So Tell My Mother That I Never Made a Whack Jam

July 12, 2010 2:11 PM

The music video to "Boom! Shake the Room," by D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (SLYT).
posted by WCityMike (41 comments total)

That Fresh Prince fellow does have a way about him. He should consider a career in the movies.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:16 PM on July 12, 2010

Wow, I never realized how much they were imitating (poorly) Public Enemy in that video.
posted by msali at 2:24 PM on July 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

"Would you people just shut the hell up with the ''Fresh Prince'' already! He's a two-bit TV actor who won't be around any longer than it takes for the ink to dry on the pages of the worthless rags you jerk-offs write for!"
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:30 PM on July 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

What ya need to do, is download Jeff's free new mixtape (with Mick Boogie)

It is the absolute perfect compliment to the summer heat....

TRACKLIST:
Summertime Intro
Kool & The Gang: Summer Madness (Live Version)
Kool & The Gang: Summer Madness
Quincy Jones: Summer In The City
Ahmad: Back In The Day
Ice Cube: It Was A Good Day
Roy Ayers f/ Mary J Blige: Everybody Loves The Sunshine
Pharcyde: Passin’ Me By (Ffej Remix)
Jay-Z f/ Babyface: Sunshine
Ramsey Lewis: Sun Goddess
A Tribe Called Quest: Find A Way (Ffej String Edit) 12: Bush Babies f/ Mos Def: The Love Song
Jodeci: Get On Up
The Commodores: High On Sunshine
J Dilla f/ Dwele : Think Twice
Erick Sermon f/ Marvin Gaye: Music (Mick’s Marvapella Edit)
Bernard Wright: Who Do You Love
LL Cool J: Loungin’
A Tribe Called Quest: Hot Sex
Main Source: Live At The BBQ
Nuyorican Soul: Nautilus
Pharcyde & Sublime: Summertime
Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff: Summertime Remix
Michael Jackson: I Can’t Help It
De La Soul: Breakdawn
Musiq: Just Friends
Carl Thomas: Summer Rain
Faze-O: Riding High
Dionne Warwick: Walk On By
Skee-Lo: I Wish
Black Moon: Who Got The Props
Frankie Beverly and Maze: Before I Let Go
Nu Shooz: I Can’t Wait
Montell Jordan: This Is How We Do It 35: The Roots f/ George Benson: Breezin’ 36: Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff: Time To Chill
Biggie: Can’t You See
James Brown: The Payback
En Vogue: My Lovin’
Bobby McFerrin: Sunshine Of My Life
Fifth Dimension: Let The Sun Shine In
Mos Def: Sunshine
Nine: Whatcha Want
Otis Redding: Sittin’ On The Dock
2Pac: I Get Around (Mick’s String Edit)
Zapp: Computer Love (Terry’s Mirage On The Water Mix)
Seals And Croft: Summer Breeze
Jay-Z: Dear Summer
Weldon Irvine: Morning Sunrise
posted by Senor Cardgage at 2:33 PM on July 12, 2010 [32 favorites]

That Fresh Prince fellow does have a way about him. He should consider a career in the movies.

In Independence Day, when Vivica Fox told him, "You're not as cute as you think you are", and he replied, "Yes, I am", you could tell immediately that he was going to be a big star. Charisma like that is a gift from God.

Or Xenu - who he seems to be tighter with these days.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:38 PM on July 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

When is the end of the Willenium?
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:44 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Code Red may well be the best profanity-free rap record of the 90's.
posted by substars at 2:48 PM on July 12, 2010

I finally figured out what I love about Will Smith. I'm sick of seeing celebrities start out strong and then crash and burn in alcoholic/drug-addicted/angry-racist/relationship-destroying/corporate-shilling/tabloid-chasing oblivion. It's kind of refreshing to see somebody start with a modest TV career and then blossom into an accomplished actor with heart. Will Smith is the anti-Hollywood, he's aging like a fine wine. Totally the exception to the rule. I can only hope he stays on this trajectory.

I feel the same way about Leo DiCaprio.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:50 PM on July 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

Wow. I'm not too much of a snob for Fresh Prince/Jazzy Jeff rap as a whole- they did some solid, fun stuff. But this... this is the least convincing display of toughness this side of "Pumps and a Bump" by Gangsta Hammer.

The rapping isn't that far off, either. it's just his face- you can always kind of see the smirk just below the surface.
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:53 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

For me the Willennium ended before it even began. Big ups to tha DJ tho.
posted by BeerFilter at 3:08 PM on July 12, 2010

WCityMike: Woah, I had no idea Will Smith was caught up in that stuff. Guess that explains Joe Beese's Xenu comment. It's a shame, he's really come into his own as a dramatic actor and a respectable bloke in most ways. How does something as laughably heinous as Scientology continue to sucker people into it? (Especially rich and famous people, who seem central to its political "agenda," but I don't want to get into conspiracy theories here...)
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 3:19 PM on July 12, 2010

Something about Smith irks me, but I can never put my finger on it. When the Scientology stuff happened I thought "man, isn't he smarter than that?" - bet you $5 one day he's revealed to be a replicant.
posted by pyrex at 3:35 PM on July 12, 2010

Code Red may well be the best profanity-free rap record of the 90's.

I know those words, but that sentence makes no sense.
posted by shmegegge at 3:38 PM on July 12, 2010

Thanks to WCityMike for this post, but Senior Cardgage just bust my shit open.
posted by BeerFilter at 3:50 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Huh. Looking at that I just realised that the keyboard sample under the chorus is from "Funky Worm" by the wonderful Ohio Players.
posted by ob at 3:51 PM on July 12, 2010

Thanks to WCityMike for this post, but Senior Cardgage just bust my shit open.


