DJ Premier

DJ Premier, one of Hip Hop’s most coveted producers is having quite a busy year. Aside from starting his own label DJ Premier is also working on projects with rappers Blaq Poet, MC Eiht, and possibly KRS-One.

In a recent interview with Conspiracy Radio, DJ Premier spoke on his upcoming collaborations as well as the current status of Hip Hop.

“The level of the bar was so high that it was really hard to get into Hip Hop unless you really had top-notch skills, beats, rhyming, everything,” DJ Premier explained. “We wanna put that part [to the] forefront. So we’ll do it eventually. It’ll get its spot back, but in the meantime it never died or anything it’s just not as out there as the mainstream watered down rap stuff and that’s cool because it helps us reformat our audience that wants to support this style and the ones that don’t want to support it we’re not making it for them anyway.”

Among the four artists on DJ Premier’s new label, Year Round Records, is Blaq Poet former member of pioneering Queens Hip Hop group Screwball.

“We’re about to drop this album from Blaq Poet. Straight out of Queensbridge. We just shot the video. The album’s called The Blaqprint. That is the official album. I produced the entire album.” A tracklist posted on fansite djpremierblog.blogspot.com has reported that Easy Mo Bee and one other producer actually make contributions to Poet's solo debut, distributed through Fat Beats.

Aside from the artists already on his label, DJ Premier’s Year Round Records may also feature albums by KRS-One and MC Eiht.

“I’m thinking about doing a project with MC Eiht [of] Compton’s Most Wanted,” DJ Premier explained to Conspiracy Radio. “We talked about doing an album on my label, and also me and KRS-One talked about doing not Return Of The Boom Bap; we’re gonna do Return Of The Boom Bips. So right now that’s still a go. An all KRS, Premier album would be great.” Besides a "Criminal Minded" update in recent years, the two are best known for their work together between 1993 and 1995, on the self-titled and Return Of The Boom Bap albums. Compton's Most Wanted used Premier to remix their 1992 song "Def Wish II," a song originally have appeared on Music To Driveby.