A Touch of Jazz

Wow. Its hard to believe that someone with such deep roots in hip hop would choose to do a live set at somewhere as humble as Oceana…

At first I was unsure if he was even going to turn up as I kept hearing rumours from other people that they were only playing his new song (new song??) but surely enough, just after midnight he turned up and took his place on the stage with the turntables.

Prior to that I made sure, ten minutes before that I was as close as I possibly was to the action and I had enough freedom so I could take photos. Forget everyone else! I was virtually on the stage, or at least midway up the stairs up to it. I was metres away from a record-spinning legend!

When he got up, donned in a green “Illadelphia” t-shirt, baggy jeans and baseball cap, not to mention trademark glasses, his small entourage stood to the sides and his host grabbed the microphone to introduced himself and Jazzy Jeff to everyone. I’d say only those who actually cared passionately about his music were those, like myself, that pushed their way right up to the front. Like the dude I saw sporting a Fresh Prince t-shirt. And it was only those around me that screamed the loudest for him.

And that was it. A brief introduction and he was off!

From midnight until almost 3am he spun records- that was overtime too! Unlike a lot of other people who come in to do their sets and then leave 20 minutes later, Jazz took over the regular DJ’s spot and kept going.

I think on the turntables there was absolutely no bettering him as he showed off some downright amazing skills and even played on the audience, as he played “The Next Episode” on both decks bringing it back and playing it over, the crowds thinking they were going to sing the intro (“Da di da di da…”) for over a minute!

Prettymuch everything was mixed up. I think each part was divided into different ‘categories’ as it went from new stuff like “Lean Back” and “Get Low” and Aftermath records onto Death Row hits like “Dre Day” and “California Love” onto oldschool classics like “Ice, Ice, Baby” and “Push It.”

Scarily enough though, during the oldschool part they also played Eurythmics! “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These” while some fella on the podium did the Robot (Jazz’s MC pointed him out).

And “Summertime” got played. Oh, they loved “Summertime!” It was something I’d been waiting to hear all night in fact. And he didn’t miss out on raga either.

Two people at the front started pulling and once again, the MC pointed it out to Jazz who switched the record to “Breath and Stop,” through which they continued to keep pulling (hey, at least he hasn’t lost his humour since Fresh Prince!”). After they even stopped the music and put the spotlight on them for a minute but even still they wouldn’t stop!!

I’d say Jazz put on a good show. Some of the music wasn’t the best choice, although this was a student night, but the mixing, cutting and scratching was amazing. If a majority of the audience actually knew who Jazzy Jeff was they’d have truly appreciated his talents, although after a certain amount of record spins many lost interest in his DJing because to them he was just another DJ.

The MC was cool as well, he did his best to keep the crowd buzzing and even slapped hands with the odd person with outstretched palms (including myself)

His sideman on stage also came over when I kept signalling him, he took my phone to take some closer photos, as well as a few other lucky people, and when he came back I grabbed him and pulled him close and shouted “PLAY THE FRESH PRINCE THEME SONG!” At the end of the night he never actually did play it, which was a great disappointment coz the crowd would have gone wild, although I wouldn’t assume that it had been packed anyway.

Me, I stayed at the front for the whole night, taking the entire thing, and going a tad deaf in the process! Some prats on the stairs next to me tried starting a bit of a ruck too but were escorted out by security before it could even begin. LoLz to them.

After the set was over the floor emptied quickly and the ropes surrounding the stage were taken down, so I stepped up onto it for and extra few close up photos, although the security kept blocking me and telling me to “go home.”

“Suck your mum!” I thought. “I came to see Jazz and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”

I walked round the side stairs and asked Jazz’s MC if I could get Jazz to sign something for me, although I cant remember his reply.

I had enough and went where the security weren’t and called down from the balcony above “Jazz! Hey Jazz!” He turned round and looked up. I pulled my college lunch card out and asked him to sign it. Obviously he looked a little confused coz at first it would have looked like I was giving him my bank card (other people were getting their money signed, I thought forget that, that’s my fare home!). And that’s it. “Thank you!” and I was out. I witness him and now I had a memento of it. And the college will never see me returning my lunch card either!