Biography:

Philadelphia’s Will Smith grew up during the Sugarhill/Enjoy dawn of rap. At 16, he and DJ friend Jeff Townes reinvented themselves as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and enjoyed six years of soft-core rap success, with Smith landing his own TV sitcom in the process. When the movie roles began (1993), the duo ended—and so, for awhile did Smith’s rap career. He came out of recording retirement to
perform the theme to Men In Black and, buoyed by its success, Will released the pop-friendly Big Willie Style, which blew into the charts like a hurricane via the hit single “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”