On Wednesday, September 20, Jada Pinkett Smith posted throwback videos of her and Tupac during their junior year of high school as a way to promote her forthcoming memoir, Worthy. In the clips, Pinkett Smith and the late Tupac are performing to Will Smith’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” with DJ Jazzy Jeff from 1988.
This morning, September 21, Smith revealed plans to explore that time period even more thoroughly with his Class Of ’88 podcast. According to Billboard, Smith “will celebrate 1988 hip-hop with episodes alongside Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rakim, and Chuck D.”
The publication additionally relayed, “Smith will explore the landmark year of 1988, which included the rise of Public Enemy, the ascension of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and the outpouring of female MCs such as Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah.”
The Wondery podcast will last for eight episodes. Beginning on October 26, Class Of ’88 will be available exclusively on Amazon Music and Audible. Amazon Prime members can listen to the podcast’s trailer here.
“Today, hip-hop dominates pop culture,” Smith says to start the trailer. “But it wasn’t always like that. Before 1988, a lot of people saw our music as just a passing fad.”
The nearly two-minute audio trailer also includes excerpted perspectives from Smith’s A-list guests, including Queen Latifah recalling, “[Hip-hop] had an expiration date, like milk. That’s what they were saying.”
In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince released He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper, housing “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” The track claimed the first-ever Best Rap Performance at the 1989 Grammys, which DJ Jazzy Jeff and Smith boycotted because the category wasn’t televised (as revisited by Andscape in January 2018).
Source: https://uproxx.com/music/will-smith-class-of-88-podcast-dj-jazzy-jeff-reunion/
