Quotes from DJ Premier

I'm a very humble guy, but of course I think I'm dope.

I'm from the pre-Pro Tools era where you had to meet up with the artist and go over things if you wanted to record a track.

Yeah, Travis Scott's dad taught me how to ride minibikes and how to repair the engines. His name's Jack Webster. Jack had a drum set and his brother had a bass. So I used to play with them, and that's what started me wanting to get into music and take it serious. And this is before rap.

All my idols have been in the studio with me, because they wanted to be there.

I'm not a tough guy, but I'll throw down just like the rest of them if I have to.

I use whatever it takes to make the tracks identify what me and Guru are all about.

I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity.

The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super-dead it he would have said, 'Yo, I want out.' And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr.

I've been listening to Herbie Hancock forever. He's gone through so many transitions, even before bringing hip-hop to the forefront with 'Rockit' and everything.

Jay Z and Biggie and Nas always listened to my direction. They listened and they applied it and I also listened to their opinions and that's why the records came out so good.

If I gotta do a Jay-Z beat I want to stop everything. Tell everybody hold my calls, everything.

My crew used to listen to 'Taking It to the Top' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

You can't do seven successful albums and just hate each other. Our yin and yang, and night and day, is what made us great when we went into the studio.

I listen to my early Gang Starr interviews, I'm like, damn I was really trying to sound like a New Yorker then.

DWYCK' was only intended to be a B-side of 'Take It Personal,' because we had done a record with Nice & Smooth for their album, Ain't a Damn Thing Changed, called 'Down The Line.' They were returning the favor with 'DWYCK,' being that we let them borrow the 'Manifest' instrumental.

I'm super cool with Kanye.

I don't shop beats. That was never my method coming up. I think it's very strange to have a CD of 30 or 40 beats and then just pick one.

I don't have session players come in and guitars, I'm doing the drums, I'm doing the scratching, I'm doing every sound you hear and that's always been my way. And not only that, I'm very meticulous about it just sounding right.

I'm all about competition; still am to this day. That's how you should be, but not with any malice. From Mike Will Made It to Boi-1da to Mike Zombie, I'm out to get 'em all and it's that friendly competition that keeps us all on our toes.

Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.

Me and Tupac were long-time friends.

I would always have turntable elements in my records even if it was just one scratch.

My mom's an art teacher, so I always had music in the house. She always had records, and I was mesmerized by the mechanics of how a turntable works.

I'm not really a comparison dude. Even when people say 'Big or Pac?,' because they're two totally different types of lyricists.