PARENTS JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND
“Parents Just Don’t Understand” is the second single from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s second studio album, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance at the 1989 Grammy Awards, one of the two songs to do so before the award was discontinued in 1991. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was released as a single in spring 1988. The song was referenced several times in the television show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. The song was ranked #96 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, and the music video was featured in the 2003 film Malibu’s Most Wanted. (More from Wikipedia)
In the wake of the gangsta rap era, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Jeff Townes and Will Smith, respectively – were one of the first groups to try to tone things down with messages more suitable for teens. Their second album, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper (1988) was a multi-platinum smash; the charming video for their hit song, “Parents Just Don’t Understand” was in heavy rotation on MTV. The duo had had an earlier hit in the same vein called “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble” (1986) while Will Smith was still in high school.
(September 2016)
