Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), better known by his stage name DJ Premier (also known as Preem, Premo, or Primo for short), is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru. Born in Houston and raised in Prairie View, Texas, and Brooklyn, New York during his teen years, he has lived in Brooklyn for much of his professional career. Rolling Stone identified Premier as arguably hip hop's greatest producer of all time.
The Source placed DJ Premier on its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazine's twenty-year history, while the editors of About.com ranked him #1 on their Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers list. He also made the finals in Vibe magazine's search for the greatest hip-hop producer of all time. He attended Prairie View A&M University where he honed his DJ and musical skills as the campus DJ and occasional performance with the famous Marching Storm band.