S. Samuel
Hip-Hop pioneer DJ Premier has responded to the criticism he's garnered by recently praising J. Cole and Drake for elevating the state of the rap game.
Preemo challenged critics to present rap newcomers who are more lyrical and well-balanced than Drizzy and Cole.
“To those people who typed that [I shouldn’t have co-signed them,] how many other 22 and 23-year-old that’s out right now that’s relevant, that’s got some lyrics that’s banging or any wordplay for that matter,” Premier said in an interview. “Send them to me or send me their MP3, if it’s banging like that, I’ma play it. I don’t really play Drake on my show, I got a radio show every Friday that breaks underground hip-hop, I don’t play Drake on my show — I like him and what can you say about him that you don’t like? His stage presence had to improve a little bit, he worked on that now. I went to his concert at Radio City. J. Cole is not wack, he’s got lyrics. How can you say that? And then they’re saying ‘How can you not say Joell Ortiz?’ Joell Ortiz has been out for a long time. Y’all are just getting up on it, you late motherf*cker. You’re a computer f*ck, I’m a computer f*ck too but you’re a computer f*ck-hole. Give them a corny name, f*ck-hole, that’s not a name I’d normally say — but put them in the corny box.” (All Hip Hop)
Last month, Premier made headlines for giving props to the two rising stars.
“[Drake] brought lyricism back,” he said of the Toronto-native. “For a 22-year-old man, he brought lyricism back. When [Gang Starr‘s] Step In The Arena came out, I was 22-years-old. And I just thought about it, I was like, ‘D*mn, I was a youngster.’ I wasn’t 30, 31. I was 22 and coming with heat. And that’s why I like that he’s bringing stuff back….J. Cole, I like that he’s bringing lyrics back. Everything doesn’t have to be super, over-lyrical, but we do pride ourselves on cats that can spit, because [rap music] was always a competition about who got the dopest rhymes.” (XXL Mag)
This week, Dr. Dre revealed he is also a fan of the two emcees.
“It’s aight,” Dre said about the state of hip-hop. “There are a lot of artists that I like, I love Wayne, I love Drake, I love the new artist J. Cole. There’s some new brothers coming out on my record, Slim the Mobster, he’s out of South Central. I think it could be better and hopefully I can do my part to assist in that.” (Rap-Up)
Outside of a co-sign, Premier recently revealed he would be involved with Drake’s follow-up to Thank Me Later.
“I met Drake at the Jay-Z and Eminem concert at Yankee Stadium. A good friend of mine does some charity work for Derek Jeter and was also working with Drake…He told me Drake wanted to come say ‘what’s’ up real quick before he got on the stage with Jay…He said ‘Yo next album I want to do some stuff [with you]’ and that’s pretty much the end of it.’ He comes down and sits down next to us to watch the show and everybody in all the other suites next to us started bugging. He was just chilling there and not acting like he was too cool.” (VIBE)
Check out DJ Premier speaking on Drake and J. Cole below:
