There are few producers in hip hop that one may utter is better than DJ Premier. Like seriously. One half of legendary group Gangstarr, Premo has gracefully managed to stay relevant and create fresh grooves in a young man’s game for decades. Last month, before DJ Premier’s show at The Shrine, I had the pleasure (yes, I bum-rushed his set lol) to interview arguably hip hop’s greatest producer of all-time. Of course, the show was packed and there were fans from all eras paying homage to the scratching genius.

DJ Premier speaks on his new project with Bumpy Knuckles ‘Kolexxion,’ why Kanye West is a boss, and the dualities in hip hop between “new school,” and true school.

Here’s an excerpt of my conversation with Premo about ‘Ye:

“Kanye’s has taken things to a whole “nother level. And he’s a challenger. That’s what I am. I took challenges and risks of being different. Kanye has decided to be different and some people hate on him, some people call him weird. I’m weird. When you’re weird, that means you’re not like everybody else. That’s why Ye has grown from a nobody to every model chick wants to get with him…everything because he has made his path of showing that he can be a leader in the game. Not everybody is built to be a boss. I wasn’t built to be one either, but I am a boss now. And I carry myself as one. Bosses deal with bosses on a whole different level and Ye is a boss.”

Sidenote: I didn’t really bum-rush, Preem. I mean, I guess I kinda did. There was slight haste involved lol. I just hate doing interviews after shows. Entertainers are usually drunk and high at that point or occupied with said groupies. Who would want to interrupt that? The fact that some drunken interviews are sometimes cool is an entirely different post. Much propers to DJ Premier for kicking knowledge. Go cop his new LP with Bumpy!

Filmed by: Stan Perry & Sgt. Tibs // Edited by: Terrence Jones