Christopher E. Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known as DJ Premier (or… Read Full Bio ↴Christopher E. Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known as DJ Premier (or Primo by his fans, fellow musicians, and critics), is a prominent American hip hop producer and DJ, and the instrumental half of the duos Gang Starr and PRhyme.
Contrary to popular belief, he did not found nor even co-found Gang Starr.
He was introduced to DJing while attending school at Prairie View A&M in Houston, Texas. DJ Premier's original stage name was Waxmaster C, the "C" taken from his first name, Chris, although he had already changed it to DJ Premier at the time he joined Gang Starr.
Considered by many fans to be one of the greatest hip hop producers, DJ Premier has produced countless tracks, for many groups and solo artists since the early 1990s. These include notable tracks for artists such as Jay-Z ("D'Evils", "So Ghetto"), Big L ("The Enemy"), The Notorious B.I.G. ("Unbelievable", "Kick In The Door", "Ten Crack Commandments"), Nas ("N.Y. State of Mind", "Nas Is Like"), Pitch Black ("It's All Real"), M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga"), Jeru the Damaja ("Come Clean", "My Mind Spray"), KRS-One ("MC's Act Like They Don't Know"), Mos Def ("Mathematics"), Non Phixion ("Rockstars"), and Royce da 5'9" ("Boom").(Full list: djpremiertrackology.8kilo.com)
Collaborations
Outside of Gang Starr, some of Premier's most lauded work is his collaborations with Jeru the Damaja and Group Home. With the former, Premier crafted one of the East Coast's landmark albums in the form of The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994. Their follow up to this, 1996's Wrath of the Math, was regarded as a solid effort but not on par with its predecessor, although it did contain Jeru's biggest hit to date, "Ya Playin' Yaself". Group Home's Livin' Proof (1995), although greatly overlooked at the time of its release, has eventually come to be critically acclaimed.
In 1994, DJ Premier collaborated extensively with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group, Buckshot Lefonque, for their debut album. During the making of music video director, Hype Williams' 1998 film, Belly, DJ Premier collaborated with neo soul leader D'Angelo for a song called "Devil's Pie", which was originally intended only for the film's accompanying soundtrack. However D'Angelo soon changed his mind and decided to include the song on his sophomore album Voodoo (2000) In 2006 he co-produced Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics album.
Samples
DJ Premier's style of production epitomises the New York sound from his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work, when he is creating a new track for that same artist. In addition, his photographic memory of rap lyrics allows him to distinctively "speak with his hands" by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases [1]. Premier's non-Gang Starr collaborations are well-known for his often-imitated signature of combining short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. For example, for the chorus of Mos Def's "Mathematics", Premier cuts, in quick succession:
"The Mighty Mos Def..." (from Mos Def's "Body Rock"),
"It's simple mathematics" (from Fat Joe's "John Blaze"),
"I revolve around science..." (from Ghostface Killah's verse on Raekwon's "Criminology"),
"What are we talking about here..." (unknown origin),
"Do your math.." (from Erykah Badu's "On & On"), and
"One, two, three, four" (from James Brown's "Funky Drummer")
On certain artists' work the vocal samples will all be vocal samples of the artist from the artists' past work; "Nas Is Like" and "2nd Childhood" with Nas are two well-known examples of this.
On Jeru the Damaja's "Physical Stamina," however, Premier sampled and chopped up recordings of seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s.
Melodies
Premier usually creates a two-bar melody that repeats itself throughout the song. The aim of this is to showcase the MC's skills by bringing focus away from the beat, while creating the song's mood and a solid backdrop. Premier often changes speeds, filters and chops his breaks and adds scope to the melody with chimes and strings.
He has also shown innovation by playing rarely-used elements into a rap song (such as the xylophones on Biggie's "Kick in the Door" or the ambient nature sounds on Nas' "Nas is Like"), and his wide range of instruments (the piano loop on Jay-Z's "D'Evils" versus the strings on Rakim's "New York (Ya Out There?") and production techniques (he played the melody backwards during the second half of Jay-Z's "A Million and One Questions (Rhyme No More)").
Drums
Premier's drums have been known for complimenting his melodies. For example, during Nas' "NY State of Mind", two bars have a simple round of kicks and snares; in the following two, a complementing second set of drums plays out. This is repeated throughout.
