Hip-hop fans and media outlets were abuzz earlier this week when audio of a radio interview hit the Web, showcasing hip-hop legend DJ Premier explaining how declined a request from Justin Bieber to appear on the BET Cyphers at this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards. But now Premier is clarifying his words and denying rumors that he blocked Bieber from spitting a freestyle in the BET Cyphers.
In the interview, Premier alleged that Bieber’s BET cypher request was turned down after he heard that the pop star allegedly asked seasoned rapper Ludacris to write his freestyle.
“Justin Bieber even asked if he could do the Cypher and everybody was worried that might mess up the integrity of BET and I was like, ‘Yo, as long as he got a dope rhyme, let him spit.’ But then we heard he wants Luda to write his rhyme. I was like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no. If you ain’t writing your own rhyme, you can’t do it, so Justin, you gotta take a backseat. Write your own rhymes, honey.’ ”
However, like most celebrities, Premo took to Twitter to set the record straight on the matter. The DJ confirmed what was said in the interview but denied that he banned Bieber from the BET Cyphers.
“I just saw [these] Justin Bieber tweets from wut I said on DJ Eclipse’s show…wasn’t that big of a deal how I Said it but…#HelloooTwitter,” tweeted Primo. He added, “[I]f Bieber spit a dope vErsE I’m hood wit it…I wouldn’t say I shut him down…it aint my call, just my opinion…”
According to Premier, he doesn’t have the executive power to ban any rapper or singer-turned-rapper from the awards ceremony.
“The only funny part about the Bieber thang is that I can’t “ban” nobody…it aint my Award Show…I know how media plays so I won’t trip,” tweeted Premier.
Preem then explained that he spoke with rapper Ludacris about Bieber’s alleged ghostwriting request and the Atlanta emcee informed him that Bieber actually is a capable emcee who writes his own raps.
“Spoke 2 @Ludacris & he witnessed Justin Bieber write his rhymes & that he can flow… he said he wasn’t s’posed to write 4 tha Cypher..,” tweeted Premier, adding, “Now as I said 2days ago, I can’t ban nobody, I just stress my honest opinion on aLL my s–t & the blog headings make it sound worse….”
In the radio interview, Premier spoke about his input in the decision making process for the BET Cyphers and explained that he doesn’t have as much say as people would think.
“Trust me, if I had a lot more pull through the whole situation, there’d be a lot of other emcees on there,” said Premier. “But again, they look at it more with ratings and stuff like that. So, when you get some of the artists that people may be surprised to see on there, they’re all more current in the hip-hop world of today. So, they make sure they’re in the cyphers,”
Well, perhaps fans will actually see Bieber spit a verse on the BET Cyphers in the coming years. –nicholas robinson
