"Summertime" is a song by American hip-hop duo

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince were an American hip hop duo from West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consisting of rapper Will Smith (the Fresh Prince) and disc jockey Jeff Townes (DJ Jazzy Jeff). Active full time from 1986 to 1994 and occasion ...

. It was released in May 1991 as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''

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''. The song was produced by Chicago-based producers

Hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song ( mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who originally settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli or mele in a visua ...

and K. Fingers, and it won a

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for

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontin ...

at the 1992 Grammy Awards. It spent a week at number #1 on the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

Chart, as well as reaching #4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (their highest charting single on the latter). It also became the duo's first single to enter the top ten of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at #8.

Background and composition

After

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

completed recording for the tracks produced by Hula & Fingers in Chicago for the ''

'' album and was headed back to Philadelphia, the producers handed Smith the tape that would become "Summertime". Due to a delay in his flight back home, Smith wrote the entire song in one sitting and decided to record it in Chicago. Due to his voice being worn out from a previous night out, he recorded his song in a lower tone than his usual, unknowingly bringing out a style similar to rapper

Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim Allah or simply Rakim (), is an American rapper and record producer. One half of golden age hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

, in which Smith admired as one of his favorite rappers at the time. The song's instrumentation samples " Summer Madness" by

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. T ...

, particularly the rising F# octaves played on an

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synthesizer.

Critical reception

Steve Huey from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said that "Summertime" was "a warm, breezy reminiscence about growing up in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and attending barbecues where the whole community showed up to see and be seen." He added, "It had all the good vibes of a typical Fresh Prince number, but it was clearly a more mature effort, and that's ''

'' in a nutshell."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

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'' magazine wrote, " Pop/

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

duo returns with this steamy hip-hop jam that is sure to quickly heat up radio airwaves thanks to its catchy chorus and clever wordplay." James Bernard from ''

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'' described the song as "absolutely uplifting". A reviewer from ''

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'' magazine noted that "the musical backing is more sophisticated", viewing it as "a smooth Gershwin via Kool & the Gang version". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine placed it at number 9 in its 2013 "Best Summer Songs of All Time", saying, "Over a funky laid back beat, a young

does a fantastic

impression over a sample of Kool & the Gang's "Summer Madness" and drops a sweet ode to hanging out and driving around his native Philly: "Honking at the honey in front of you with the light eyes/ She turn around to see what you beeping at/ It's like the summer's a natural aphrodisiac." It's still hip-hop's finest summer celebration."

Track listing

* 12" vinyl # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff Mix) – 5:37 # "Summertime" (LP Version) – 4:30 # "Summertime" (Instrumental) – 4:30 # "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" (Shorter Single Edit) – 3:58 * CD single # "Summertime" (Single Edit) – 3:57 # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff Mix) – 5:37 # "Summertime" (Street Club Remix) – 6:06 # "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" (Shorter Single Edit) – 3:58 * US CD single # "Summertime" (Single Edit) – 3:57 # "Summertime" (LP Version) – 4:30 # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff Mix) – 5:37 # "Summertime" (Extended Club Mix) – 5:43 # "Summertime" (Extended Bass Mix) – 5:36 # "Summertime" (Street Club Remix) – 6:06 # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff Instrumental) – 5:50 # "Summertime" (Instrumental) – 4:30 * Summertime '98 CD single / 12" vinyl # "Summertime '98" (SoulPower Radio Mix) – 4:12 # "Summertime '98" (SoulPower Hip Hop Mix) – 4:40 # "Summertime '98" (SoulPower Instrumental) – 4:16 # "Summertime" (Original Version) – 4:31 * Summertime (DJ Jazzy Jeff's 2007 Remixes) # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff's Still Summertime Remix) (Radio Edit) – # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff's SoleFul Remix) # "Summertime" (DJ Jazzy Jeff's Still Summertime Remix) # "Summertime" (Original 1991 Album Version)

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Film adaptation

On September 22, 2021, Smith’s production company Westbrook Studios and

Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develop and produc ...

will co-produce the film adaptation with Peter Saji directing from his screenplay for

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summertime (DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince song) 1991 singles 1991 songs DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince songs Jive Records singles Music Week number-one dance singles Songs written by Will Smith Songs written by DJ Jazzy Jeff