Label ownership and future projects
DJ Premier currently owns two record labels. "Year Round Records" was founded in 2002 and has so far released several DJ Premier mixtapes as well as two 12" vinyl singles for NYG'z and Blaq Poet. "Works Of Mart", which is also the name of his publishing company, was founded in mid 2006 and released 12" vinyl singles for artists Tef (aka Teflon) and F.A.B.I.D. (H. Stax and Mike Rone).
Since 2001, DJ Premier mentioned several times the plan to release a solo album entitled "A Man Of Few Words", which has yet to be released. Other confirmed upcoming projects are a full-length colaboration with Nas, Blaq Poet's long delayed album "The Best That Never Did It", Tef's (aka Teflon) long announced album "Contraband" and last but not least protegés NYG'z long delayed debut album "Pros and Cons".
Contrary to popular belief, he did not found nor even co-found Gang Starr.
He was introduced to DJing while attending school at Prairie View A&M in Houston, Texas. DJ Premier's original stage name was Waxmaster C, the "C" taken from his first name, Chris, although he had already changed it to DJ Premier at the time he joined Gang Starr.
Considered by many fans to be one of the greatest hip hop producers, DJ Premier has produced countless tracks, for many groups and solo artists since the early 1990s. These include notable tracks for artists such as Jay-Z ("D'Evils", "So Ghetto"), Big L ("The Enemy"), The Notorious B.I.G. ("Unbelievable", "Kick In The Door", "Ten Crack Commandments"), Nas ("N.Y. State of Mind", "Nas Is Like"), Pitch Black ("It's All Real"), M.O.P. ("Downtown Swinga"), Jeru the Damaja ("Come Clean", "My Mind Spray"), KRS-One ("MC's Act Like They Don't Know"), Mos Def ("Mathematics"), Non Phixion ("Rockstars"), and Royce da 5'9" ("Boom").(Full list: djpremiertrackology.8kilo.com)
Collaborations
Outside of Gang Starr, some of Premier's most lauded work is his collaborations with Jeru the Damaja and Group Home. With the former, Premier crafted one of the East Coast's landmark albums in the form of The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994. Their follow up to this, 1996's Wrath of the Math, was regarded as a solid effort but not on par with its predecessor, although it did contain Jeru's biggest hit to date, "Ya Playin' Yaself". Group Home's Livin' Proof (1995), although greatly overlooked at the time of its release, has eventually come to be critically acclaimed.
In 1994, DJ Premier collaborated extensively with jazz musician Branford Marsalis's experimental group, Buckshot Lefonque, for their debut album. During the making of music video director, Hype Williams' 1998 film, Belly, DJ Premier collaborated with neo soul leader D'Angelo for a song called "Devil's Pie", which was originally intended only for the film's accompanying soundtrack. However D'Angelo soon changed his mind and decided to include the song on his sophomore album Voodoo (2000) In 2006 he co-produced Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics album.
Samples
DJ Premier's style of production epitomises the New York sound from his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work, when he is creating a new track for that same artist. In addition, his photographic memory of rap lyrics allows him to distinctively "speak with his hands" by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases [1]. Premier's non-Gang Starr collaborations are well-known for his often-imitated signature of combining short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. For example, for the chorus of Mos Def's "Mathematics", Premier cuts, in quick succession:
"The Mighty Mos Def..." (from Mos Def's "Body Rock"),
"It's simple mathematics" (from Fat Joe's "John Blaze"),
"I revolve around science..." (from Ghostface Killah's verse on Raekwon's "Criminology"),
"What are we talking about here..." (unknown origin),
"Do your math.." (from Erykah Badu's "On & On"), and
"One, two, three, four" (from James Brown's "Funky Drummer")
On certain artists' work the vocal samples will all be vocal samples of the artist from the artists' past work; "Nas Is Like" and "2nd Childhood" with Nas are two well-known examples of this.
On Jeru the Damaja's "Physical Stamina," however, Premier sampled and chopped up recordings of seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s.
Melodies
Premier usually creates a two-bar melody that repeats itself throughout the song. The aim of this is to showcase the MC's skills by bringing focus away from the beat, while creating the song's mood and a solid backdrop. Premier often changes speeds, filters and chops his breaks and adds scope to the melody with chimes and strings.
He has also shown innovation by playing rarely-used elements into a rap song (such as the xylophones on Biggie's "Kick in the Door" or the ambient nature sounds on Nas' "Nas is Like"), and his wide range of instruments (the piano loop on Jay-Z's "D'Evils" versus the strings on Rakim's "New York (Ya Out There?") and production techniques (he played the melody backwards during the second half of Jay-Z's "A Million and One Questions (Rhyme No More)").
