Apparently there’s a whole lot more to the “Fresh Prince” Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff‘s origin story than maxin’, relaxin’ all cool, and shootin’ some B-ball outside of the school. The duo are working together again now on a scripted series, 215, that will dramatize their struggle to break out of West Philadelphia to perform hip-hop on the world stage.
The show, of course, is set in West Philly in the late Eighties. “It follows a quick-witted teenage rapper, the DJ who is his musical other half, and the friends who helped fuel the dream,” the official synopsis says. “Together they chase a record deal, money and a way out as the city’s hip-hop scene takes off. Along the way they deal with label meetings, hometown loyalty, sudden fame and the friendships that hold them together, or almost don’t.”
The show is being developed by Smith’s Westbrook Studios and investors the Malar Group. “Westbrook has always been focused on developing stories with strong characters, distinctive worlds and a clear point of view,” Terence Carter, Westbrook’s president of television, said in a statement. “215 is especially meaningful to us because it draws from the rise of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and celebrates Philadelphia during such a defining era in the city’s late-Eighties/early-Nineties hip-hop scene.”
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince released their debut single, “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble,” in 1986, and their first album, Rock the House a few months later in 1987. Their second album, 1988’s He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, was certified triple platinum thanks to “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “A Nightmare on My Street.” The duo released three more hit albums, the last of which, Code Red, came out in 1993, long after Smith became a megastar thanks to the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which debuted in 1990.
Even after Smith became a movie star and released his own hit records, the pair remained friends and have reunited sporadically, the most recent for an appearance during the Grammys’ “Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop” in 2023.
Anthony Orosz*
