Hero1

JazzyJeffFreshprince.com Sometime in 1997 - http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/oldsite/index2.htm January 1998 - http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/oldsite/jjfp01.htm September 1998 - May 1999 - 2001 - 2003 - 2005 -

Original BWS Tracklisting.. 01 Album intro 02 Y’all know 03 Getting’ Jiggy Wit’It 04 Candy ftg LarryBlackman/Cameo 05 Chasing Forever 06 Jada (interlude) 07 Don’t Say Nothin’ 08 Yes Yes Y’all 09 Miami 10 I Loved You 11 Just Cruisin(Remix) 12 Jeff (Interlude) 13 It’s All Good 14 Just the two of us 15 Barbershop(Interlude) 16 Big Willie Style(ftg Left Eye) 17 Keeping it Real 18 Round & Round 19 Lean Left, LeanRight

The Artist-Formerly-Known-As-The-Fresh-Prince. Mr. Smith. Big Will. Or just plain Big Willie. None of these snazzy monikers can begin to fully describe Will Smith. A natural in an information crazed age - warm, whimsical, telegenic, charismatic -- Smith has cut a trail across an increasingly complex electronic frontier: LP, CD, MTV, NBC, CD-ROM, and DVD. He's a multimedia phenomenon with a million-dollar smirk. But through his various incarnations - rapper, actor, box-office deity - Will Smith has constantly challenged himself. So a return to the world of music was almost expected. Consider for a moment, however, when Smith began rapping at the age twelve, hip-hop was a small part of Black counter-culture, but over the last seventeen years hip- hop has become an international commodity. Smith was troubled by the escalating violence associated with hip-hop and the tragic deaths of Tupac and Biggie. Frankly he was unsure of his role. "That was a large part of why I didn't make a record," Smith explains. "It was like I don't even wanna rhyme. I made records in my crib. I thought that if this is what the world is going to, then I don't think there's any place in there for me." On his very first solo album, Big Willie Style, Smith boldly takes a seat at the table. Make room for the staccato delivery that enlivened such old-school gems as "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Girls of the World...." Big Willie Style is an apt description of his steelo. Unlike his contemporaries, Smith doesn't boast about his European fashion rags or swilling Cristal. Instead, he mocks our own fascination with celebrity. Yet he does it Big Willie Style, with gratitude, humor, and humility. "I wake up everyday and life is just damn good", he explains. "It's just good to be me. I wake up everyday thanking God." But query Smith on the Big Willie lifestyle, and he has a different definition. "Being a Big Willie is not about what kind of car you drive, it's not really that. Being a Willie is in your attitude. Being a Willie is based on other things, so-called Willies use different measuring tools than I use. For me, the ultimate Willie tool, the Willie measuring stick, the Willie litmus test is intellect. I always appreciated Chuck D, Melle Mel, Rakim, and KRS-One for their intellect. There's thought in their rhymes, a lot of times you see people, these so-called Willies not coming up with anything." From his very first steps, Smith's life has been a Capra-esque screenplay. A native of West Philadelphia, Will Smith II was born to a working-class household, his father a refrigeration engineer; his mother, a school administrator. As a gradeschooler, Smith began hearing faint rumblings from up north, the Big Apple, more specifically, The Bronx. Eager to duplicate these sounds, he became a student of rhyme. "I bought my first rap record when I was twelve, I guess that was like 1980, when Sugarhill Records and Enjoy Records were all there was," Smith recalls. "If it didn't have either one of those labels, then there was no need to buy it." Behind the kick drum of an 808 and a sample of TV golden-oldie "I Dream of Jeannie," Smith and turntable wizard DJ Jazzy Jeff spun a new brand of hip-hop, devoid of bombastic politics or exclusionary rhetoric - it was pure adolescent angst ("Girls of the World Ain't Nothing But Trouble"). Smith followed with more playful ribaldry on the pair's inaugural album, 1987's Rock The House, while DJ Jeff introduced a hyper-kinetic form of scratching called "transforming" that few dared to challenge. Early on, parents championed Smith and Jeff over "Parental Advisory" branded hip-hop, inevitably broadening their appeal, as well as their fan base. Dubbed a soft-core rap act, the preternaturally gifted Will and Jeff made the industry as a whole sit up and take notice. The group's success led the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) to award DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince the first ever "Best Rap Performance" Grammy in 1988 (for "Parents Just Don't Understand"). The pair would go on to win the "Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group" Grammy in 1991 for "Summertime." DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince were ultimately responsible for the multiplatinum releases He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper (1988), And In This Corner (1989), Homebase (1990), and CodeRed (1993). The infectious entertainment value of Smith's stage persona did not go unnoticed. Hollywood would soon be knocking. After Will Smith met media impresario Quincy Jones, a new television sitcom was born: the enormously successful The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Loosely based on the contours of Will's own personality - wisecracking Philly kid makes good - The Fresh Prince had a highly-rated six-season run. Looking for new challenges, the 25-year-old Smith expanded the range of his acting and entered the world of film. He made his film debut in Where The Day Takes You, a gritty tale of L.A.'s homeless subculture. His next role was unabashed proof that a major new talent had arrived. In an adaptation of the Broadway hit, Six Degrees of Separation, Will morphed into Paul, a gay street hustler, who convinces a family of blue-bloods that he's the son of Sidney Poitier. Reviews of Smith's performance were stellar. More screen action lay ahead. For Bad Boys, a testosterone-fueled jaunt through Miami's backstreets, he buddied up with comedian Martin Lawrence. Bad Boys convinced audiences Smith could throw a punch as well as he could a punch line. While playing a swaggering detective is one thing, saving the world is quite another. Nothing could prepare Will-lovers for Independence Day, the box-office champion of 1996 and one of the highest grossing films in Hollywood history. Who can forget Captain Steven Hiller's hilarious rejoinder "When we gonna kick ET's ass!"? Ironically, ET creator Steven Spielberg was producing another aliens-run-amuck adventure and Smith was his first pick. Released in summer '97, Men In Black would again give Smith the highest-grossing film of the year. The best-selling Men In Black soundtrack put Will Smith back on the map as a recording artist: his raucous rappin' single of the title track was an international global smash while Will's rock video for the tune walked off with the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video From A Motion Picture. In the months ahead, Will begins lensing Enemy of the State, an action-thriller slated for a summer '98 release. While the big screen served as a dramatic and lucrative playground, nothing compares to music, his first love. For him, hip-hop's allure is ever inviting. If the #1 global success of "Men In Black" was the appetizer, Big Willie Style is the full-course dinner. "This is the first time I've been able to make a record without any financial constraints. Whatever video I saw in my head; whatever producers I wanted to work with. I had everything at my disposal and this was my opportunity with no excuses." Indeed Big Willie Style spares no effort or expense. Cameo frontman Larry Blackmon was brought into juice up his 80's classic, "Candy." The only thing missing in the studio session was him having the cup in," chuckles Smith. And it doesn't stop there, Big Willie Style rolls out a bevy of super producers including Poke and Tone, better known as the Trackmasters, in fine form on tracks like "Gettin' Jiggy With It," and "Miami" with its walloping beats and funk-inspired bass lines. For those who thought Smith had forsaken his life-long collaborator, DJ Jazzy Jeff, perish the thought. "Don't Say Nothin'" and "It's All Good" return to the magic of those simpler earlier days. "We recorded it in Jeff's house," Will says. "We're not going in the studio, we're doing this in the crib." Peep some of his nimble free-style work on "Yes, Yes Y'all": "I rip rhymes for the flow of it/you know the show of it/not the Benz 600 four-door of it/I'ma rhyme regardless of earnin' long as my heart keeps yearnin'/I got's to keep burnin'." However, never far from earshot is Will's trademark sense of humor. Witness the character skits with Keith B. Real, voiced by Jamie Foxx. Real is "the brother who soon as he sees somebody successful has beef with it...you know a 'player hater.'" Bringing it down a notch, Smith has penned a loving tribute to his son performed to a sample of Bill Withers' "Just The Two Of Us." "It's about capturing a piece of who I am. In ten years, I just want him to have something he could listen to....a snapshot of what was going in his father's mind." Smith also talks about Jada Pinkett, the woman in his life, on "Forever": "She makes me feel good, makes me feel that forever is a possibility," Smith gushes. This Big Willie is secure in revealing a tender side. "A lot of people don't even believe that." Faith, family, friendships and the need for a challenge are the forces that continue to drive this fresh-faced wild-styled kid from Philly. He has confounded naysayers throughout his career. Big Willie Style finds the international superstar humble, but still at the top of his game. "Music is the most difficult creative form," says Will Smith. "Music is like a baby, you gotta nurture it, every second of your life has to be dedicated to the music. It's really a huge undertaking."