Drums
Premier's drums have been known for complimenting his melodies. For example, during Nas' "NY State of Mind", two bars have a simple round of kicks and snares; in the following two, a complementing second set of drums plays out. This is repeated throughout.
Label ownership and future projects
DJ Premier currently owns two record labels. "Year Round Records" was founded in 2002 and has so far released several DJ Premier mixtapes as well as two 12" vinyl singles for NYG'z and Blaq Poet. "Works Of Mart", which is also the name of his publishing company, was founded in mid 2006 and released 12" vinyl singles for artists Tef (aka Teflon) and F.A.B.I.D. (H. Stax and Mike Rone).
Since 2001, DJ Premier mentioned several times the plan to release a solo album entitled "A Man Of Few Words", which has yet to be released. Other confirmed upcoming projects are a full-length colaboration with Nas, Blaq Poet's long delayed album "The Best That Never Did It", Tef's (aka Teflon) long announced album "Contraband" and last but not least protegés NYG'z long delayed debut album "Pros and Cons".
Recognize
DJ Premier Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Recognize' by these artists:
AtoW It Is happening again, i can't feel myself Oh, I want…
B-Dawg Bitch, recognize a king in your presence Everythang I touch …
B.O.V. When I woke up this mornin 약먹어 crazy 종일 깨있는 type My 808…
Better Than Ezra First thing I remember was lying in the sand When a…
Big K Bitch, recognize a king in your presence Everythang I touch …
Big Noyd Extrordinary extrordinary yo (alright) The trife life of li…
Blind Zero Steps on a curve and misgap that comes around I'm…
Breakestra Well I can't walk away From your mixed up masquerade I mus…
Brent Lindsay Better bite your tongue, before cross the line Take a step…
Bun B Feat. Ludacris I still, I still, I still, I still I still, I…
Bun B T.I. Big K.R.I.T. Bitch, recognize a king in your presence Everythang I touch …
Cam James I doubled my n's for the Crooked letters no Hennessy Bl…
Chris Rock Yo, yo, this is Chris Rock You heard my man He ain't…
Coast Be Efies I wouldn't like to forget not even pretend that you're…
Cuz Lightyear Showing out, yeah we doin' what we want to What we…
D-Block(or LOX) Don't recognize, good things when you see them I hate goodby…
DJ Premier ft. The Lox Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff Uh, Ruff Ryde…
DJ Skee & Evidence feat. Chace Infinite Fashawn Recognize i wreck as an exercise Less is more, respect the…
DJ Snake Feel a mess, but long nights set the mood Watchin' others…
Doctor Dre & Ed Lover Sam (Dre): (I heard Sam was going solo) God damn, you…
Dr. No Sam (Dre): (I heard Sam was going solo) God damn, you…
Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
Drake Feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR Gotta get real again, gotta get real again No, you got…
Drake ft Partynextdoor Gotta get real again, gotta get real again No, you got…
Drake ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
Drake PARTYNEXTDOOR Gotta get real again, gotta get real again No, you got…
Drake/PartyNextDoor Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
Flaw I've had enough of these selfish crys I hurt myself…
G-Force featuring The Twinz [Warren G] The place is here, the…
Gucci Mane You funny, used to walk away from me Same bitch in…
J-witt Got hunnid stakes Flip it to another hunnid stakes Never les…
Jettingham Who the hell do you think you are to tell…
Jr. James & The Late Guitar Why God? Please Another year I'm still Alone I can't Go Thro…
L.O.X You know who it is It's Tha M-E-LLLLL Better known as Tha…
Laura Dawn Sun's gonna burn out some day You recognize You'll be out …
LIVING ROOM - PARTYNEXTDOOR Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
Love/Hate Say you with me today... Say you here for me But are…
Lox Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff Uh, Ruff Ryde…
Lox and DJ Premier The headphones is on fire dis time around, Styles Blood…
Mike Gold The V.K. Yeah Got a half zone and a half cut The white pony,…
ol dirty bastard/ol dirty bastard Yo, yo, this is Chris Rock You heard my man He ain't…
Omah Lay Only the real fit to recognize, oh-yeah, oh-yeah Only the sh…
PARTYNEXTDOOR [Introduction] Gotta get real again, gotta get real again […
partynextdoor & drake Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
PARTYNEXTDOOR (feat. Drake) Gotta get real again, gotta get real again No, you got…
PARTYNEXTDOOR / Drake Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
PARTYNEXTDOOR Drake Gotta get real again, gotta get real again No, you got…
PARTYNEXTDOOR feat. Drake Gotta get real again, gotta get real again, oh You got…
Phyno Ya A makwa na oji gi na njo Wusa kwaru baby emezila I…
pineappleCITI Poppin' bottles Models all in the section Lately, I been cou…
R.O.A. When I woke up this mornin 약먹어 crazy 종일 깨있는 type My 808…
Scarface Motherfuckers out here rapping for protection I'm gonna expo…
Silent Majority as I sit here in this hill I begin to wonder if…
Skizzy Mars Baby, if I tell you what I want, don't call…
Spiritual Warriors N…
Stephanie Schneiderman Her eyes weathered deep and full and mine wide open for…
T. Smith Speak for yourself, I'm relieved of the help, I'm indie…
Tesla Wonderful lady Such a beautiful baby Gonna teach him what's …
The Lox Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff Uh, Ruff Ryde…
The Wild Reeds I had this great idea, that i can turn into someone…
Walking Hawking All I want to see here inside your pockets What you…
Warren G featuring The Twinz [Warren G] The place is here, the…
Warren G(워렌 지) featuring The Twinz [Warren G] The place is here…
WestBam Hypnotize, oversize, Emphasize, socialize, Analyze, Recogn…
Win and Woo I saw a girl in the mirror, she was older…
You. Love was kinda mean to me walked upon my heart and…
We have lyrics for these tracks by DJ Premier:
100 to 1 In city shoes, Of clueless blues, Pays the views, And no-man…
2 LOVIN U I pled my case with the Gods, woman Just place your…
Beat Breaks Ayy, yo, Nas, you know what I wanna do? Let's take…
Book of Rhymes I don't smile, I don't frown, get two up or…
Change At the end of 1974, when daddy dukes went raw The…
Dear Hip Hop This shit's special DJ Khaled! And if I cry two tears for…
Get Down ("Get nothin' but a beat down!") Refrain 4x Punks jump…
Head Over Wheels I guess I troop, honey, what the scoop? You're kinda…
Headlines Okay (okay) Yeah You know what's up, nigga (My team) living …
Hip Hop This shit's special DJ Khaled! And if I cry two tears for…
Hold The City Down "I got to hold down the city" "Got to let you…
I Damn, here we go again Common passed on this beat I made…
Lettin' Off Steam Joey Bad and Big Preem and we lettin' off steam And…
Mortgage Free What up Preem? That nigga Statik told me start sayin' 2…
Our Streets Ferg, Ferg Check it, check it, check it Pull up, pull up,…
Premier 19-motherfuckin' 1985, I arrived 33 years, damn, I'm gratef…
Remy Rap With the def female Let's rap Remy Ma No lie, it's only…
Runway That ol' real shit, that ol' real shit, that ol'…
Sing Like Bilal [Joell Ortiz] (Sample Of Lil' Fame) Uh! Uh! Y-Y, Y-Y-Y-YAOOO…
Terrible 2's Run your, run your Run your, run your damn jewels Run your,…
The Life It's always about money, It's always about money because... …
The Premier 19-motherfuckin' 1985, I arrived 33 years, damn, I'm gratef…
The root of all You know this ain't a game to us My future's lookin'…
WUT U SAID Yo what's good two time? What up g'z how were you? Ain't…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@Kujunigga
"See what's yours can be mine without inheriting" - Sheek Louch
So underrated! Sheek always had heat! Lox is one the best hip hop groups ever
@MisterCee41510
Sheek was never weak! Plenty of bars
@abrahampalmer1153
slim Large frfr he was a beast on the mic his delivery is amazing.
@kevingarwood4214
sheek is just ok. j-hood was nice but couldn't get his album to drop so he split
@arashonline
Sendawula Kajubi his best verse ever
@chillarnbajskorv4437
"That 3rd nigga?" "That weak nigga?" haha he always kept it 100 and knew his place and went in both in the streets and in the booth.
@joehashem
This dropped in 2000. TIMELESS. Eventually the Verzuz crowd will find their way here but some of us grew up to the L.O.X.
@KJSoFunny
Where is the lies 💯💯💯💯💯
@sherycedavis9436
@FunnyKhiryp
@andrecurry6294
Stay blessed fam! This was a good time in rap music authenticity 💯🙏🏾