Producer Profile: DJ Premier (Part 5, 1997)

After a successful string of production credits and Gang Starr albums, DJ Premier was high profile in 1997, but there was still room to achieve more success. 1997 yielded two of Primo's most unstoppable beats, which will be covered in this post looking at his production credits from that year.

One of Jay-Z's most underrated cuts is the DJ Premier produced 'Intro/A Million and One Questions', the intro to his second full length album 'In My Lifetime, Vol. 1'. This banging track samples its share of unusual sources: Dorothy Ashby's 'Cause I Need It', Latimore's 'Let Me Go', and the Main Ingredient's 'Car of Love' (sorry, no download links for any of these tracks). Primo produced the beat for O.C.'s 'My World' by sampling 'Killer's Lullaby' by Love Unlimited Orchestra on Barry White's 1974 soundtrack 'Together Brothers'. On Rakim's solo album, Premier provides the beat to 'New York (Ya Out There)' which samples the excellent James Brown cut 'Down and Out in New York City' from the soundtrack to 'Black Caesar' as well as the huge drum break from Mountain's 'Long Red'. Finally, one of Primo's oddest yet most banging beats wallops behind Notorious B.I.G. on 'Kick in the Door' on his posthumous album 'Life After Death'. The track samples Screamin' Jay Hawkins 1956 hit 'I Put a Spell on You' to great effect.

The Lowdown:
Jay-Z 'Intro/A Million and One Questions'
from 'In My Lifetime, Vol. 1' (1997) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'Intro/A Million and One Questions'
Dorothy Ashby 'Cause I Need It'
from 'Dorothy's Harp' (1969) (MP3 not available/Import CD)
Latimore 'Let Me Go'
from 'It Ain't Where You Been... It's Where Your Goin'' (1976) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Main Ingredient 'Car of Love'
from 'Music Maximus' (1976) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
O.C. 'My World'
from 'Jewelz' (1997) (MP3 not available/CD)
Love Unlimited Orchestra 'Killer's Lullaby'
from 'Together Brothers' (1974) (MP3/CD not available)
Rakim 'New York (Ya Out There)'
from 'The 18th Letter' (1997) (MP3/CD)
James Brown 'Down and Out in New York City'
from 'Black Caesar' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Mountain 'Long Red'
from 'Mountain Live' (1972) (MP3 not available/CD)
The Notorious B.I.G. 'Kick in the Door'
from 'Life After Death' (1997) (MP3/CD)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins 'I Put a Spell on You'
from 'I Put a Spell on You' (1956) (MP3 not available/CD not available)

Related Posts:
Producer Profile: Dj Premier (Part 1, 1989-1990)
Producer Profile: Dj Premier (Part 2, 1991-1993)
Producer Profile: Dj Premier (Part 3, 1994)
Producer Profile: Dj Premier (Part 4, 1995-1996)
Rewind: The Notorious B.I.G. 'Life After Death' (Part 1)
Rewind: The Notorious B.I.G. 'Life After Death' (Part 2)
Rewind: The Notorious B.I.G. 'Life After Death' (Part 3)