DJ Premier Shares His 'Hip Hop 50 Vol. 1' EP With Nas, Slick Rick & More
By Tony M. Centeno
July 15, 2022
DJ Premier comes through with his newest EP that officially kicks off the celebration of Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary in 2023.
On Friday, July 15, Preemo delivered his DJ Premier: Hip Hop Volume 1 EP via Mass Appeal Records. The project comes with five brand new songs with Nas, Slick Rick, Lil Wayne, Remy Ma, Rapsody, Run The Jewels and Joey Bada$$. It the first installment of Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50: The Soundtrack, which will drop in the form of 10 brand-new EP's over the next few months. The releases will hype up the celebration of Hip-Hop all the way up until the genre's birthday in August 2023.
“I will always seize the moment of being unique when it comes to releasing music” Premier declares. “To be a part of Hip Hop 50 is an additional blessing to preserving the culture.”
The projects will be helmed by other revered Hip-Hop producers like Swizz Beatz, Mustard, The-Dream, Mike WiLL Made-It, No I.D., Hit-Boy, Take A Daytrip and Tainy. Though the EP was announced last year, the promo for the project began last week when Preemo posted a teaser of his new collaboration with Nas "Beat Breaks." The legendary DJ and producer said that the goal of the EP series and Nas' involvement instantly sold him on the idea.
"I was approached by Mass Appeal, and they told me it was to celebrate [hip-hop’s birthday], which will be next year, August 11, and they wanted to do ten producer EPs," Premier told Complex. "When the last one comes out, it’ll land on the birthday of hip-hop and that’ll be 50 years. So I liked the idea. Plus Nas is involved as a part of Mass Appeal, and I wanted to be a part of it for Nas, because we have a long-time friendship. When they explained it would be five songs each, and they wanted me to start it, I was like, cool. I wouldn’t want to be the second, third, fourth, or fifth to release one. I want to set the first vibe. So already, I was thinking: I want to keep it just boom bap Preem. That’s what I’m known for; that’s what I like to create. So it’s just about assembling the right artists."
His latest collection of records is the first project Premier has dropped since he delivered Gang Starr's One Of The Best Yet back in 2019. Listen to DJ Premier: Hip Hop Volume 1 below.