Will Smith talks about life as Fresh Prince with DJ Jazzy Jeff and DC club show before he was a movie star in 1989

This extremely awkward conversation led to a tour cancellation of his DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince show in Washington, D.C. Sometimes just don’t understand…

In 1989, Will Smith, then known as the Fresh Prince, and DJ Jazzy Jeff, was interviewed by Nestor Aparicio. The conversation, which took place before Smith’s television show and movie stardom, was awkward and brief. They discussed their upcoming tour, the intimate nature of their shows, and their audience demographics, which were mainly younger black and white kids. They reflected on their unexpected success, including performing at the Grammys. The interview also touched on their creative process, drawing inspiration from current events, and the challenges of live performances, including the occasional mistake.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Will Smith, Fresh Prince, DJ Jazzy Jeff, awkward interview, 930 club, canceled show, young audience, rap industry, Grammy performance, Mike Tyson song, new material, theatrical show, tour plans, intimate concert, rap audience

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Will Smith

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Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome back wnst Towson, Baltimore, and wnst.net we are in its NSG rock week. You can hashtag it out on social media. Wnst rock week. And this really isn’t a rock interview. And if I had to say anything about this one, I would say its awkwardness at its absolute finest. This is the late 1980s in 1989 1990 and for those you remember MTV. I remember Will Smith. Before he was Will Smith, he was the Fresh Prince, of course, on television. But even before that, he was the rapper of parents just don’t understand, along with DJ Jazzy Jeff. So this is one of the more strange interviews. It’s obviously very short. It’s obviously very awkward. I was not in any way a rat fan. I was a little bit of a fan of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and they’re sort of clever little videos and that sort of thing. But I think you’ll you’re gonna hate this interview. It’s very, very awkward, and it was before he did his television show. We didn’t even talk about the television show they were gonna play at the 930 club, the old 930 club in DC, down on F Street. And apparently, after this interview, when they were going to do the show, according to Seth Hurwitz, and this was reported in The Washington Post and other places. Will Smith came in, took a look around, and canceled to show sold. That shows he just didn’t think it was worthy that the club was worthy of him playing there. Now, this is before he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world, obviously. And, you know, apparently, he came back looking for tickets for an oasis concert, and Seth Hurwitz in the 930 club said, I don’t think so. But anyway, I interviewed Will Smith. It was very, very awkward, very, very weird. It was 27 years ago, and this is before he was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. And it’s a completely awful, forgettable interview, but I’m gonna run it anyway. It’s w n s d rock week here on w n s d second to talk. Great. When you guys gonna go out on the road? We leave Sunday really. So Washington at the first

Will Smith  02:14

show. I have no idea. I have no idea. I think when is Washington day Monday? Because I think we have one Sunday night in Connecticut.

Nestor Aparicio  02:24

So what was last time you all were on the road?

Will Smith  02:27

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We just came out. We did a Canadian Tour the past three weeks. What

Nestor Aparicio  02:32

kind of places we plan up there? Your plan is really, really small, 930 club.

Will Smith  02:43

That’s DC, right? Yeah, it’s really tiny. It’s great, I

Nestor Aparicio  02:50

guess it’s not great if you don’t get a ticket. But so what’s the show like?

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Will Smith  02:58

Exciting. There’s a theatrical, very theatrical show.

Nestor Aparicio  03:02

Was it a lot like what you did on the Grammys the

Will Smith  03:07

other night? More exhilarating?

Nestor Aparicio  03:10

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I guess it’s more intimate because it’s smaller. So have you been with Technotronic before?

