DJ Premier Reveals That The Black Album Was Originally Meant To Be A Collab With Jay-Z

In a recent Breakfast Club interview one of the most respected hip hop producers, DJ Premier, revealed that Jay-Z’s The Black Album was supposed to be a collaborative album between the two with no other outside producers. According to Premo the proposition had been made by Jay-Z before The Dynasty: Roc La Familia came out which would put the time frame probably somewhere between 1999 and 2000. Jay asked Premo to clear his schedule for a period of two weeks during which they’d work on music together for the album. But unfortunately that never came to be because Jay released The Dynasty and several albums before finally beginning work on The Black Album at which time Premo was on tour overseas. Jay-Z ended up recruiting 9th Wonder to contribute an east coast beat which ended up being Threat, the eighth track on the album. According to 9th Wonder he played Jay-Z 29 beats before Jay finally gave him the R. Kelly sample which he flipped in 20 minutes. Jay asked 9th Wonder to give the beat a “New York bounce” which DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Marley Marl and others played a part in crafting. 

In the interview Premo also took time to tell the story of how he joined Gang Starr and how he got his first record deal. He also shared stories of how he hooked up with Biggie as well as Nas in the 90s. One particularly interesting areas he covered was the relationship he had with Puff Daddy and Jeru the Damaja. Jeru who worked extensively with Premo recorded and released several songs which seemingly attacked Puffy & Biggie. Premo was also collaborating with Biggie at the time hence he found himself in the middle of a situation where he had homies from both sides caught up in a bit of drama. However, nothing came of the situation. In fact the beat which was used by Biggie in the Ten Crack Commandments was originally a Jeru beat but once Puffy heard the beat he asked for it from Premo, who then talked to Jeru about it and ultimately the beat was given to Biggie. It’s an interesting story because at a time when beef and violence was front and center in hip hop culture the two artists who had disagreements were able to look past their differences and allow the music to come first. You can watch the full Breakfast Club interview below.