and following on from that... Tuesday June 24 1997 10:26 PM EDT Will Smith, Columbia Records Sign Pact By Adam Sandler HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Just don't call himthe Fresh Prince. Rapper Will Smith, whose warbling of thetitle track to the Columbia Pictures film ``Men In Black'' has reestablishedthe recording artist-turned-actor as a musical powerhouse, has been inked to alucrative, multiyear recording pact with Columbia Records. He'll drop hisformer rap moniker and will record under his own name. While many singers have acted and manyactors have tried their hand at recording albums, the Grammy-winning Smith hasthe distinction of become the only recording artist of the rock era to becomehighly successful in three media: series TV, film and music. The deal also comes as the track -- areworking of Patrice Rushen's 1982 hit Forget Me Nots -- is heating up atradio, the accompanying musicvid has become an MTV staple, and the song is thefirst wave off a potent soundtrack that boasts cuts from D'Angelo, Ginuwine andrappers Nas and Snoop Doggy Dogg. The soundtrack disc bows July 1. Smith, who co-stars in Men In Black withTommy Lee Jones, also settled his litigation with Zomba Music Group, the parentof Jive Records, as part of the deal. Smith recorded for Jive as the Fresh Princealong with DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jeff Townes) and had asked to get out of his pact.Sources said Zomba chief Clive Calder was instrumental in making that happen.Several Jive-Zomba acts also appear on the soundtrack. The duo picked up the rap perf Grammy in1988 for Parents Just Don't Understand a track off the duo's bow ``He's the DJ,I'm the Rapper.'' The deal is a coup for the Sony-ownedlabel, which pursued Smith to help complement the film's marketing campaign. Hecould release an album early next year once there is a window in his busyschedule. In addition to co-starring last year in20th Century Fox's Independence Day (which has become the second-biggestworldwide grossing film behind Jurassic Park), Smith has seen his stock riseconsiderably since appearing in 1995 in Columbia's Bad Boys, the MichaelBay-helmed film co-starring Martin Lawrence. Smith is also a three-time member of the$100 million club as he has appeared in three films that have crossed thatvaunted international box office threshold: Day, Made in America and Bad Boys. His next project is Love for Hire forImagine-Universal, which he penned and in which he will co-star with girlfriendJada Pinkett. Smith co-starred in the NBC sitcom FreshPrince of Bel-Air, which ran for six years.

VIBE - 1996 POP EYE Is This Prince Still Fresh Enough? By Steve Hochman Will Smith kicked alien butt in "Independence Day." But by building a mega-hot movie career, has the rapper-turned-actor become an alien in the world of hip-hop? In his rap guise as the Fresh Prince, Smith and his musical partner DJ Jazzy Jeff are about to test that question, with plans just set for a new album expected to be released by Jive Records in February. But while such such figures as Ice Cube, LL Cool J and the late Tupac Shakur have balanced rap credibility with movie and TV careers, there are many questions about Smith's status in hip-hop. On one hand, the timing couldn't be better: Smith became a household name with his just-concluded six-year stint in the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and with lauded roles in the films "Six Degrees of Separation" and "BadBoys" before shooting into the movie stratosphere with "Independence Day," this year's biggest blockbuster. During that time, the rap career has taken a back seat. During the NBC stint, only two DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince albums were released. The second, 1993's "Code Red," sold just 300,000 copies in the U.S., according to SoundScan figures. That's a big drop-off from the late '80s, when the duo was one of the most visible and renowned actsin pop, with Smith's wit and video presence and Jeff Townes' turn-table prowess earning the duo a series of hit singles and albums--along with the first-ever rap Grammy Award in 1988. Since the last album, Smith has shown little interest in rap, not just because he was busy with bigger things, but because he felt that he and the rest of the hip-hop world were living on different planets. Just six months ago he told The Times he was perplexed by gangsta rap's "ignorance" and violence. "Somewhere along the line it became cool to be a killer," he said of the genre's popularity. "How can that be cool?" But whatever his misgivings, Smith apparently is ready to re-enter the hip-hop world. "He's been writing and producing a lot [of songs] and is really looking forward to making a record," says Smith's co-manager James Lassiter. (Smith was taking time off and unavailable for comment.) Being a big movie star,Lassiter says, has not diminished his client's love of music. "The issue is more a matter of time," he says, noting that Smith and Townes hope to finish the album before the former starts on an as-yet-undetermined movie project, probably in February. "His attitude toward recording hasn't been affected by his movie status." Maybe, though, it's been affected by a lawsuit filed by Jive charging that the failure to actively pursue recording constitutes a breach of a contract under which the duo still owes the company two new albums and a "best of" collection. Lassiter insists that the planned return to the studio was not stimulated by the suit, but acknowledges that it is one of the "right steps that have been taken" toward an out-of-court settlement. Opinions among hip-hop observers are split on the new album's prospects. Darryl James, editor-in-chief of the Santa Monica-based journal Rap Sheet, believes that Smith's screen star status is a plus. "The fact that he is much more of a public personality than for the last album will certainly help," he says. "That plus a strong album will equal very successful sales." But Vibe magazine associate editor Sacha Jenkins isn't so sure. "Maybe with the success of 'Independence Day' there are some people in Middle America who shop at Kmart who might check out a new album," he says. "But in the culture where they were once real competitors, no one is anticipating this on that level--unless they're die-hard fans or are from Philadelphia and went to high school with them. Smith's a talented guy and seems genuinely nice and people appreciate that. But nice guys don't last long in hip-hop."

