Primo ain't been the same since Guru

[the cac mamba]

Imo, Preem's best work was on the Moment of Truth album, every track on there was banger after banger. But like post 1998 or 1999, his beats ain't hit the same.

ehh, id give premo til at least 05. he had a ton of good beats in the early 2000s. this was the last vintage premo beat i remember

 

[BUSINESS AS USUAL]

Yall some weirdo flazes..premo is hip hop

 

[Phantom Dreamer]

You can get stagnant to a certain extent just crafting sounds for one type of flow



Bun is fine, his styles just won't flow well with every producer. The two he sounds best with right now are Corey Mo and KRIT...but you have to leave room to experiment

ironically, especially in Cory's case, they both kept that Pimp C type of production and keep it current.

he sounds good with Statik Selektah and on East Coast production too.

he's kinda stepped it up these past few years. for a while after Pimp died, the nikka was on cruise control like a mu'fukka.

 

[Awesome Wells]

It ain't the equipment. Alchemist still using a dusty MPC. Jake One still making beats on a beat up ASR-10. A lot of the digital work will be handled by the engineers anyway.

The real reason is he's getting old. Premier is 58. No one stays at a high level that long. People talking about Alchemist being consistent but he's 12 years younger then Primo.

The main reason Al was able to keep going is once the industry placements slowed he went indie and kept sampling. Premier's profile is too big for him to get away with not clearing samples. That's why a lot of his recent work suffers from being too minimalist with no loops just stabs.

Premier and the other greats were always about placements so when rap went to more mainstream sounds they stopped working. They were accustomed to making beats every day and having a waiting list of artists. They got lost after that stopped.

Easy Moe, Rockwilder, Buckwild, Diamond D, etc all just went away. No one's calling for beats so they're not making any. Then when they release something new it's not near their peak. They just haven't been grinding so the rust shows.

Compare that to Pete Rock who is still releasing work that mirrors his peak. There's no loss in quality because Pete always says he makes 25 beats a week. He doesn't have to try and recapture the magic because he never lost it.

Pete would be the better fit musically for Nas in 2024 but there was never a Nas/Pete album being teased and they have personal/business issues. Why Nas waited to give us a Premier album 25 years late is beyond me. It can still work but he has to pay for sample clearances.

All this right here.

 

[Cladyclad]

I never saw a rapper who needs producers more than Nas. No other fanbase cares at all like that

 

[MajesticLion]

ironically, especially in Cory's case, they both kept that Pimp C type of production and keep it current.

he sounds good with Statik Selektah and on East Coast production too.

he's kinda stepped it up these past few years. for a while after Pimp died, the nikka was on cruise control like a mu'fukka.

Yeah, Corey's the protege who's stepped up and come into his own

I don't even think I've herd Bun on Statik beats, link me pls
I chalk up him bring on cruise control to three things: he was grieving, he had label issues, and he got older and grew into other ventures

 

[Phantom Dreamer]

Yeah, Corey's the protege who's stepped up and come into his own

I don't even think I've herd Bun on Statik beats, link me pls
I chalk up him bring on cruise control to three things: he was grieving, he had label issues, and he got older and grew into other ventures

best i know how to do

 

[Headcase]

I would clap someone to hear Nas over “born In the trap”

Agreed, Born in the Trap is a top 10 Premo beat to me and that shyt was WASTED on Game...

 

[thaKEAF]

Agreed, Born in the Trap is a top 10 Premo beat to me and that shyt was WASTED on Game...

He tried his best to do a Nas impersonation.

 

[Art Barr]

Truth right here.

E-Double got BETTER after the EPMD breakup.

But I've heard people say the same about Primo, in relation to losing Guru and how he hasn't been the same since. He's definitely lost his magic after Guru passed. I think that was actually 14 years ago today. He said he used to make beats everyday, and now he's not really in that zone anymore of cooking up tracks daily. So after 38 years of doing this, and then losing your partner in crime, it's probably not easy for him or as inspiring.

Not at all.

His volume of work went up.

Yet Erick was at his top game on the second epmd album.


Art Barr

 

[Awesome Wells]

Not at all.

His volume of work went up.

Yet Erick was at his top game on the second epmd album.


Art Barr

Erick was much better on Business As Usual, than he was on Unfinished Business.

By '92, dude was probably Top 5 in the game, when he started up on Whut? Thee Album.

 

[I Really Mean It]

Yup it's like he has beat fog where he's stuck in a phase. The Nas track is Nas being Nas but the beat is mid and I don't get how people don't hear it.

because they have a different opinion than yours?

 

[Awesome Wells]

ehh, id give premo til at least 05. he had a ton of good beats in the early 2000s. this was the last vintage premo beat i remember

This was one of the last Preem beats that really hit, in my opinion. Late '06, when he was promoting this.



People always talk about Moment of Truth, but that's usually people who didn't start listening to Gang Starr until '98. Primo was at his true peak from Daily Operation to Wrath of the Math. Those Jeru albums, the Group Home joint, Hard to Earn, "Unbelievable", "Friend or Foe", "New York State of Mind", etc.

 

[Gains]

Primos best work was always outside of Gang Starr

 

[DrexlersFade]

Can we add Havoc to this list. He hasn't been hitting beatwise since P passed. I expected better from the joint album him & SP did. Hopefully he can bring back that Havoc sound for the joint album with Meth

He got one coming with Ras Kass and RJ Payne too.