DJ Jazzy Jeff Interview
Champion Soul

Jazzy Jeff may not be hobnobbing with Hollywood royalty like his princely friend will smith. But with his homegrown production fortress he's successfully master-minded a neo-soul revolution.

By Tom Moon

Touch Of Cool
Words: Neil Young

Jeff Townes, aka DJ Jazzy Jeff, communicates in a stream-of-consciousness like way. His sentences are peppered with "Y'knows's", "it was like's", emotional bursts and re-directions. He's festive, thoughtful, charming and engaging. If visual images of Jeff in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, chasing women and stumbling through life, are your reference points- squash that, because it's obvious Jeff is much more than most people know.

But that's been a theme in Jeff's career. It's tough to be in the shadow of an on-and-off-again partner that has become a megastar, and then be misunderstood by a mainstream media who are ignorant of your own accomplishments. And there have been many that, yes, have included his pop-stardom with the Fresh Prince, but as well, his own achievements that have evolved from his stature as one of the best technical DJ's in the world. Then there is his studio in Philly, which has become the Mecca for the Nu-Soul movement. Jill Scott, Eryka Badu, The Roots and Musiq Soulchild have all benefited from his studio, creative network and own personal expertise. For those who don't know, it may come as a shock that someone who has been associated with the most bubble-gum of bubble-gum hip hop, is in many ways behind some very hip, next-level music.

Jeff came into music at an early age through his existence in a very musical household.

"I grew up around music and I just wanted to get it out," he recalls. "Some people get it out with a guitar, some get it out with drums, some get it out with horns. I got it out with two turntables."

Basement gigs that consisted of himself, and himself only, evolved into parties, and led to hooking up with a dynamic, smooth Master of Ceremony called the Fresh Prince. They landed a recording contract after performing at a New Music Seminar in 86', and then proceeded to educate the world on rocking a party. Back in the day, prior to the "Parents Don't Understand" era, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were well known in the underground, from the Bronx to their hometown of Philly for skills. No one slept, and no one could. Battles were won, and other DJ's were left breathless. Jeff was, and is, that good.

Their first hit single "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" led to some cross-over success that laid the groundwork for the pop stardom that was to follow with their sophomore LP - He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. But, after the money started to roll, and their videos started to receive heavy rotation, their original core fans started to yell, 'sell out!'

"When 'Parents Don't Understand' came out, everybody liked it. Once mainstream audiences started liking it, everybody else started looking at it like 'wow, you guys are doing something different'. Will and I had always been on that vibe, y'know, but yes it was hard, because some original fans felt alienated. But how can you be accused of alienating people when we were doing the same thing we were doing for our original fans."

Oh yes, hip hop audiences can be fickle, and none were more so than the late 80's, early 90's fans who were starting to discover the highly politicized hip hop of groups like Public Enemy and X-Clan, and/or the experimental sounds of the Native Tongue Family. Backlash was bound to happen. Jeff also realizes that the record company's re-imaging that emphasized the duo's light side caused some long-term credibility problems.

When he talks of those days, his voice is filled with wonder and nostalgia, as well as bewilderment and disappointment. One thing is for sure, Jeff made some money, and Jeff was smart with it, because he invested it into his dream project of opening a music studio called, A Touch Of Jazz.

"I always wanted to produce. I always wanted to make records, and I knew that I was not going to be DJing, or Will was not going to want to be on the road for the rest of his life, so I had to think of life after that, " says Jeff. "I never had an idea of what it was going to evolve into. But, with having on the job training you sort of develop your musical tastes and your business direction. I then realized that with my production, and the studio, I wanted to capture the emotion that the music that I grew up with captured. Y'know, the music that made you feel good. It wasn't necessarily about if this was a hit or not, and if it was a number one song or not, but it was something that made you feel good."

A Touch Of Jazz has developed a stellar reputation, not just because of Jeff, but also because of the creative talent that he brings together under his roof. Plenty of Philly's stars, if not all, have rolled into that space to both create and feed off the energy of a James Poysner, or a Questlove, or a Victer Duplaix.

It seems it's now time for Jeff to step out from behind the scenes, and drop a project that promotes his talents without the filter of another artists' face on the sleeve. Jeff's solo LP will be coming out in August and will carry the logo of one of the most respectable hip hop boutique labels in the world. BBE music has dropped some awe inspiring projects from both new school and old school titans such as Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Jay Dee and Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas. Now Jeff will be included in that group, and his obvious respect for the label's hands-off approach is evident.

"It was probably the most liberating thing that I have ever done because, y'know, you weren't pigeon holed, it wasn't like I had to do a specific thing," Jeff explains. "It wasn't like I did this record to sell a bunch of units, it wasn't like I did this record to please everybody. It would be easier for me to try and please myself, and hope that it touches a bunch of people, instead of trying to go after individual market places. That was the beauty of the whole BBE thing, they're coming to producers, and asking who you are and what makes you what. And you have a chance to answer that question musically."

It will be interesting to see what Jeff does with this project, but if his recent collaborations and associations are an indication, the quality will be top-notch, and it will again prove the uneducated nay-sayers wrong. But proving people wrong has never been Jeff's intention.

"I am the kind of person who does what he does not necessarily for the accolades," Jeff states. "It's kind of like, I feel there's no way in the world that I could ever be mad at what may happen with my career, with all of the success that I have had. There's no way that I could be frustrated or upset, so that kind of stuff does not bother me. So its like, right now I'm doing music because I enjoy it, y'know, and there are going to be some people who are not knowledgeable of what I am doing or what I have done, and just look at it like "wow that's the guy that used to be with Will and Will is doing movies and TV". I can't scream out on the street corner and tell people about my accomplishments. You just got to chuckle it off and just keep on going. Once again, I am blessed in doing what I love to do. Sometimes I feel really guilty in making any criticism, and thinking that I should be getting more. It's kind of like; I didn't have to have what I have now, so I am cool."