Featuring the radio-friendly singles "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Brand New Funk," and "Nightmare on My Street," the album won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince continued their success with the album He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper. But I had no intention of going to college." I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed Black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. The early success put any thoughts of attending college out of Smith's mind.Įarly on, it was reported that Smith had turned down a scholarship to Boston's elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but Smith later dispelled the rumor when he told an interviewer: "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. Their 1987 debut album, Rock the House, hit the Billboard Top 200, and made Smith a millionaire before the age of 18. The pair's first single, "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," was a hit in 1986. The Fresh Prince rapped about teenage preoccupations in a clean, curse-free style that middle America found safe and entertaining.
Music CareerĪs teens, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince began producing music but steered clear of the gangsta rap sound that was emerging from the West Coast by groups like N.W.A. The pair became friends, and the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince was born. At 16 Smith met future collaborator Jeff Townes at a party.
Smith began rapping at age 12, emulating heroes like Grandmaster Flash but tingeing his rhymes with a comedic element that would later become his trademark.