DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "Homebase"

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Homebase
1991, Jive

1. I'm All That
2. Summertime
3. The Things That U Do
4. This Boy is Smooth
5. Ring My Bell
6. A Dog is a Dog
7. Caught In the Middle (Love and Life)
8. Trapped on the Dance Floor
9. Who Stole the DJ?
10. You Saw My Blinker
11. Dumb Dancin'
12. Summertime (Reprise)
13. Ring My Bell

Wow. Those jackets. They could not be any more early 90's. I think there's more colors in those jackets than is actually allowed by law. Anyway, Homebase is sort of a comeback album.  And In This Corner... didn't do very well so the boys took a little time off, starred in a hit TV show, regrouped and released this. "Summertime" was a massive hit. However, it's the only single from this album. I like this one alright but it's not my favorite. It's a bit more mature - focusing more on instrumentation and smooth jazz stuff. No problems there, but it's not quite as fun. In fact, there's a couple songs that just leave a bad taste in my ears. First there's "A Dog is a Dog" in which the Fresh Prince admits that, yes, he'd like to bed every single women he sees and that should be okay. Then there's the mean-spirited "You Saw My Blinker" in which Fresh Prince raps about breaking some girl's wrist for spurning his advances AND badgering a 90-year-old woman. As a whole it's okay but it'll never dethrone He's the DJ as my favorite album.

Useless Fact: Several guest MC's appear on "Trapped on the Dance Floor," which is a first. I am way too lazy to look up who the actual guests are.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "And In This Corner..."

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - And In This Corner...
1989, Jive

1. Then She Bit Me
2. I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson
3. Jazzy's Groove
4. Everything That Glitters (Ain't Always Gold)
5. You Got It (Donut)
6. The Girlie Had a Mustache
7. The Reverend
8. Who Stole My Car?
9. The Men of Your Dreams
10. Numero Uno
11. Too Damn Hype
12. Jeff Waz On the Beat Box

After the smashing success of He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, the duo put out this album the very next year. However, I never really heard much from it. I think I saw "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" a grand total of one time on MTV. And In This Corner... didn't match the previous album. This album focuses a little more on wacky stories and such a la "Parents Just Don't Understand." "Then She Bit Me" immediately recalls the creepy vibe of "Nightmare on My Street" but instead of an amusing horror rap it's filled with non-sequiturs and lame rhymes and almost none of it makes sense. It's really annoying and not the way you want to start an album. Also, I think Will Smith flows better when he's just plain rapping instead of telling a story. As a result, while this album is full of old school fun, I don't quite like it as much. The group took some time off after this one to regroup and came back in a big way with Homebase later.

Useless Fact: Well... there's that "Too Damn Hype" song I was talking about but it's completely different from the one I mentioned in my other review. I STILL don't know where I heard that song. Heck, I'm starting to think I imagined it.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper"

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper

1998, Zomba

1. A Nightmare On My Street

2. Here We Go Again

3. Brand New Funk

4. Time to Chill

5. Charlie Mack (1st Out of the Limo)

6. As We Go

7. Parents Just Don't Understand

8. Pump Up the Bass

9. Let's Get Busy Baby

10. Live at Union Square (November 1986)

11. D.J. On the Wheels

12. My Buddy

13. Rhythm Trax - House Party Style

14. He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper

15. Hip Hop Dancer's Theme

16. Jazzy's in the House

17. Human Video Game

I have fond memories of playing The Legend of Zelda on the original Nintendo for hours on end with this disc as the soundtrack. So mainly I own this for nostalgia reasons. Truth be told I still pull it out more regularly than you'd think. A lot of people claim that grunge in the early 90's wrecked the market for good time rock 'n roll and I think gangsta rap did the same for hip-hop. Now I'm not a huge rap fan so you can take that with a grain of salt, but can you name one rap star today that's not about fame and bling or all hardcore? Yeah... thought so. This is just optimistic good-time hip-hop. And I don't care what anybody says, Will Smith is a fantastic MC. He's got a grasp of the English language that most rappers today could learn something from. It doesn't matter whether he's rapping about Freddy or trying to get a girl in bed, he's creative and classy. It goes a long way with me that he doesn't have to use the "F" word every two seconds. I don't care if that ruins his "street cred." A lot of people want to call rap poetry and this CD could be used as a good example. DJ Jazzy Jeff also knows his way around a turntable too. I'm not sure why the guys felt compelled to put the "live track" on there and there's a couple other tunes that are "instrumentals" that I don't care for. But I still like it even after all these years, Legend of Zelda or no.

Useless Fact: I remember having the tape of this and it had a song were the guys would sing "Too Damn Hype" over and over. There's no song like that on my CD. I wonder what happened? Does anyone know?