news

Behind MC Lyte and DJ Premier's 'Wonder Years': "That Track Was for Jay-Z, But He Didnt Take It"

Behind MC Lyte and DJ Premier's 'Wonder Years': "That Track Was for Jay-Z, But He Didnt Take It"

Published Tue, April 23, 2024 at 9:00 AM EDT

MC Lyte sat down with Rock The Bells recently for an exclusive interview, where she discussed the making of "Wonder Years", her 2006 collaboration with DJ Premier. "Premier's fee is his fee, he's DJ Premier," Lyte explained. "I was with an A&R guy at a label that didn't believe that he was worth that much, and that he wasn't a 'real musician' because he wasn't playing instruments and all these things."

Lyte explains further that the opportunity to work with Preemo didn't come to fruition as a result of the labels refusal to meet his fee. "I wanted to work with Premier, and they didnt wanna pay him, so I was at the beck and call of the record label. I didn't get a chance to work with Preemo until after I left the record label. It just so happened that I bumped up against him when he had a track that was meant for Jay-Z, and he didn't take it, and I said 'I Will!'"

Lyte explained that after recording the song, it sat for about two years without a hook. "Premier called and said that his dudes were in the studio and they liked the song and wanted to put a hook on it, so we were finally able to get that song moving. I was a little disgruntled when I did it, so I was just trying to put some things in place when I wrote the rhyme. That's one of my favorites."

Check out "Wonder Years" above.

Related Posts

MC Lyte Drops New Single, 'WOMAN' Featuring Salt, Big Daddy Kane, and Raheem Devaughn

Mar 21, 2024

The 50 Greatest Rap Songs By Women

Apr 28, 2023

DJ Premier and Nas Drop 'Define My Name', Announce Collaborative Album

Apr 19, 2024

What's new