Greatest Hits | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | May 19, 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1985–1997 | |||
Genre | ||||
Label | ||||
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Robert Christgau | [2] |
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. The album includes several of the duo's biggest hits, including "Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble", "Parents Just Don't Understand", and "Summertime". This also includes the previously unreleased track "Lovely Daze", and two solo tracks by Will Smith from his major-motion picture film, Men in Black .
Bonus tracks (previously unreleased)
Chart (1998) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [3] | 65 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [4] | 38 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [5] | 69 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [6] | 32 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [7] | 10 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [8] | 62 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [9] | 20 |
UK Albums (OCC) [10] | 20 |
UK R&B Albums (OCC) [11] | 2 |
US Billboard 200 [12] | 144 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [13] | 93 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [14] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince were an American hip hop duo from West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consisting of rapper Will Smith and disc jockey Jeff Townes. Active full time from 1986 to 1994 and occasionally thereafter, the duo became just the third rap group in recorded history to receive platinum certification, after Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. The group received the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 for "Parents Just Don't Understand" (1988), though their most successful single was "Summertime" (1991), which earned the group their second Grammy and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Will Smith and Jeff Townes have remained close friends and claim they never split up, having made songs together under Smith's solo performer credit. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince have sold over 5.5 million albums in the US. They performed together as recently as November 2023.
Jeffrey Allen Townes, known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff, is an American DJ, record producer and actor. He was a member of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince with Will Smith. He is credited, along with DJs Spinbad and Cash Money, with making the transformer scratch famous.
Disco 2 is the second remix album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 12 September 1994 by Parlophone. It consists of remixes of songs from the duo's albums Behaviour (1990) and Very (1993), as well as B-sides from the time.
Big Willie Style is the debut solo album by American rapper and actor Will Smith. It was released on November 25, 1997, by Columbia Records. The album was primarily produced by Poke & Tone, with other contributors including L.E.S. and Smith's former collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff. The album was the first to be released by Smith since 1993's Code Red, the last by the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Five singles were released, including Smith's first US Billboard Hot 100 number one, "Gettin' Jiggy wit It".
"Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble" is the debut single by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, from their 1987 debut album Rock the House released on Philadelphia-based Word Records. It was released in 1986. The music is built around a sample from the theme tune of the 1960s television series I Dream of Jeannie. It was featured in the eighth episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Will and Carlton were battling over a girl. The lyrics "nothing but trouble" were rerecorded by Jazzy Jeff in "Deep, Deep, Trouble" from The Simpsons Sing the Blues. In the song, Will Smith warns his crew to stay away from young women and recounts some unfortunate experiences with them. In the end of the 1988 version, DJ Jazzy Jeff references two of the duo's further singles, "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Nightmare on My Street." The song was only released on vinyl. The music video was released in 1986.
He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper is the second studio album by American hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. It was the first double album in hip hop music, and was the eighth rap album to become a platinum album.
Homebase is the fourth studio album released by hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The album was released on July 23, 1991, reaching number 12 on the Billboard 200 charts and number 5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It received generally favorable reviews from critics. The album was certified Platinum and won an American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album in 1992.
Code Red is the fifth and final studio album by the American hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, released on October 12, 1993, on Jive Records. The album peaked at number sixty-four on the Billboard 200 and number thirty-nine on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. On January 14, 1994, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album gold. Four singles reached the Billboard charts; "Boom! Shake the Room", "I'm Looking for the One ","I Wanna Rock", and "Can't Wait to Be With You".
"Boom! Shake the Room" is a song by American hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The track samples the 1973 song "Funky Worm" by the Ohio Players. Released on July 16, 1993 by Jive, as the second single from the duo's fifth studio album, Code Red (1993), the single peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts of Australia, Ireland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Its music video was directed by American film director Scott Kalvert, featuring the duo performing onstage in front of a live crowd.
Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American singer Bette Midler, featuring many of her best-known songs. The fourteen track compilation was released on Atlantic Records in 1993.
The Best of Simple Minds is the second greatest hits album by Simple Minds, released in 2001. New versions of the "Theme for Great Cities" were released, and some copies, included the remixes by Raven Maize.
"Summertime" is a song by American hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, released in May 1991 as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Homebase (1991). The song was produced by Chicago-based producers Hula and K. Fingers, and it won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 1992 Grammy Awards. It spent a week at number #1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart, as well as reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became the duo's first single to enter the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #8.
Gold – 20 Super Hits is a 1992 greatest hits album by group Boney M. Shortly after record label PolyGram had acquired the rights to the ABBA back catalogue and had issued the multimillion-selling hits package Gold: Greatest Hits, BMG and producer Frank Farian followed suit with Boney M.'s Gold – 20 Super Hits which resulted in their best chart entry in the UK and most other European countries since 1980's The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits.
The Magic of Boney M. is a greatest hits album of recordings by Boney M. released by Sony BMG in October 2006.
American rapper Will Smith has released four studio albums, one compilation album, 18 singles, one video album and 20 music videos. After working in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Jeff Townes as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Smith began his solo career in 1997 with the release of "Men in Black", the theme song for the film of the same name, which topped singles charts in several regions across the world, including the UK. "Men in Black" was later included on Smith's debut solo album Big Willie Style, which reached the top ten of the US Billboard 200 and was certified nine times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The third single from the album, "Gettin' Jiggy wit It", became Smith's first Billboard Hot 100 number one when it was released in 1998.
"Yo Home to Bel-Air", alternately titled as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Theme)" or merely "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", is a song by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince first heard in 1990 as the theme song to the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Lyrics were composed by rapper and sitcom star Will Smith, performing under his stage name the Fresh Prince, and the song was produced by Jeffrey Townes under his stage name DJ Jazzy Jeff.
25 is a greatest hits album by Norwegian band A-ha. It was released in Norway on 19 July 2010, in Germany and central Europe on 6 August, and in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe on 4 October. 25 includes all 33 of the band's singles, along with five album tracks and the B-side "Cold as Stone" (remix).
"Lovely Daze" is the second and final single taken from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's sixth album, Greatest Hits. The song was produced by Chicago-based producers Hula & K. Fingers and became the duo's last single, released in September 1998. Background vocals by Lidell "NuNu" Townsell & Anthony Stewart.
The discography of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince consists of five studio albums, four compilations and 18 singles.
"Ring My Bell" is the second single released from American hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's fourth studio album, Homebase (1991). The song sampled and shared the same name as Anita Ward's 1979 hit, "Ring My Bell", though the original lyrics were replaced by those written by the Fresh Prince. Nevertheless, The song's original writer, Fredrick Knight was sole writer who received writing credits. The song appears on Smith's series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the closing credits from "The Mother of All Battles" off the season 2 episode.