DJ Premier & Parks

DJ Premier (Christopher Martin) built his legendary sound through hands-on production, physical vinyl sampling, scratching, chopping, and mixing, later incorporating digital tools such as Serato while continuing to value his extensive vinyl collection. He is known for the gritty, hard-hitting boom-bap sound he developed through Gang Starr and production work with artists including Nas, JAY-Z, and The Notorious B.I.G. His signature production has always been heavily rooted in his personal involvement with the entire recording process. (DJ Premier Blog)

Parks has a particularly unique perspective because he actually worked as DJ Premier’s engineer. Parks has discussed how he worked his way into Premier’s studio and became part of his recording process. His experience with Premier helped establish Parks as a respected engineer before his long-running work with Joe Budden and the Joe Budden Podcast. (Apple Podcasts)

In short: Premier is the legendary producer whose sound comes from decades of hands-on sampling and production, while Parks got to experience that process from inside the studio as Premier’s engineer—giving him a firsthand appreciation for how Premier creates his music.