Hip-hop trailblazer set to kick off 2016 in NZ

18 November 2015

Hip-hop legend DJ Premier will be in New Zealand to bring in the New Year and party like it’s 1999.

Considered one of hip-hop’s most important and influential trailblazers, DJ Premier kicks off his Kiwi stopover behind the decks on New Year’s Eve at Wellington’s hottest club, Meow. He’ll keep the party going and head north for a second gig at Auckland’s top venue, The Powerstation, on January 3.

The Texas-born DJ Premier has a lengthy list of accolades and achievements that begins in the 80s when he got his break as a DJ, before becoming one half of the famed East Coast duo Gang Starr alongside Guru in 1989.

Gang Starr released their debut single Manifest and album No More Mr. Nice Guy. Gang Starr then contributed to the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s 1990 film Mo’ Better Blues. Their subsequent work produced a pair of instant East Coast classics – 1991’s Step In The Arena and 1992’s Daily Operation.

With a unique raw and aggressive style of battling loops and heavy scratching, Premier dominated throughout much of the 1990s and became known as the go-to producer, thanks to his work with some of the East Coast’s biggest names, from Mos Def and Notorious B.I.G, to Nas and Jay-Z.

The year 1994 was a huge one for Premier. As well as dropping the Gang Starr classic, Hard To Earn, his productions appeared on five-star, all-time classics by Nas (Illmatic), the Notorious B.I.G.(Ready To Die), and Jeru the Damaja (The Sun Rises In The East). As if that wasn’t enough to cement his place in the halls of hip-hop history, Premier had tracks on three of the first four Jay-Z albums, and made a triumphant comeback in the new millennium, working with Common, D’Angelo, Jadakiss, and Snoop Dogg.

Do not miss the chance to be among the first in the world to bring in 2016 alongside a true legend of the decks. DJ Premier will be supported in Wellington by the NZ DMC champion and World DMC runner-up, DJ Spell, with Dam-Galso on the bill! In Auckland, Premier is joined by Che Fu (DJ set) and Gregg Harper.