Parents Just Don't Understand
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| “Parents Just Don't Understand” | |||||
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| Single by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince from the album He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper |
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| Released | 1988 | ||||
| Format | Vinyl, Cassette Tape, Compact Disc | ||||
| Recorded | 1987 | ||||
| Genre | Hip-Hop/Rap | ||||
| Label | Zomba/Jive | ||||
| DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince singles chronology | |||||
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| He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper track listing | |||||
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| Will Smith: Greatest Hits track listing | |||||
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"Parents Just Don't Understand" is a Grammy Award winning rap song on the album "Parents Just Don't Understand" sung by rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. The song won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance, the first of two ever awarded in that category, and reached #12 on the U.S. Pop Singles Chart.
The song was referenced in the show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. In the pilot where Will dresses for dinner in his "homeboy" style look, the main instrumental of the song plays. Also in the episode "Not With My Pig, You Don't",in which Philip Banks (James Avery) says to Will "You don't get it Will, sometimes parents just don't understand." It was also referenced earlier in the series in the "Mistaken Identity" when Uncle Phil says to Will "You're only seventeen, you don't have a rep yet." This line is almost a carbon copy of a lyric in verse one. Finally, it was referenced in the episode "Will Gets Committed" during the flashback where everyone is younger. As the young "Uncle Phil" starts reprimanding the young "Will", the young "Will" says "Parents just don't understand."
[edit] Song
The song starts out with the Fresh Prince telling how parents don't understand how kids make mistakes and how they feel.
The first verse talks about how Smith's mother won't buy him the stylish clothes he wants, resulting in ridicule at school and that if kids laughs then they are not friends anyway.
The second verse talks about how, while his parents went on vacation, he takes the new Porsche for a spin, and picks up a girl. As the song goes on Smith tells us that he gets pulled over for speeding. That's when Smith admits he doesn't have a license, and to his horror discovers the girl is a 12-year-old runaway. His parents come back and he gets grounded.
After that he says the song most repeated line, "So to all you kids across the land, take it from me, parents just don't understand."
[edit] Cover versions
- A cover of the song was sung by Lil' Romeo, 3LW and Nick Cannon, which it appears in the Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius soundtrack.
- The song was used by a young Tupac Shakur in a music video he made with Smith's future wife Jada Pinkett. Shakur and Pinket had been attending the Baltimore School of Performing Arts.
[edit] Trivia
- The video is similar to their previous song, "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" by the background, Carboard Cars, Will Smith says, "Toots." The cops arresting The Fresh Prince, The quote, "I'm just a hell of a guy," and the a fight scene during a tuntable solo.
