DJ Premier and Snoop Dogg have a decades-long history of collaboration, dating back to a series of songs in the early aughts. It’s a history they’ve renewed with the brand-new “Can U Dig That?”
The single is the producer and rapper’s first collaboration on Preem’s label TTT, which he started with longtime manager Ian Schwartzman.
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“My manager and I launched our label TTT (To The Top), and we decided to call Snoop as one of my first album collaborations. Snoop recorded a demo of the song, and it went into my vaults unfinished” DJ Premier said in a statement.
“Fast forward, our initial plan for an album changed, and we decided to just release singles. Snoop updated his lyrics and now it’s ready for our audience to ride out to—Can U Dig That?”
The song comes hot on the heels of another notable Premier collaboration: “Work This Out” with Russ and Big K.R.I.T.
The producer has also been taking time away from putting out new material to reflect on his past work.
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He recently shared the story behind the title of Gang Starr‘s Hard to Earn on the album’s 30th anniversary.
In an Instagram post on Friday (March 8), the veteran producer said the project’s name came from a conversation with the duo’s other member, the late rhymer Guru.
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“Guru asked me to name this LP. He always comes up with dope titles so I didn’t think that I needed to, that’s his lane,” Preem began.
“We had a conversation and I said that being in this music business is HARD TO EARN. He says: THAT’S IT! You just named the album! I’m like: ‘I did?’ The rest is chiseled history!”
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Hard to Earn, released on March 8, 1994, was Gang Starr’s fourth album and remains a favorite for many fans. As DJ Premier told Billboard on its 25th anniversary in 2019, it also marked a “change in my sound.”
“[W]e were always been categorized as only using jazz samples. It seemed like the media at that time was pigeonholing us,” he said.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘I never hear Premier use other sounds,’ and stuff like that. So I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna start getting a little weird on this one.’
“I had a chip on my shoulder with this album, where I wanted to show the people, the critics, that I can do any sound, and still make it sound dope. I like showing versatility.”
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In his 30th anniversary post, Premier also thanked a number of people involved with the record and Gang Starr’s career, including photographer Danny Hastings (who shot what Preem called “my favorite cover of all our albums”); engineer Eddie Sancho; and rapper Jeru the Damaja, who appears on the song “Speak Ya Clout.”
The producer, of course, took a moment to thank his late partner in the group, Keith “Guru” Elam, who died in 2010.
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