Ab-Soul Says DJ Premier Made Him Re-Record ‘Herbert’ Collab: ‘That Was Humbling’

Ab-Soul long dreamed of working with DJ Premier and he finally locked in with the legendary producer for his forthcoming album, Herbert — but Soulo ended up doing something he’s never done for a producer before.

Speaking to Vulture, the Top Dawg Entertainment rapper admitted that he re-recorded his “Gotta Rap” collaboration “five or six times” to match the “frequency” of the record’s finished product to Preemo’s liking.

“I knew I needed him this time around. He definitely put me to work. I had to do it about five or six times until he found the right frequency,” Soul revealed before the interviewer questioned if the issues were lyric-related.

“No, not rewriting. He liked the verse, but I had to match the frequency of the record, because I guess that was one of his favorite beats. So he wanted to make sure I came correct. That was the first time anybody ever made me re-record. So that was humbling. But it’s Preemo.”

Ab-Soul called the collab a “dream come true” and recounted a time he connected with Premier while working on a Royce Da 5’9″ record at Mac Miller’s house.

“‘Gotta Rap’ was a dream come true. Before I even had my official stage name, when I was just Snap G, I knew I always wanted a Preemo beat,” he added. “Preemo keeps his ear to the streets. I can honestly say I do get the respect of being the last of the lyricists, that cloth. I’ve met him in passing before, but we connected when he did PRhyme.

“I was at my brother Mac Miller’s crib. We was working on some other stuff, and Royce sent me the record. I was like, ‘Yo, Mac is over here, too.’ He’s like, ‘What? Oh yeah, y’all go crazy.’ And we did that off of the love, so Preemo hit me immediately like, ‘Yo, you went fucking crazy. You know I got you. I owe you one.’ I said, ‘Okay, yeah. I’m going to hold you to that.'”

Herbert serves as Ab-Soul’s first album since 2016’s Do What Thou Wilt. and features assists from Big Sean, Russ, Joey Bada$$, Jhené Aiko, SiR, Punch, Zacari, Fre$h, Ambré, ALEMEDA and Lance Skiiiwalker.

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On the production side of things, outside of Preemo, the TDE rapper’s forthcoming album features beats from Sounwave, James Blake, Hit-Boy, Boi-1da and DJ Dahi.

Earlier this week, Ab-Soul paid a visit to the L.A. Leakers to make his freestyle debut.

Soulo dropped by the Power 106 show on Monday (December 12) to tap in with Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk. Taking it from the West to the East, the TDE rapper went in over 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up” and Notorious B.I.G.’s “Who Shot Ya.”