1993 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: Boom! Shake The Room

...or what Will Smith did before he became a Hollywood A lister. I can't say I have any knowledge of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' TV show that brought him screen fame (or indeed much affection for any of the films he's starred in subsequently), but I've always had a soft spot for Smith's early rap output. 'Boom! Shake The Room' owns the softest spot, not least because it reminds me of student days where the local club DJ would always play it back to back with House Of Pain's 'Jump Around', a paring both apt and not so; House Of Pain are feted as serious rappers but DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince....less so. Maybe there's a clue why in the videos for both these songs - Smith hams it up to an audience of white kids in a way that stands in stark contrast to the more aggressive, black oriented 'Jump Around'. And yet play them back to back and there's very little to choose between them; Smith's rhymes aren't great (and the usual rapper self promotion rings a little winsome in this PG rated, cuss free setting), but there's no doubt he's more than a capable rapper with the "ya really done want me to tig-a-tig-a-tig-a tell ya wassup" a particular delight. 'Boom! Shake The Room' is the family friendly face of hip hop, a bouncy castle of a single that, if it lacks the street credible grit of the genre also manages to avoid the stigma of novelty. Best of both worlds really.