"Ring My Bell" | ||||
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Single by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince | ||||
from the album Homebase | ||||
Released | September 13, 1991 | |||
Recorded | 1991 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:44 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince singles chronology | ||||
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"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 (Will Smith). 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.
"Ring My Bell" was the follow-up to the duo's smash hit, "Summertime", which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though not as successful as "Summertime", "Ring My Bell" also became a top-40 hit, peaking at No. 20 on the Hot 100 and receiving a gold certification from the RIAA on November 26, 1991 for sales of 500,000 copies. [1]
Stephen Dalton from NME referred to "Ring My Bell" as a "chatalong disco cover" and named it as one of the best songs on Homebase (alongside previous single "Summertime") in an otherwise negative review of the album. [2]
Chart (1991–1992) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [3] | 58 |
Europe (European Dance Radio) [4] | 5 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [5] | 11 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [6] | 29 |
UK Singles (OCC) [7] | 53 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [8] | 20 |
US Hot R&B Singles ( Billboard ) [9] | 22 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [10] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments 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 also performed together as recently as September 2019.
Jeffrey Allen Townes, known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff, is an American disc jockey (DJ) and music producer. 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.
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.
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. 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 Scott Kalvert.
"Parents Just Don't Understand" is the second single from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's second studio album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance at the 1989 Grammy Awards, one of the two songs to do so before the award was discontinued in 1991. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was released as a single in spring 1988. The song was referenced several times in the television show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. The song was ranked number 96 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, and featured in The Parent Trap, Malibu's Most Wanted and Jersey Girl. A sample of the opening to Peter Frampton's "Won't you be my friend?" can be heard at the beginning and all throughout the song.
"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.
"A Nightmare on My Street" is the third single from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's second studio album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. The song became a crossover hit in the US, reaching #15 on the Hot 100. The song was released as a single in early 1988. The single was released on vinyl and audio cassette tape. The song humorously describes an encounter with the horror film villain Freddy Krueger and was considered for inclusion in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, but the producers of the film decided against its inclusion.
"My Thang" is a funk song written and recorded by James Brown. Unlike most of his songs, this song was released not as a two-part single, but instead issued with three different B-sides. It spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart - Brown's second #1 in a row, following "The Payback" - and reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974. The song also appeared on Brown's 1974 double album Hell.
"Funky Worm" is a song by American funk group the Ohio Players, from their album Pleasure. It peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1973 and also peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked it as the No. 84 song for 1973.
"Yo Home to Bel-Air", informally known as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme", is a song performed by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. It is 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".
"The Things That U Do" is the third single taken from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's fourth studio album, Homebase. It spent a week at number #43 on the US R&B Chart, though it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
"I'm Looking for the One (To Be with Me)" is a song by American hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, released in November 1993 as the third single from their fifth studio album, Code Red (1993). It peaked at number 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song samples "Tell Me If You Still Care", a song sung by the S.O.S. Band and written by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
The discography of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince consists of five studio albums, four compilations and 18 singles.
"Summer Madness" is an instrumental tune that was released in 1974 by Kool & the Gang on their album Light of Worlds. It reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 36 on the Hot Soul Singles charts. It has subsequently become one of the most sampled R&B compositions of all time. In the early summer of 1996, Epic Records, a division of Sony Music, reissued and re-released the song as a CD and cassette single. As of 2018, over 145 recordings had sampled it.