DJ Jazzy Jeff: "It Took 15 Minutes To Create 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' Theme"

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"You know, there’s no way to measure this, but is there a hip-hop song that more people around the world know all the words to?"

This is an interesting question asked by Andy Borowitz, the co-creator of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And the song Borowitz was talking about was the theme song to his iconic TV show.  For six seasons, we listened to Will Smith rap about his journey from the hood in Philly to the burbs in L.A.

Entertainment Weekly caught up with Borowitz and DJ Jazzy Jeff, co-writer of the theme song, to talk about the legendary opening. Speaking about the making of the theme song, DJ Jazzy Jeff said:

"We literally went into the studio and made the theme song in about 15 minutes. One of the things Will used to always say is the hardest part to come up with for a song is the concept, but the concept behind the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was already laid out. I ended up just going in and programming some music, and he wrote something and laid it down. I did rough mix and sent it in, and in about three weeks it was on NBC. In my mind, it was just kind of like, “Oh my God, so that’s how it works? It’s that easy?”

Borowitz added his two cents about the legacy of the song:

"I don’t think at the time anyone at the time would’ve guessed that it was going to have this kind of [legacy]. Because when you decide to do anything, you never say, “Oh, and 30 years from now people are going to be rapping this at bar mitzvahs.” You just don’t imagine that."

Sometimes genius only takes a couple of moments to create.

Listen to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme below. You know you want to.

And don't forget to rap along: “In West Philadelphia, born and raised...”

H/T: Entertainment Weekly