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.
Jean-Jacques Cadet, better known by his stage name J-Live, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer.
Zhané was an American R&B duo, best known for their 1993 hit "Hey Mr. D.J.", which reached No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Other popular hits include "Groove Thang" and minor hit "Sending My Love", both released in 1994. The group was part of Queen Latifah's Flavor Unit collective.
Exodus is the second studio album by the New Power Generation. Although the track listing boasts 21 tracks, many of them are narrative segues, leaving only nine actual songs. Of those, one is an instrumental. The album spawned three singles, however only one was released in the United States.
"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.
Rock the House is the debut album from the hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The album was released on April 7, 1987 in Europe and the United States, and was subsequently re-issued in 1988 in Europe and the United Kingdom. Three tracks from the album were released as singles: "The Magnificent Jazzy Jeff", "A Touch of Jazz" and "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble". When the album was released on CD in 1988, the rerecorded version of "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble", which was released as a single after He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper ran its course, replaced the original 1986 recording.The art work for the Album cover was done by a local Philadelphia Artist Charles Gossett.
Renaissance 3D by Faithless is a 3-compact disc box set, of which each CD has a different theme. The first CD, Studio, includes remixes of both songs by Faithless and others. The second CD, a mix CD called Club, mainly contains uptempo dance songs. Both the first and second CDs are compiled by Faithless member Sister Bliss. The third CD, Home, is compiled by Maxi Jazz and contains less uplifting songs, from genres such as reggae and trip hop.
"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.
"I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" is the first single taken from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's third studio album, And in This Corner…. The song was released as a single in late 1989. This is the duo's first single to be available on Compact Disc format. It peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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.
"Funky President (People It's Bad)" is a funk song by James Brown. Released as a single in 1974, it charted No. 4 R&B. It also appeared on the album Reality. According to Brown the "funky president" of the song's title was meant to refer to U.S. President Gerald Ford, who had succeeded Richard Nixon in the White House shortly before it was recorded.
"I'm a Fire" is the first single from Donna Summer's seventeenth studio album, Crayons. The song was released on March 11, 2008 by Burgundy Records. It was written by Summer, Sebastian Morton and Al Kasha and produced by Morton. The club single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, giving Summer her 13th number-one and giving her the longest timespan between first (1975) and most recent (2008) Hot Dance Club Play chart #1s, Madonna has been the only artist to match this feat so far.
"Thank You" is a new jack swing song by American R&B/soul group Boyz II Men, released as the third single from their second studio album, II (1994). The song was co-produced by Dallas Austin and Boyz II Men. It did not perform as well as its predecessor and reached a peak position of #21 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Singles Sales on March 18, 1995, and March 25, 1995, respectively, and also reached #17 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs. "Thank You" performed moderately well in the UK eventually peaking at #26 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at #17 on the New Zealand RIANZ singles chart, #27 on the French singles chart and #33 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. The album version of the song is a cappella, consisting only of sounds created by the human voice, bringing to mind one of their first hit songs, "Motownphilly".
"Yo Home to Bel-Air", informally known as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme", 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 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.
"Georgy Porgy" is a song by American rock band Toto. It was written by band member David Paich and included on their self-titled debut album in 1978. Released as the album's third single in 1979, the song reached number 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and number 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at number 18 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
MTV Party To Go Volume 2 was the second album in the MTV Party To Go series. The album was certified gold on August 19, 1992, and platinum on May 25, 1994, by the RIAA.
"You Are the Universe" is a song by British acid jazz and funk group the Brand New Heavies, released in June 1997. The composition was issued as the third single taken from their fourth album, Shelter (1997), which remains the only Brand New Heavies album recorded with American singer Siedah Garrett, who afterwards left the group to concentrate on her own songwriting. The song charted at number twenty-one in UK, and at number eleven within the British Chart-Track.
"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.
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Café is a series of nu-jazz compilations distributed by Wagram Music. Its name evokes the cafés of the area in Paris associated with the existentialism movement. As of 2016 the series includes eighteen volumes, and has sold more than 950,000 copies worldwide.
