- 6,807
- 2,211
[h3][/h3][h3][/h3]
[h3]SOHH Exclusive: DJ Premier Weighs In On Nas' 'N*gger' Album, "If It Sounds Wack I'm Gonna Diss Him"[/h3] [h4]written by Janeé Bolden[/h4] [h5]Sunday - March 2, 2008[/h5]
With Sha Money XL's One Stop Shop producer conference a week away, SOHH caught up with DJ Premier, to discuss Grammy Award politics, joining Christina Aguilera's family and his thoughts on Nas' new album.
Premier, whose helped craft some of Nas' biggest classics in the past revealed to SOHH his thoughts on the title of Nas' upcoming album, n*gger.
"I don't know why they're making a big deal," Premier said. "When I was coming up my parents had albums like That n*gger's Crazy (Richard Pryor), Sly and the Family Stone had "Don't Call Me n*gger, Whitey." No one made a big deal about that." [What do you think of Nas' album titile? Take our poll here]
"I just hope it's a banging album, if you're going to use that title. If it was up to me to do an album called n*gger, believe me it's gonna sound just like the title, beats-wise, lyric-wise, content-wise-everything," he added. "As long as its banging I'm gonna applaud him. If it sounds wack, I'm going to be disappointed and diss him like anything else because I have that right as a fan. I'm a fan of Nas so let's hope he bangs it out."
Premier has not contributed to n*gger, but he remains open to working with Nas.
"If he calls me I'm here, but they haven't reached out. I haven't spoken to him in awhile."
Currently working on projects for his label, Year Round Records, Premier shared plans to head back into the studio with Christina Aguilera soon.
"I'm definitely working with her on the next album," Premiere said. "She's doing an all pop album again, but she wants me to keep the tone like what we did before. She's ready to start next month...She's so cool, she's like my little sister now."
After capturing a Grammy last year for Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man," Premier discussed Mark Ronson's win over Timbaland at this year's awards for "Producer of the Year."
"With the Grammy's there's a lot of politics involved," Premier conceded. "I'm happy for Mark because he's a good producer, he is very talented, he deserves it as for what he did with Amy (Winehouse); but Tim, his album with Justin Timberlake was the biggest selling record out last year." [Editor's note: Justim Timberlake's FutureSex/ Love Songs was released in September of 2006)
"I don't let awards dictate that I'm dope," he explained. "I think I'm dope and I'm overlooked a lot, but I don't stress it. I just bang it out. I never take it personal because the industry is set up with a lot of favoritism involved, a whole bunch of things involved. I just stay positive knowing that I'm dope as a producer period."
In addition to recently producing "Criminal Minded '08"for Common, Q-Tip and KRS-One as part of the Smirnoff Signature Series mix, Premier is also working with Fat Joe, Joell Ortiz and Year Round Records artists NYGZ, Blaq Poet, Khaleel and Nick Javas.
