Watch As DJ Premier Drops A Live Mix In Tribute To Prince
While the rest of us were finding our way to one Prince tribute party or another to pay our respects for the fallen legend, disc jock deity DJ Premier stepped up to the tables, hit record and broadcast his own Prince tribute mix live to his facebook page last night. Every club and radio station in the world is cueing up their All-Prince set in this 24-hour cycle of mourning, before we come fully to grips with what it means to live in a post-Prince world. Yet there's very few selectors truly qualified to handle the job, to condense one of the greatest catalogs in music into a meaningful DJ set that does some sort of justice to the prodigious output of one Prince Rogers Nelson, the variety and virtuosity, while still touching the musical milestones that defined their cultural moment for so many of us. The names Questlove and DJ Spinna jump out, of course. Maybe one day soon Q-Tip will share his tribute set. DJ Premier, however, may be one of the few who demand their place on that shortlist one rep and DJ chops alone, rather than special association or affinity with the Purple One in the minds of fans and record nerds. To hear Premier spin a spontaneous Prince set is not just to relive the nostalgia of youth with your favorite jams, it is to hear the drums of "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry" cut and chopped up by a master of the artform. If Prince embodied anything--with his championing of younger artists, his audacity in carrying on the genius of Miles, Sly, Jimi, James, Little Richard and more--it's this: greatness recognizes greatness, drawing dopeness to itself like a magnet. This is yet one more example. Click the link below to hear Premier get purple via his facebook video (while it lasts) and stand by as more Prince testimonials and tributes poour in from other musical greats, as well as those who knew him best.