Yeah I think so!

Yeah I don't wanna build it up too much..the mix pretty much speaks for itself.. it is a full 90 minute mixtape tho...and its out in a few days.. I'll post a review on the 26th!

Guys I can't say too much but is absolutely incredible..it's literally one of the best things Jeffs ever done..come next week we really need to get out there and promote this!

Really that good Tim? I'm not sure about getting it because the games became samey over the years. But I've heard nothing but great reviews of the game. I think Imma have to get it just to keep my 1000 streak going on the NBA2K series on the 360, 2K6, 7, 8 and 9 all successfuly achievement whored, haha! I got 2K9 and yes its even better! this game is sooo much like the NBA..its incredible.. I'm currently killing it with Miami.. Wade and O'Neal Woo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoaTl7IcFs8 Spearhead has a top 20 hit in the US! This blows my mind! Well done to Michael Franti he completely deserves it..been making classics for 20 years! but he's been so underground its like sometimes I've felt like I['m the only one listening!

I just pre-ordered my copy..

I'm in!! you got nba 2k10? That game is off the chain

When you get to expert mode..you have to scratch like Jeff..you have to follow his patterns and timing to get the score

I've wanted to do Jeff's rock the bells routine for the longest time but never had the skills..this is gonna give me the opportunity!

this track is so dope... http://www.youtube.c...h?v=r_3V38vV694 "lets take it back a few months and years/before all theblunts & beers/the crunk careers/& the hoes & the stuntsappeared/b4 punks was weird/& raps was flows/b4 hip-hop turned intoa fashion show" - ill!!

Listen to DJ Jazzy Jeff talk about his appearance in the game here:

DJ Jazzy Jeff appears in the brand new game from Activision, DJ Hero! DJ Hero is available for PS3, Xbox 360,Wii and PS2 is released October 27 worldwide. DJ Jazzy Jeff contributes two great mixes as well as appearing as in-game character in the brand new music game. Of course Jeff is the best DJ in the world so it comes as no surprise that he drops the best two mixes out of a playlist of over a 100. The first mix is The Aranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra "Bittersweet Symphony"vs LL Cool J "Rock The Bells" Produced and Mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff. You may recognise bittersweet symphony from The Verves hit track. Jeffdrops his classic Rock the Bells scratch routine so now through DJ Hero you can try and emulate the master! Video below: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=8VLqqEJo0_8 The next mix in DJ Hero is Tears ForFears "Shout" vs Eric B. & Rakim "Eric B is President"- Produced and Mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff Again Jeff just kills Eric B is President! http://www.youtube.c...h?v=310-3YyOCtk For more information about DJ Hero check out our page on the JJFP web site about it, DJ Jazzy Jeff is a DJ Hero the official DJ Hero web site. Also you can follow the official DJ Hero Twitter.

Its a good song.. I like the rnb chorus!

I can't believe I lost this week.. I'm gonna be 1-3 even though I was leading in most points overall..ridiculous!

it would be worth it just to see her perform u.n.i.t.y. !! I got her new album and I'm not sure I've ever been so disappointed.. theres what 2 and a half good tracks out of 17? and theres a whole lot of rock pop tracks with wack autotune..its just horrible ughhh.. but anyway she would still be great live im sure.. this year ive seen epmd, public enemy, de la soul and im gonna go see pharoah monche soon so im happy

I wish Will and Jeff performed at this..

I think all the podcasts are negative because we are a bunch of frustrated music fans haha

yeah we need to do a podcast!

Lastfm has 356,000 people who have listened to Will Smith's music.. time to hit them up about the cause! http://www.last.fm/music/Will%2520Smith?ac=will%20smith

Good Idea Big Willie.. Lets target Will Smith music fans..not just our friends.. Not only will they join but they will help us recruit others.. I'mm gonna send some messages to the people who commented on the Gettin Jiggy wit it video on Will's official facebook page