motel de moka

Any serious discussion of East Coast hip hop and rap music must begin with reference to the legendary DJ Premier. Preemo, as he was affectionately known by the various emcees he worked with throughout his career, revolutionized the hip hop beat with his simplistic use of a punchy two bar breakbeat. His greatest contribution, however, may have been in the incorporation of vocal scratching into the rap producer’s arsenal.

His wide-ranging choice of samples also being a point of interest, it is mainly the perfecting of the scratch technique, that crazy wiki wiki sound, that has cemented DJ Premier’s legacy as one of the greatest of all time. He introduced the scratch to rap songs as a rock guitarist would perform a solo, and in doing so, completely changed the genre forever.

This is a small sampling of his work, if you are interested and want to listen to more, I suggest using his extensive discography on wikipedia to hunt down his beats. You may already have a few of them and not even know it, as he produced for Nas on Illmatic, Notorious B.I.G. on Ready To Die, and Jay-Z on Reasonable Doubt, in addition to Gang Starr’s entire catalog.

Sorry to ramble, but I can’t say enough about this guy. One of the best that ever touched a turntable.

Jeru the Damaja- Not the Average
on Wrath of the Math (1996/UMG Recordings)
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth- Slave to my Soundwave
on Funky Technician (1990/Wild Pitch Records)
Gang Starr- Precisely the Right Rhyme
on Step In The Arena (1991/Chrysalis Records)
Jeru the Damaja- Come Clean
on The Sun Rises in the East (1994/Polygram Records)
KRS-One- Mortal Thought
on The Return of the Boom Bap (1993/Jive Records)
Freddie Foxxx- R.N.S.
on Industry Shakedown (2000/Landspeed Records)
Buckshot LeFonque- Some Shit @ 78 BPM (The Scratch Opera)
on Buckshot LeFonque (1994)
Mos Def- Mathematics
on Black on Both Sides (1999/Rawkus Records)