similar levels of critical acclaim.

PRhyme is set for release December 9.

Watch Raiders of the Lost Art: Part 2

The second installment of Raiders of the Lost Art is now available. This time the focus is on DJ Premier, with footage of the master at work in the studio. We don’t get to see too much though, as Preem makes it clear he doesnt like to let people know a whole lot about how he works that magic behind the boards.

Adrian Younge also makes an appearance, explaining his involvement with the PRhyme project, and how working with the duo has helped him see his own previous work in a whole new light. See below for the full clip (pun intended).

PRhyme is out next month, and available for pre-order from iTunes in some regions now.

Review: Joey Bada$$ live in London

Lets be really honest for a moment. Most live hip-hop shows are disappointing. Late arrival from the artist, too much crowd hyping and not enough rapping, bad mic quality, short set lengths. We’ve experienced them all, even from some of our favorite acts.

We still had high hopes for the Joey Bada$$ tour, and on the whole it didn’t disappoint when we caught one of the shows in London. The set-up was classic no frills hip-hop: Joey on the mic, with a deejay out back. No more flash or flair required. For a rapper like Bada$$, still just 19 but making the kind of hip-hop that throws back to the classic era, its an environment that suits him well. When the deejay also happens to be Statik Selektah, its even better.

It turns out Joey knows how to rock a crowd too. Full of energy but without the unnecessary and over-the-top swagger of other acts, he lets his music do the talking, giving us proper versions of his biggest tracks.

Obvious standouts included Waves, truthfully one of the finest hip-hop tracks of all time (yeah, we said it), and the DJ Premier produced Unorthodox. There was also the obligatory heartfelt tribute to fallen Pro Era member Capital Steez, reminding us all just how tragic it is to lose a talented rapper at only 19 years of age.

With a decent live show, teaser trailers and documentaries, the hype over Joey’s debut album B4.Da.$$ just keeps on getting stronger. It drops January 20, 2015.

Go behind the scenes with Joey Bada$$ on tour

It’s been a good week for Joey Bada$$ fans. First up was a new cryptic teaser trailer that finally gave us a solid release date for B4.DA.$$. The highly anticipated debut album will drop January 20, 2015, and although full details are yet to be released, its expected to include singles Big Dusty and Christ Conscious, and feature production from DJ Premier, J Dilla and Statik Selektah amongst others.

A new video has also now emerged, documenting Joey as he travels around Europe on the latest leg of his tour. He talks about why he loves performing more than being in the studio, how to give the fans what they want, and the inspiration he’s taken from seeing Jay-Z and other major artists on stage.

We’ve been itching to hear B4.DA.$$ for months and months, and its nice to hear the young Mr Badas$$ stay humble and grounded as he prepares for what will surely at last be his breakout year.

Watch the mini documentary below, and the album teaser further down.

Watch DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9″ documentary Raiders of the Lost Art

Raiders of the Lost Art is a documentary about Royce Da 5’9″ and DJ Premier’s new group PRhyme, and its pretty damn good. Short but sweet, Part 1 gives us an interview with Primo, talking about how he first got noticed in NYC all those years ago with Guru, and about how he’ll never stop making that boom bap sound, no matter what the younger generation is doing.

Hearing that alone is worth it for us Preem fiends. But even more special are the parts with Royce. He opens up about his alcohol abuse and the effects it had on his kids, including a scene where his shows how his car won’t even start until he’s taken a breath test.

Its a rare insight into the real life of a rapper, far from the fake lifestyle we’ve come to know from so many flashy videos. We see Royce spending precious time with his wife and kids, making sure he doesnt pull into his driveway too fast, and telling his young daughter to go back inside to get a jacket. There’s no posturing and no ego, just a man who works hard to give his children a life that he never had.

Of course, the flick is also part of the promotion trail for the upcoming PRhyme album, which hits stores next month. It’s safe to say we are excited as fuck, and you should be too. Watch Part 1 of Raiders of the Lost Art below, and keep them eyes peeled for the next installment coming soon.

We salute Tyler, the Creator for crying like a baby

We’ve all seen that clip of Tyler, The Creator crying at the sight of N.E.R.D. on stage (haven’t seen it? Wake the fuck up), and how star-struck he was in a recent interview with Pharrell.

Funny shit, but at least the guy clearly has some genuine passion for the music and its biggest stars.

In a music fueled by egos and trash talk, its all too rare for a young hip-hop artist to show mutual respect for their peers. Its even common now to hear modern rappers talk about how they don’t even listen to rap at all, not even hiding how they are in the game solely to get money.

Compare this to the veterans and older artists and its a completely different story. They have no trouble shining a light on others, and acknowledging the history of the music. Take Run the Jewels, currently the hottest property in the game. El-P and Mike not only have a detailed knowledge of hip-hop, but also have no issue singing the praises of the legends and other artists. Same goes for Common, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch and others. As for the legends themselves, like DJ Premier, they are forever paying respect to others and the masters of genre.

Its perhaps unfair to say all young artists are ignorant to other rappers (Freddie Gibbs frequently points to Drake as being the best there currently is, as contentious as that may be), but a little acknowledgment that they at least like hip-hop and appreciate others would be nice.

Tyler himself has stated he doesnt intent to make hip-hop for much longer, but this is still a man with a deep-rooted respect for the music. And for that, despite all the other crazy and stupid shit he does, we salute him. It was his party, and he can cry if he wants to.

Listen to a new PRhyme track from Primo and Royce Da 5’9″

Its been a good few weeks for us DJ Premier heads. A crazy interview with Snoop Dogg, where he dropped teasers about that future Nas album, new music from M.O.P. coming soon, and of course, PRhyme, his latest collaboration with Royce Da 5’9″.

We’ve had some clips of the music already, but now we’ve been blessed with the title track too. Primo is assisted on the beat with samples by Adrian Young, who adds some extra little flourishes to the mix.

It’s another impressive sign of the quality that is no doubt set to come when the album is fully released next month. Listen to the new track here, courtesy of our friends at the always-entertaining EgoTripland.

PRhyme is already available for pre-order in some areas. Look out for our review when it drops.