Song of the Day 10/23: DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, “A Nightmare on My Street”
Will Smith’s spoof of the Freddy Krueger movies fits the Halloween season, but he’s living a more substantial nightmare these days, what with all the publicity his apparently estranged wife is getting for her tell-all memoir. Stay out of the basement, Will, it’s full of dirty laundry.
“A Nightmare on My Street” was the second single from “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper,” rap’s first double LP, released in 1988. It rose to No. 15 on the Hot 100 at a time when hip-hop hits were still rare.
The song became the subject of a lawsuit. It was being considered for the soundtrack of the film franchise’s fourth installment, which came out shortly after “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper” in 1988, and a video was shot for MTV. When the film’s producers decided against using the tune, the record company released the video anyway. The suit was settled out of court but called for destruction of all copies of the video. It aired a few times before that, but then went unseen until a copy was rediscovered in 2018.
