DJ Premier and ASAP Ferg Link Up on New Song “Our Streets”
Even though he originally hails from Houston, no name evokes images of classical New York City hip-hop quite like DJ Premier. So it's only right the iconic Gang Starr producer is the first signee of the newly relaunched PayDay Records, which has announced its return with "Our Streets," a brand new collaboration between Preemo and A$AP Ferg.
The new cut is everything you'd expect from Preemo, and maybe a bit left of what you'd usually hear from Ferg. On one hand, Premier provides one of his signature beats laced with some boom bap instrumentation and his trademark scratches. On the other, we have Ferg, who adapts to the Premier-centric instrumental by turning in what feels an awful lot like a homage verse to N.Y. torch-bearers of yesterday.
"I got with Preemo, I'm just pressing a cheat code/We on a new level with the C-notes/I'm from where kids hustle on the block and roll cee-lo/And niggas stay strapped like G-Bo's," Ferg spits on the track.
Ferg and DJ Premier had never worked together before "Our Streets," but they already sound pretty good together. A part of that might be because Ferg was so willing to adapt to the style of the legendary producer. After all, it's hard not to respect his track record.
“It's a dream to be able to work with the legendary DJ Premier on this record” says Ferg, who dropped his latest project, Still Striving, in August. “Preemo has worked with all the NYC hip hop icons and greats—Nas, Biggie, Guru, Hov, KRS-One, and The Lox. Just knowing I was working with him pushed me as an MC."
For his part, Preemo appreciated Ferg's willingness to take on his style. "With Ferg, or anybody I work with, they already know my history so they know that I come from the '90s era,” DJ Premier said. “Ferg just automatically said 'Don't do what I've been doing on my albums - I want you to do a Preemo style and let me show I can rap to that,' so I was like 'let's do it.' Everybody was happy off jump—no suggestions, no 'I think we should go this direction'—it was an automatic in, out, done, in one day."
As we said before, "Our Streets" is the first new release from the relaunched PayDay Records, a Patrick Moxey-created imprint that played a role in productions from the likes of Notorious B.I.G., JAY-Z, Jeru the Damaja and DJ Premier himself since being launched in 1992.
Check out the new track for yourself below.
See New Music Releases for November 2017