DJ Jazzy Jeff hints at Will Smith reunion for hip hop's 50th anniversary
DJ Jazzy Jeff has given a strong hint that he could be reuniting with long-time collaborator Will ‘Fresh Prince’ Smith this summer.
The US hip hop duo first started working together all the way back in 1985, releasing five studio albums, four compilations and 18 singles.
The pair experienced chart and critical success, nabbing themselves two Grammys - one in 1989 for Parents Just Don’t Understand and then again in 1991 with Summertime - as well as becoming the third rap group ever to receive platinum certification.
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DJ Jazzy Jeff, real name Jeff Townes, and the Fresh Prince, better known as Will Smith, last released an album back in 1993, before Smith went off to pursue a career in acting full-time.
And I don’t need to tell you how successful that would go on to be, do I?
In the past the duo have insisted that they never really split up and Townes has appeared on several of Smith’s solo tracks - but they last performed together for Smith’s 51st birthday in 2019.
However, now Townes has let slip that the pair have been in talks to reunite.
During an interview with the Associated Press yesterday (15 May), Townes was asked if we were likely to see the return of DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, to which he replied: “We are talking about it. We are talking about it. It’s the 50th anniversary of hip hop. So we’ll see.”
The reporter then asks again if that means there ‘could very well be a Fresh Prince out there alongside of you’, to which Townes cryptically responded: “There is a 50th anniversary going on this year, and you never know what you’re going to get this year.”
When asked if the two men stayed in touch, he said: “Absolutely, absolutely.”
Confirming that the pair still ‘had their rhymes down’, he added: “Listen, we are two seconds. Two seconds - it’s second nature.”
The pals last shared a stage during Smith’s birthday concert in 2019 in front of St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest.
Addressing the crowd, he said: “This is the one that got me and Jeff started in Philly in Jeff’s mom’s basement. We were just two kids from Philly that had a dream so there has never been a time in my life that I didn’t look to the side and have a great friend.
“For more than half of my life he has been one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”
Ah, isn’t that sweet.
Topics: Will Smith, Music, Celebrity
Claire Reid