Top-billed in the duo, DJ Jazzy Jeff had a pioneering touch reflected in his name but still ended up the answer to a trivia question. His partner, teen rapper Will Smith, went on to kill aliens and robots, box Sonny Liston, bed Eva Mendes and become a more popular actor than Denzel Washington. But as the Fresh Prince, he was a vanilla LL Cool J, biting the man-boy’s roar for boy-man songs like “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” his 1988 pop smash. Most rappers grew up too fast. Smith rapped like a Cosby kid who never wanted to grow up at all. His tall tales (“Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble”) were likable, not memorable, and the poetry (“Summertime”) was pedestrian but not offensive. For all of the screaming, “A Nightmare on My Street” was bloodless, strictly PG. Looking back, parents probably would understand.

Download: “Brand New Funk”