He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper

by

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

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I have always felt that Will Smith was an under-appreciated emcee since his inception in Hip Hop in the mid 1980's. He has been ridiculed for being corny, too commercialized, soft, weak, and unskilled. This is unfortunate because Will's success is not driven by stardom but rather his emceeing skills. This is made abundantly clear on "He's The DJ I'm The Rapper". He has a penchant for strong songwriting. All the songs on this album have verses that connects seamlessly with the hooks. Every verse on each song picks right up where the last one left off on. Aside from songwriting is Will's uncanny ability to play different characters in his songs like "Parents Just Don't Understand". His voice imitations brings a self-depreciating humor that injects a comical punch not found on many Hip Hop records. Songs like "Parents Just Don't Understand" helped to pave the way for Yo! MTV Raps so that fans could see their hardcore favorites. Back in 1988, the Grammy's and MTV wasn't showing much love to Rap artists and I feel Will Smith played a major part in changing all of that. His skills on this release are sharper than a ginsu. Check the title track. There's a reason why nobody wanted to beef with Mr. Smith back in the days. Aside from the emceeing, Jazzy Jeff shows why he is one of the baddest DJ's around. It's a frantic scratch attack on the one's and two's that serves as an added instrument over the beats. The beat boxing is also memorable, especially the mimicking of 'Donkey Kong' on "Human Video Game". Of all of the movies and records that Will Smith has made, this album is in my opinion his best work and should silence all of his critics who thinks that his career is driven by stardom and not his emceeing skills.