“There is a level of soul in music here that we have lost in the US. You have something a lot more special.”
|||Cape Town - Expect a bit of old school at today’s 12-hour Club Vibe party, as the city welcomes back the familiar party brand and its headline act DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Jazzy Jeff, real name Jeffrey Townes, shot to fame in the late 1980s as part of a duo with Will Smith, called Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, scoring hits like Parents Just Don’t Understand, Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble and Boom! Shake the Room.
The two also appeared in the popular sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where Jeff was regularly thrown out of the Banks mansion in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, by the character Uncle Phil.
A fuller and older looking Jeff spoke at a pre-event press conference at the Pepper Club penthouse on Thursday evening.
A decade after Club Vibe closed its doors, the brand is being resuscitated as an indoor annual event, with the possibility of a pop-up club.
Saturday’s party starts at 2pm and runs until Sunday morning.
It will feature American rapper Skillz with Jeff, and top locals like Mi Casa, Jack Parow, Crazy White Boy and AKA.
Owner Bart Goormans told Weekend Argus: “Nightclubs do not exist anymore. The trend in Europe is you stay open for three months and stop at the highest point, not 20 or 30 years later.”
He believes this event could become like the Cape Town Jazz Festival, for a different target market.
The show will feature hip hop, house and electronica.
Jeff said he listens to SA music.
“I have a folder on my computer of South African music. I am going to get a whole lot of music while I am down here.
“There is a level of soul in music here that we have lost in the US. You have something a lot more special,” he said.
Jeff said he and Smith are still friends. “We both now have families and he is the biggest movie star. It’s just that we have busy schedules.”
Jeff said he was happy to be in SA, the last stop on a long tour with Skillz.
* Tickets for the Club Vibe’s Once Upon a Time with GHFM and Trace Urban are R350 each, or R450 at www.quicket.co.za. Service fees apply. See www.clubvibe.co.za
Weekend Argus