Sixshot.com: What do you think of foreign hip hop?
DJ Premier: I like hip hop from anywhere. In every country we go to we meet groups that represent hip hop from where they come from. I think this is beautiful because the music has stretched that far from the Bronx, New York City, all the way to Germany, France, Japan, Australia… you can go anywhere and everybody’s hip hop. Everybody’s got the sneakers, the baggy jeans, the hat sideways… Everybody is on turntables scratching and cuttin’. It’s a beautiful thing.

Sixshot.com: What is the favorite artist you’ve ever worked with?
DJ Premier: Definitely Notorious BIG, KRS - One…who else…of course Guru with Gang Starr. I would definitely say Royce 5’9, Jay Z…

Sixshot.com: What do you think of Guru? Did you see his homepage?
DJ Premier: No.

Sixshot.com: There is a forum going on between your fans and his fans. What do you think of that?
DJ Premier: No, I haven’t seen the webpage so I wouldn’t be able to comment on it.

Sixshot.com: How about Guru?
DJ Premier: I haven’t seen Guru in almost a year. I know he is working on a Jazzmataz album but if the fans want to debate that keeps us both out there. That means they are thinking about us, so it is all great.

Sixshot.com: How about him? Do you guys get along?
DJ Premier: We have good days and we ha ve bad days. It’s just like anybody else’s relationship. And in a relationship you can’t be happy all the time, you have to have days that are rough, but that makes the groove strong, and the music stronger. Emotions… and the way we feel, put it on wax and we sell it to the crowd because the things that we have between each other - other people can’t relate to. We are not gonna agree on everything. But musically we always agree. Where our common ground is that’s we are our best at. We always make sure that we do that top notch and we always get it in proper. We never had a non-consistent Gang Starr album. Every one has been - right after the other - consistent. We’re all good. That’s for ever.

Sixshot.com: Back to people you worked with. What’s the most wacko artist you’ve ever worked with?
DJ Premier: If they’re wack the record never comes out. If they’re wack I didn’t work with them. “It wasn’t me”…that was Shaggy baby. (laughs)

Sixshot.com: You founded your label because you wanted hard core hip hop back on the map. Are you afraid that today’s kids are screwing around rather than trying to get the real stuff out there?
DJ Premier: They lack the knowledge of the history. With hip hop you have to know the history of it because that’s what made it so good for so many years. Because the artists that came out, even Busta Rhymes and artists of that nature, we knew how to reinvent ourselves and stay relevant and the new generation but all of us know the history. We know about Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Zulu Nation…we know about the Rock City Crew and the whole Beat Boys and  […] everybody with the graffiti. We know every aspect. We know all the hot DJs, we know Love Bug Starski created the word “hip hop”… the artists that are rapping now sell millions of records don’t know who Love Bug Starski is. He’s the one that made the word “hip hop”. You should know that if you do hip hop. You should know who that… Even if you never met him, at least know that. That he started that word. I wanted to know. I’ve been like “Who started the word hip hop?” It was Love Bug Starski. That “Yes yes yall ya don’t stop” and all that. That was Kid Creole of the Furious 5. Everybody says that “Yes yes yall 1,2 1,2”. They started all that. Those are really important. You gotta know who Run DMC is. Like Run DMC is the first hip hop group to ever sell out Madison Square Garden, to do big arena stadium tours. They were the first ones to do Live Aid as a rap group, play MTV. People were like “Wow, rap is actually starting to open up.” And it still is. [Rap] is the top business in the industry right now. They rely on us to keep their bills paying.

Sixshot.com: Do you think you are a role model, especially now that you started your own company?
DJ Premier: Yes and no. It’s not like we set out to be that. Believe me I have my days of not being responsible but whether you like it or not you are. You know what I’m saying…you are. Because people are looking up to you and I have more than one fan in my life. I have hundreds and thousands of fans. I know you gotta live by example. If it’s within the culture and they understand what’s going on that’s all I care about. I don’t care about the people outside of the culture. How they think of me or if I’m not a role model or whatever. I don’t think about them. I do a lot of good things on the planet that not everybody knows about that I do, but other people do know about. I go talk to kids at youth centers, do performances…I do a lot of things. Even the college I go to every year, I give money to them, just to help them out because they need money all the time. I do my thing I just don’t have to report it in the newspaper. Not like that. I don’t need all that. They know and they appreciate it. That’s all that matters.

Sixshot.com: You are definitely a cool guy…
DJ Premier: Oh yeah, I believe…I agree with you.

Sixshot.com: What do I need to become cool?
DJ Premier: Just being yourself, you know. No one can be cooler than yourself. Everybody has their own style. Everyone is special. Everyone. From the biggest, fattest person on the planet to an anorexic person who doesn’t eat, everybody’s special. And everybody has a gift. Mine happens to be this so I’m taking advance of my gift to live off of my gift. That’s it. And it’s a blessing.

Sixshot.com: You know when I came to this interview I was talking to my friends and I said “I’m going to interview this guy” and they said “He’s not gonna understand what you are saying and you are not gonna understand what he is saying because of the slang”…you coming from New York…
DJ Premier: Hang on…Yeah you know wha I’m sayn…yo u kno wha I mean… (laughs). I talk like that with my boys but I’m not gonna talk to you like that.

Sixshot.com: Why? I could still understand…
DJ Premier: I know how to respect that you are doing an interview.

Sixshot.com: Is that part of being cool? That kind of language?
DJ Premier: It was cool to me when I was a kid seeing my sister and her friends and the guys she hang out with. They were always cool and they were into what I was into: they were into good music, they were into the loud sound system, they were into the hot cause. I was always in the cause and everything since I was a little boy. So all the things that I thought were cool to me I saw it in them. That means we had something in common and if we had something in common to that level that makes me cool automatically because we’re on the same page. That’s it. But anybody could be cool. A nerd could be cool.

Sixshot.com: Do you have a gang at home?
DJ Premier: No, no gang.

Sixshot.com: You are not a member of a gang?
DJ Premier: No, no creep and no blood. No creeps and bloods. But that’s just part of the lifestyle of the ghetto. You’re gonna be familiar…you have to know your territories and know where it is. New York had a lot of gangs back in the days in the 70s but the gangs that are out now in New York are all bloods and creeps. Latin Kings and the Spanish gangs. But we have to be familiar because a lot of the neighborhoods that we came up in when I was getting my career started have got infested with a lot of gang banging. That is part of street knowledge. If you do hip hop you have to have street knowledge. Especially if you are black. You have to know… We know all the stuff going on in the street, we know all the gossip, we know who got shot, who just went to jail, someone just got killed, we know all the king pins that went down. We know all of that, because it is around us. That’s what builds the subject matter that people write about. If you are not in the know and are trying to rap and talk about street life you are not cool. You are called a fake rapper. There are a lot of those right now. We got to get rid of them, we got to clean up the house. We are processing that right now. We are getting rid of all the bullshit.

Sixshot.com: You probably heard of Proof getting shot…
DJ Premier: Yeah, he was a good friend of mine…

Sixshot.com: What do you think of this violence…where do you think this is going?
DJ Premier: It is sad because we are losing not only a lot of great people, but we are losing our own and the race…the black race…losing all of our male black men. We are becoming extinct. That’s a real sad thing. It has nothing to do with hip hop. Whatever problem he had…it had to do with, you know, that problem. A lot of people are trying to equate hip hop and everybody getting killed, 50 Cent getting shot… All that stuff had nothing to do with rap music or hip hop. That had to do with street life. Like I said, the street life is very close to the hip hop culture, but you can’t mix them together in regards to why these guys are getting killed and getting shot and going to jail. It has nothing to do with music. Even all the battling on the mic, and 50 and Jadakiss…it is just music. They are not going to shoot each other or anything like that. It is strictly a different thing. Proof situation is unfortunate and we miss him and we love him and everything. Again, we have to carry on and do what we do and live our lives to carry on the great music that he left behind and the stuff he loved to listen to. I know he’s a fan of me and he and I had some really, really close conversations when he and Royce 5’9” were having problems. Of course they made up, squashed in and became friends again before he died. That was a good thing. Proof’s in a better place. The world is really bad now. The only sad thing is that he is not there to be with his kids and his family. I feel that you meet up again somewhere else, I don’t know where, but I don’t think once you die that’s just it. Some people think that way, but my view is that you go somewhere else. Wherever that place is, maybe we’ll see each other, we’ll hang out and have another party. It’s getting ready for us. At least when we go to wherever that place is there are a lot of cool people there already to hang out with, sing songs, get on the turn tables and make a joint.