Will Smith  03:16

No, Sunday night is the first

Nestor Aparicio  03:21

one with the audience. Mean, are you getting mostly younger black kids, younger white kids, older people, or has it been a real good mix? It’s been

Will Smith  03:30

mostly younger kids, black and white, but mainly younger though. I

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Nestor Aparicio  03:37

just want to know you know where the rap audience is going. I had a middle rap show over a year or so, and I just was wondering, you know, everybody’s saying it’s turned out to be more I mean, it’s been peaceful, more peaceful lately than I mean, your shows are obviously more peaceful, but, I mean, like the North Run, DMC violence and all that stuff that happened a few years back. I mean, where do you see the rap music industry going at this point? I mean, it’s

Will Smith  04:00

strange. Now it’s like, I don’t know from city to city. It varies so much listening and who’s coming, you really can’t tell where it’s going and what’s new and real hard. I

Nestor Aparicio  04:18

mean, a couple years ago, when you first started rapping, I mean, do you ever think you can’t be on the Grammys? I mean, too. Grammys? I mean,

Will Smith  04:24

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I mean, it was a dream. But, you know, you never expected, expected it to happen. It never, you never thought it would be real. You figured it was just, it’s like, you know, like for any young, any young actor that say, I’m gonna win an Emmy one day Oscar, but playing, joking, having fun is like, it’s not real, and then it happened.

Nestor Aparicio  04:52

So, I mean, what happened this year about the performance and stuff? I mean, when did you find out you were going to be performing?

Will Smith  04:58

Probably, I. Weeks prior.

Nestor Aparicio  05:03

So you little nervous or No, I guess the mike tyson songs a little bit dated. Now, do you feel kind of funky about doing that, or did you watch the fight you friends with Tyson, I guess you felt kind of bad about the whole thing. Everybody gets lucky. How many songs you doing live? You know, maybe an hour long, or something like that, depending on how to minutes, depending on how much new material You’re writing this point, when you have a lot of material written already. So how do you come up with an idea? I mean, talk about Paris. You talk about, you know, Freddy Krueger, Mike Tyson, what’s on your mind? Now, by

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Will Smith  06:17

those records, you could tell just what’s happening around that time, whatever is happening around the time that we’re doing the album, you never know what we might write about. Idea just comes from nowhere. You can’t sit down and make one up. It just comes

Nestor Aparicio  06:34

to me, you guys are a lot different than most of the other rap groups, or, you know, the Beastie Boys, or any of the other you know, groups that are out and that you you do, do current, topical kinds of things. I mean, everybody else is more of, like a broad thing. But you mean, you know, Mike Tyson, you know, that’s that’s narrowing it down, right? You know, right there, you know. So you’re not, you’re not writing now, you’re just gonna wait till the events happen and then then hit on them.

Will Smith  07:00

Usually what we do, just whatever, whatever is most prominent in our minds at the time. We watch a lot of TV and movies and stuff like that.

Nestor Aparicio  07:13

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Where’d you get the idea for parents just don’t understand. I never read anything about, you know, I heard that was my favorite song that summer. You know, my kid loved it and stuff, and, you know, just wondering where that came from, a movie. So, like, your mom wasn’t, like, overbearing or anything, right? You know you can get

Will Smith  07:43

rhymes going that quickly. That’s the easy part. The actual

Nestor Aparicio  07:50

words you write down exactly

Will Smith  07:53

what it is that you want to say,

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Nestor Aparicio  08:02

and then go with the music after that. Get the music going after that. So Jeff does with the music stuff. So when you go out, you know, on the road and you rap, and you go through all this stuff, and you ever mess words up, I remember last time I was un rap shit, ton, look, he just like blew the words the whole verse one time.

Will Smith  08:22

Every once in a while, so much on stage. Remember the next line, remember what the next song is, and he’s trying to remember

Nestor Aparicio  08:50

the dance steps and everything that was worse. He watched me, God, I hope he doesn’t mess up. He had a toughest job for anybody there, all right, well, I guess I got all the time I need for me, but I’m gonna come down Monday night. Sorry, not playing a, you know, like a regular theater or whatever, because you’re playing, you know, a nightclub. And my kid, my kids, only seven people, loved it to

Will Smith  09:21

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build energy,

Nestor Aparicio  09:38

those energy from time to time when you come back out and play the capital center, it’ll be different. All right. Well, I appreciate it. Take care. Bye, bye.