A biography for DJ Premierhasn’t been written yet.
“When you have a deep focus, you can't go wrong at all. Not when you're an expert at what you do.”
“I can't make the new generation like me, because they didn't grow up on me. So I stick to what I know.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.”
“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.”
“I listen to my early Gang Starr interviews, I'm like, damn I was really trying to sound like a New Yorker then.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I like showing versatility.”
“I get up early all the time.”
“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.”
“I always followed my heart and if my heart said I gotta pack up and go, I'm gone.”
“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.”
“I'm cool with Dr. Dre, I have his phone number, and he picks up when I call.”
“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.”
“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.'”
“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.”
“I think the fact that Gang Starr kept getting more and more successful was the reason we never thought about our age.”
“I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about.”