DJ Jazzy Jeff Talks New Album With Will Smith: ‘The Timing Is Perfect’
It’s been 22 years since Will Smith (then known as the Fresh Prince) and DJ Jazzy Jeff released their fifth and ostensibly final album, Code Red. But unlike other pioneering groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Fugees, the group’s end was not predicated on infighting or ego. Smith’s acting bug became a full-on fever and Jazzy Jeff became an in-demand DJ who still performs more than 150 shows a year.
The childhood friends have remained close, and their reunion, revealed by Smith in an interview with Apple Music earlier this week, was hiding in plain sight for years: Jeff regularly DJs the wrap parties for Smith’s movies, with the rapper inevitably hopping on the mic to perform a medley of the duo’s greatest hits.
But this week, Smith announced the duo’s reunion with plans for a new album and the first world tour of their career. The rapper told Zane Lowe he has recorded 20 to 30 songs — which may or may not appear on the album — but the duo are taking their time in recording new material. “Timelines are a thing of record companies,” Jeff tells Rolling Stone. With Smith releasing his first verse in more than a decade last week, the prolific DJ spoke to Rolling Stone on the past, present and future of the pop-rap pioneers.
Where are you in the recording process?
Will’s been recording. We had a really good conversation because he wants to get back in recording. One of the things that we talk about is going from all of these stupid, giant, million-dollar studios to now having the ability to record something in a hotel room. We laugh about the amount of material we would have put out if we had had those resources [in the Eighties and Nineties]. I want to just start recording to get him back into this space that there are no rules anymore! Every time we do an impromptu show, he’s like, “Man, we can go out and we should go out.” And I’m like, “I’m already out. I’m waiting for you!”
Do you have a recording timetable yet?
Not yet. I know just with the schedules, it will be in sections. It could be any time like, I’m home for two weeks and we’re going to get together and do something. That could really start off with me sending him something and him recording it and then us getting together. But the only way that I will [record the finished track] is if we are in the studio together. That’s how it’s always been. I’m not worried about me at all. I think the beauty of it is that he started it, and he’s ready to go.