As a follow up to my previous entry about D.J. Premier coming to H.K., here’s a quick rundown of his performance. There was a large turnout and lots of anticipation on the night he performed. The place was packed and many people in the local Hip Hop community turned up. It was a Wednesday night, which is one of the big party nights at Dragon-i. Premier came on at 12:30. He started off on the mic giving a brief intro to get the crowd hyped. Then he began his set with some medium tempo Hip Hop.
Unlike other touring d.j.s who use CDs or laptops, Premier used real records and he brought five crates of vinyl! Throughout his set he didn’t play any commercial Pop music, and stuck to mostly underground, New York style Hip Hop. It was cool to see the usually conservative crowd rocking to real Hip Hop for once. It just proves that you don’t need to sell out – by playing all familiar Pop/Hip Hop in order to get people dancing. Premier played many of the hits he produced including Gangstarr, M.O.P. and K.R.S. cuts. The show lasted til after 3am.
Were you actually there? He didn’t play much underground stuff at all. And he didn’t play much of his own productions. And that can’t really be considered underground anyway. And maybe no pop but tons of commercial rock…I mean, it was good but I definitely missed some more hiphop.
Are you talking about this time from 2006, or from November 12th, 2008?
I stopped by last night and he WAS playing his own music. I heard several Gang Starr songs in the short time I was there. I believe this is his fourth appearance at Dragon-i.
People were into it. I do remember one year where he played more Rock music. Perhaps this was his set in 2006.
Thanks.
Hehe, actually didn’t see that the post was from 2006. But yes, this Wednesday he played Primo songs for about 30 minutes between 1.30 and 2.00, before that it was lots of old school stuff and after it was pretty much only rock like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts…
No problem! The other thing to consider is how bored Premier must be to be playing the same music he was ten years ago. I totally understand why he would play Rock. It’s something fun to escape Old School Hip Hop for a minute. He’s in a difficult place because people expect him to play Old School Hip Hop all night, or criticize him if he plays too much new music. It’s tough to maintain your rep and also please fickle audiences! I think he does a good job navigating this. Lots of once famous Hip Hop d.j.s don’t play Hip Hop any more! Stretch Armstrong is a good example.