Srsly man. You'll love it. It came out a week ago and Ive been playing it an avg of 2 to 3 times a day.

It's just perfectly built.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:55 PM on July 12, 2010

/me checks his shit

Hey! Senor Cardgage has just bust mine open too!
posted by Jofus at 4:16 PM on July 12, 2010

Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit closed shit-busting. Mine's wide open now too.

It is the absolute perfect compliment to the summer heat....

Hell down here, I've only just stopped wearing lined gloves, a hat and a scarf. That's going straight to the top of my download queue.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:25 PM on July 12, 2010

Thanks for the reminder, Cardgage, a friend posted the link a couple days ago while I was atg work, but I forgot to download it when I got home -- that shall be remedied.

I will always have fondness for Jazzy and the Prince.

1-900-909-JEFF! LOL.

(I also tried calling Philly for "Jeff Townes" in 1988, and I got a number with a voice that sounded a bit like his, and I left this nerdy 6th grade fanboy message. I like to think it was him. I tried Will Smith, but uh... Smith? Yeah... Just a little too common. I tried that number not long after and it was changed! And I couldn't get "Jeff Townes" number from the assistance after that).

Also remember running in gym class they let me pop in He's the DJ, and my friend loved the line "Your runnin' round like a chicken with your head cut off..."
posted by symbioid at 4:28 PM on July 12, 2010

There was a link the other day about the secret language long-time couples develop.
Watching this video reminded me that a surprising number of the ones in my marriage are Fresh Prince-isms.

I like to think it has more to do with his way with a turn of phrase than my white-bread musical tastes.
posted by madajb at 4:51 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I prefer Will Smith as an actor than a rapper. Most of his music is catchy at first but then quickly becomes grating. I've only managed to keep two of his tracks on my iPod.

But I can see his potential to be like Denzel Washington in staying power.
posted by bwg at 5:40 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

When is the end of the Willenium?

Not likely at least until the big screen Barack Obama biopic is made in a few years. Will Smith has a guaranteed lock on that role. You know he's already practicing BO's special speech cadence and mannerisms in the bathroom mirror. (And my money's on Kerry Washington to play Mrs. O.)
posted by fuse theorem at 6:04 PM on July 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

But I can see his potential to be like Denzel Washington in staying power.

But hopefully not as typecast, though I must admit, I did enjoy most of Will Smith's July 4 movies and he essentially plays the same character in all of those.
posted by madajb at 6:05 PM on July 12, 2010

/me checks his shit

I believe we have all been told.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:50 PM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love the verse where he st-st-starts to stutter.

Thanks for this.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:30 PM on July 12, 2010

Will Smith, I've been to those Asian Karaoke rooms where they're just one rooms and you're not on a stage in front of strangers. These Asian Karaoke rooms are conducive to trying out songs that you'd normally be to embarrassed to try out. Like rap songs, for example.

Will Smith, I can report that you have mad skills. It's impossible to keep up with you. Amongst rap artists that make it across the Pacific ocean, your skills are unapproachable.

People who aren't Will Smith, try singing 'Guilty Conscience' and contrast that with 'Wild Wild West'.

"Huh? Will WigittyFuckin' Smith? I can do the NWA / Dre rhymes but the fricken mecha-spider lines trip me up? WTF."
posted by sleslie at 8:02 PM on July 12, 2010

I can only hope he stays on this trajectory.

I'm not sure I'd trust his math skills with rocketry.
posted by dhartung at 9:05 PM on July 12, 2010

I'm not sure I'd trust his math skills...

He also was insane to think he could beat Mike Tyson.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:41 PM on July 12, 2010

I recall the cassette single for this track was made out of translucent red plastic. So cool!
posted by thecjm at 10:02 PM on July 12, 2010

He also was insane to think he could beat Mike Tyson

well, in his defense, when he met Ali, he told him he's the greatest.
posted by brevator at 10:11 PM on July 12, 2010

Dang, is it just me or has he not aged a day?
posted by little light-giver at 10:48 PM on July 12, 2010

Senor cardgage's link seems to be dead. I blame xenu.
posted by billyfleetwood at 2:01 AM on July 13, 2010

He's just like Doogie Howser - he will always look like he is fourteen - with a barely there moustache and beard.
posted by mochek at 2:41 AM on July 13, 2010

That mixtape download link is dead. Damn you copyright cartel! There goes my day, listening to the same old dreck I've listened to a thousand times.
posted by DigDoug at 4:33 AM on July 13, 2010

That one dude looks like that one dude.
posted by pracowity at 4:53 AM on July 13, 2010

For those whose shit has yet to be bust open: the filename is DJ Jazzy Jeff & Mick Boogie.zip
posted by coiled at 6:07 AM on July 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

I am still embarrassed to tell people how much I enjoyed his "Lost and Found" album from 2005. But that shit is just straight up entertaining!
posted by antifuse at 8:15 AM on July 13, 2010

Everyone be shooooshy!
Dead link problem: solved
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:56 AM on July 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

I <3 you, Senor Cardgage.
posted by fiercekitten at 3:14 PM on July 13, 2010

"...in response to the way that i was kickin' it." Don't anybody say Prince doesn't go the extra mile in his rhymes.

Visually they might be mocking PE, but the sound to me is pure LL.
posted by rhizome at 5:13 PM on July 13, 2010

I don't know what else JJ&FP were doing at this time, so it's hard to say whether they're explicitly parodying LL and PE due to the prevalence of conscious rap and the political upswings of hip-hop in the early 90s.

But I think the video exists as a parody whether intentional or not. It may just be that they're mocking their own clean image by co-opting more vital strains of the music at that time. "Trying to sell out," basically.
posted by rhizome at 3:43 PM on July 14, 2010