15. He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
Long before he was an Oscar nominee or even on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Will Smith kicked it old school with his Philadelphia pal Jeff Townes. Close to 20 tracks, this record was almost a double album, and throughout these cuts, Smith's confidence would smack of cockiness if it wasn't true. ("You may ask yourself are we that famous?/Bust this, the Queen of Spain knows what my real name is!") He also had the unique ability to turn a phrase and contort non-rhyming words into similar sounds, a.k.a. "off rhymes," e.g., "sick" and "it." The record was also a somewhat subtle concept album, as the first side (back when there were records and cassettes) was devoted to Smith's fancy wordplay, and the second side was almost exclusively focused on Townes' record-scratching prowess. (There's a reason why the album is called He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, though that comma should really be a semicolon, if I'm being nitpicky). Back then, a sense of humour was allowed in the rap world (now it's viewed as being "soft"), and Smith had everyone in stitches with "Nightmare On My Street," a parody of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies that even sampled the film's frightening score, and unsuccessfully imitated Freddy Krueger's voice. And who could forget the classic "Parents Just Don't Understand"? ("Okay, here's the situation/My parents went away on a week's vacation...") If you grew up in the '80s as I did, this was probably the most quoted rap song of your childhood. This album gets extra old-school points for the last song "Human Video Game," which features beatboxer Ready Rock C imitating the sound effects and music of old-school games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. Will Smith has now moved on to bigger and better (or should I say "deffer"?) things, but I just have one question: Whither Jeff Townes? He's the Brian Dunkleman of the rap world.
Michael Perone has written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, The Island Ear (now titled Long Island Press), and The Long Island Voice, a short-lived spinoff of The Village Voice. He currently works as an Editor in Manhattan. And he still thinks Michael Keaton was the best Batman.
