Crate Diggers: DJ Jazzy Jeff Talks Meeting Will Smith, Skipping Lunch to Buy Records
Record Store Day is April 21 and to honor the occasion, we went to DJ Jazzy Jeff's house to talk to one of the original kings of vinyl for Vol. 4 of "Crate Diggers."
Jeff traces his musical history, from discovering music through his brother and father to performing with Will Smith for the first time to regretfully throwing out thousands of records to going on record-shopping trips with J Dilla.
"I didn't tell my mom this until I got married but my entire time in high school, I never had lunch," said Jeff. "My mother gave money every day for lunch. I would take that money every day and store it for records."
For Jeff, who still tours the world regularly DJing, the size of his record collection still provides for hours of discovery. "I look at my records as my personal record store. Whenever I want a different vibe or look for something new, i can go in the back and climb over these boxes and you're always finding something."
Fuse gives you an unprecedented look at a legend's collection with the stories behind some of his favorite records. "Doing it this long and saying you're obsessed with [records] is you coming to grips with it," said Jeff. "You've always been obsessed with; you just said you weren't. It's just accepting who you are and this is what you do."
Watch the full video above and check out Crate Diggers Vol. 1-3 below.
Crate Diggers, Vol. 1 - I Love Vinyl
57s
4m
3m
39s
1m
3m
1m
4m
3m
2m
41m
1m
4m
1m
3m
11m
3m
1m
2m
3m
10m
22m
3m
4m
3m
3m
3m
3m
3m
3m
2m
35s
3m
1m
5m
23m
21m
20m
2m
22m
3m
4m
8m
6m
37s
2m
2m
2m
2m
1m
47s
2m
1m
3m
2m
3m
3m
1m
2m
24m
58s
8m
2m
4m
5m
15s
6m
1m
10m
2m
3m
2m
3m
3m
3m
3m
15s
15s
15s
4m
1m
1m
2m
5m
1m
1m
23m
3m
1m
2m
1m
5m
15s
3m
15s
21m
21m