Post by Laurence Aikens

Jeffrey Allen Townes (born January 22, 1965), known professionally as DJ Jazzy Jeff (or simply Jazz), is a DJ, record producer, and songwriter who was a member of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince with Will Smith. He is credited, along with DJs Spinbad and Cash Money, with making the transformer scratch famous. He took the stage name, DJ Jazzy Jeff. He was one half of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, along with Will Smith. The group received the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 for "Parents Just Don't Understand", though their most successful single was "Summertime" which earned the group their second Grammy and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. When Smith branched out into television with the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he played a character named Jazz, Smith's best friend on the show. He was initially a recurring character in the first season but became a regular shortly thereafter. He performed with Smith at the premiere of Hancock. He made a mixtape titled He's the King...I'm the DJ in honor of the late entertainer Michael Jackson. He was featured in the video game DJ Hero as a playable character. He has some original mixes in the game. He and Mick teamed up to release the Summertime: The Mixtape series. The mixes are released every summer. He performed with Will Smith on The Graham Norton Show. He released Vinyl Destination, a web series documenting his hundred-plus DJ shows from all around the world. He appeared as the lead interview in Paul Stenning's book Success - By Those Who've Made It. He performed the scratch overdubs for the film Straight Outta Compton. He and Will Smith performed two shows in Europe: MTV Summerblast Music Festival in Croatia and the Livewire Festival in Blackpool. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence