Jazzy Jeff Interview Conducted in 1997

SPADY: Since we're in Philly, how did you become successful as a DJ on the underground prior to your recording contract? 
JAZZY JEFF: Just having a following in [my] own neighborhood. 

S: Where in the neighborhood were you playing? 
JJ: West Philadelphia.

S: But where? What kind of places? 
JJ: Like Cobbs Creek Park area, you know. Basically, I was the kid that everyone called to do the parties. And you start to get a following, and once you get a following and people behind you, your confidence starts to grow. You start to try new things, innovative things. People start to know you. And then that kinda spread from West Philly to West and Southwest, to West and Southwest and South Philly, and then throughout Philly.

S: Is it the speed or the style or the freshness? What elements were important for you as a DJ when you were doing it? 
JJ: I think what was most important was lack of mistakes.

S: What do you mean by lack of mistakes? 
JJ: If it was something that I wasn't 100 percent confident that I could do? I wouldn't try it. Because I didn't want people to look and say what I always said as a DJ. My success-to-mistake ratio was very, very, low. Because if it was a consideration that I could make a mistake, if any mistake I made, I wanted it to be a technical mistake not a mistake that I'm trying something beyond my means. 

S: How about the shift from vinyl to CD? 
JJ: You know, I'm a vinyl junkie, and I actually think that it would kill a lot of the soul and modern day music if they discontinued the vinyl. What I saw was when they tried to discontinue the vinyl, what started happening? You stop in a record store and see a bunch of bootlegs because people weren't really standing for it. From an artist's point of view, I didn't agree with it, but from a DJ's point of view, I did, because I understood we can't let this thing die. This is the backbone. You can feel the difference in vinyl and CD.

S: Cosmic Kev talks about the difference between Philly DJs and New York DJs in terms of style. What made a Philly DJ at that time period in '83, '84? 
JJ: New York was a town predominantly made up of rappers. Not that Philadelphia didn't have rappers, but Philadelphia was a DJ-based town. We put emphasis on DJing. The rappers here kinda catered to the DJs, you know. Rappers rapped and when the time came about, you know, the rapper played up the DJ. It was maybe two DJs in New York that happened, which were Grandmaster Flash and . and it was totally different, you know.

S: How about Philly? Who were some of the other ones aside from you? 
JJ: There were so many. I mean, Cosmic Kev, Cash Money, Lightening Rich. I mean, it was a group, and it's like you kinda think back to that era. It was so cool because everybody had their own DJ. Every DJ had their own style, you know, and we all were cool. We knew that you could go to a party, and one night Cash would just tear it up. Then the next night Cosmic Kev would just tear it up, and then Lightening Rich would do something, then I would do something. So, it wasn't like who was the greatest or who wasn't. At any given time, and on any given night, someone would shine.

S: And where were you playing at that time period? 
JJ: You know, the Wynne Ballroom, Hotel Philadelphia, a lot of the YMCAs around the city. Everyone had their own location, and it was like someone came to the Y on 52nd Street or the Wynne Ballroom, you were coming into Jazzy Jeff's neck of the woods. You embraced with Cosmic Kev, you know, Cash Money, Lightening Rich. If you go to Holy Souls in North Philly, you were going into Lightening Rich territory and he took care of you. If you were going to Wagner's Ballroom, you would go to Cosmic Kev's territory and he would take care of you. So, you know, it was kinda cool. 

S: Is it more difficult to have relationships when you become famous? 
JJ: Very.

S: And why? Why is that? Same people you knew all along, right? 
JJ: These are people who we did Holy Souls together. We did the Wynne Ballroom together. We did the YMCA. I'm not doing those things anymore and it's like ... what I don't think a lot of those people understand is that I miss them, too.

S: What do you mean you miss them, man? You don't have to do that anymore, right? 
JJ: You go from playing for 40 minutes at a party to doing seven minutes on stage. And it's a big difference. It's a big difference. Those 40 minutes honed my skills to do those seven minutes. And it's like, you miss it. Of course, there's a difference in pay and a difference in caliber, but it's not always about the pay and the caliber. It's about the feeling, you know? The feeling of doing those 40 minutes is what put me in the position that I'm in right now. 

S: Why did you stay in the Philadelphia area rather than leaving to do a television or film thing? 
JJ: Philly's my home.

S: And what does that mean? 
JJ: I honestly believe the reason for who I am today and a lot of the accomplishments-and I honestly believe that the sound that I have and that Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince as a group had-is based on our location. I never wanted to change my location because if I change my location, I'm going to change my sound. I don't know if that's superstitious, but that's something that I firmly believe. 

S: What is it about competition? You said you weren't competing for first rank as DJ, but still, Philly's a very competitive city in general. Now, what was it about growing up in a neighborhood where people were competitive? 
JJ: But, you know what? Anyone that knows me knows I've never been one to say that I was the best. I'm not even one to say that I was one of the best. That wasn't my goal. My goal was to please the crowd and make myself look good. Of course, you're going to be compared. People are going to say, "Well, such and such is better than you." And it was like . I never cared. I had a goal and objective. And what I always do is equate things like that to a bricklayer, you know. If you're a bricklayer and I'm a bricklayer, it doesn't matter who lays the best bricks as long as we both are laying bricks. Then everyone should be happy.