Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known as DJ Premier (also Premo/Primo/Preemo/Preme/Preem) is a prominent American hip hop producer and DJ, and the instrumental half of the duo Gang Starr, together with MC Guru on the lyrical side. Originally from Houston, he has lived in Brooklyn, New York virtually his entire professional career. Many fans and hip hop purists consider him to be the greatest hip hop producer ever.
The Source magazine named DJ Premier one of the 5 greatest producers in hip-hop history, while editors from About.com ranked him as #1 in their "Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers" list.[1]
Premier's signature style is, essentially, a two-bar break to make up the rhythms of his tracks, and a scratched chorus. His early Gang Starr work relies heavily on melodic samples, but starting with Jeru's The Sun Rises in the East in 1994, he began to use ominous atonal samples as well. (These may have been inspired by the atonal piano samples that figured heavily in Wu-Tang Clan's groundbreaking debut, 1993's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers); Premier uses a sample from 36 Chambers track "Tearz," Wu producer RZA's ominous laughter, to comprise the chorus from Jeru's "Ain't the Devil Happy.")
One notable exception to Premier's style is his more varied beat from Nas' classic track, "Represent"; the chorus is much more musically distinct from the verses than is typical for him. Also, though most of Premier's tracks contain the crackles and pops from the records he samples, he has employed more polished beats in his more mainstream productions
gotta pay homage
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