Sixshot.com: I love your positive attitude…
DJ Premier: Go to heaven’s studios… (laughs).

Sixshot.com: I am going to totally change the subject – what do you think of President Bush? It’s a huge issue over here in Europe…
DJ Premier: “President Bush does not like black people.” (laughs) It is just obvious that President Bush is not cut out to be what we really need as a president to run our country. His father was a different story. But with him…he is just like a puppet. You could tell he is not totally in control. He’s just saying what he is being told to say. It looks that way because…look at all the results…what is happening. More people are dying over there…we really shouldn’t be over there. Tampering with these people’s oil and everything. You are dealing with a way higher situation than just president Bush. It’s way bigger than that. When you get that deep, believe me, you are taking big steps. You live life and either you live through it, or you fall apart. We can’t fall apart through all the destruction and mayhem that’s going on. I believe in karma and I think everything will eventually come back and haunt you and it may not be Bush it may be his kids, it may be somebody 20 years down the line in his family, who knows. When you corrupt the planet like that and cause so much imbalance, you are gonna get a payback. And that is something that you can’t fix in church. It’s gonna happen. We all have our days. The more you are foul with how you are living, the more is gonna hit you really, really hard. Remember Ghost, that movie? Remember how when Patrick Swayze died and went through to save his wife in danger…the guys that were bad, when they died, those little villains came and took them away, took their soul away. That’s Bush…he’s one of those villains and ghosts.

Sixshot.com: I am done with politics…
DJ Premier: There you go…

Sixshot.com: What is your source of inspiration?
DJ Premier: Everything man…good music, from classic rock to classic soul to watching something on television…it doesn’t matter…I am inspired by many things…hanging out with my guys … we inspire each other. It’s all many different ways of being inspired you know…you might inspire me in a couple of minutes, you know…

Sixshot.com: Is there something you regret from your past career? If you could turn back time, would you do it differently? And if so, then what would that be exactly?
DJ Premier: One thing I regret from my past career was just spending way too much money. I used to spend like a woman. Just buying everything just cause I had the money. Just buy buy buy buy buy…just buying cars, buying everything. I used to buy my rings and my jewelry. I really like watches and stuff like that. And I am still into all of that, I just know how to do it carefully now. I used to just spend like a maniac…didn’t care as long as I could afford it. But when it starts to get out of hand, you start to get low on dough, you’re like “Wait a minute, I know I didn’t spend that much.” And when you add it up you’re like “Yeah, you did”. But that’s something you can fix. At least I am a person that can come right back up. And that’s what I ‘m doing now. I’m on the come up right now. Reinvention.

Sixshot.com: I noticed your beautiful tattoo over here…Can you tell me a few words about it?
DJ Premier: Yes. It says “Reputation is the cornerstone of power”. I read it in a book called The 48 Laws of Power when I was on a plane ride going somewhere. When I read that line it really reminded me of what I want to stand for: musically and as a person. Because your reputation is what people are going to remember you for. DJ Premier, first thing that people say is “Oh man, he’s a great producer, hey, he’s dope, he’s hot, he makes good shit, he’s a good person…” Very important line, so I stuck it on my arm.

Sixshot.com: Thank you very much!