Photo: Alexander Richter.
To accompany their piece on nearly 40 of Primo’s signature backdrops, Complex let loose a couple quotes that were cut from the cutting room floor. This time, Premier speaks on Bahamadia, Rakim, Mobb Deep and more.
On Group Home’s Livin’ Proof album
“It’s one of my best and well-produced albums ever. Lyrically, it wasn’t all that. But beat wise, it was. That’s what Dap wanted the album to be called, so I said, ‘Let’s make that the next single.’ When it’s time to make them, I make my singles, literally. I don’t make all the songs and go, ‘Oh, that should be a single.’ I go in like, ‘We’re making a single today.’ ‘Supa Star’ did well for us. We sold 200,000 copies as a single. That’s major. It did well for my reputation on the production side. It made a lot of people in the industry go, ‘Man, they ain’t saying nothing, but you gave them all the nice beats.’ But you know what? That’s their stuff and it belongs to them, I’ll make more and more. The production had to be well done to compensate for their lyrical ability not being all the way 100% on par. That helped to camouflage it. They had the look and the image in them. And you know Dap was a little stickup kid. Now he’s rapping, he had to learn the ropes. It’s a whole different world but he learned it.”
DJ Premier >
READ: DJ Premier’s Stories Behind His Hits: The Outtakes [via Complex]
PREVIOUS: DJ Premier Breaks Down 38 Of His Classic Records
