What We Learned Living With DJ Jazzy Jeff For A Week

Living with a legend, especially someone as influential in the DJing world as DJ Jazzy Jeff, is an extraordinary experience. Our team had the privilege to do this not just once, but twice, as we recently collaborated with Jeff to produce two DJ courses, including DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Scratch Skills Masterclass, which we’ve just launched.

I thought it might be fun to reflect on some of the invaluable insights gained during our week-long stays at his home, near Philadelphia, where Jeff manages to balance his life as a family man with his “day job” as a legendary DJ and producer. So, here are five key lessons we learned from our time with him…

5 Key Lessons From DJ Jazzy Jeff

1. Jeff lives for music

It may come as no surprise that music is central to Jeff’s existence, given his long career dating back to the mid-80s. Every room in his house has something in it that gives a clue to what he’s spent his life doing, but it’s in his on-site studio where his dedication and passion become obvious.

His studio is filled with memorabilia ranging from the multi-track tape recorder used in his early work with Will Smith to state-of-the-art DJ equipment. Music isn’t just a profession for Jeff; it’s a passion and a lifestyle.

2. He embraces his friends

Jeff’s home is a revolving door for friends and colleagues alike. From renowned hip hop producers and scratch DJs to local friends outside the music industry, all are welcome and those closest to him come and go freely.

This open-door policy and his sociable, generous nature have undoubtedly contributed to Jeff’s enduring success. His broad network of close relationships clearly matter to him and sustain him, just as he is obviously valued by the people who hold him close.

3. He’s super busy, but super focused

Despite his busy schedule, Jeff has exceptional focus and dedication to his craft. Every morning at 9:30am, he was ready in his studio to dive into our lesson planning and filming. He offered his undivided attention until it was time for us to wrap up for the day.

And yet Jeff manages to stay connected with his family (who of course share the same roof), for instance, fulfilling his obligations as a Dad to his kids with just the same dedication and enthusiasm he shows to his work.

Often we’d see him up at 6am (as we went out for a run at dawn), tending to his children before school, and later he’d tell us what he got up to in the evening after we’d left him – often something demanding that took hours of his time, and often that took him right back into his studio! Being able to switch his full focus from one thing to the next, day after day, is a skill that’s clearly served him well.

4. He is always DJing!

Jeff’s passion for DJing is evident. Whenever there are turntables nearby, he’s likely using them, remembering old techniques and exploring new ones, or just playing to relax. Even while making an intensive DJ course, involving hours of curriculum planning, multiple filming takes, and problems to be solved, Jeff continuously found opportunities to DJ beyond the scheduled sessions.

Read this next: How To Find Time To Learn DJing (Proven Method For Busy People)

Indeed, many of the best lessons were unplanned, such as his impromptu demonstration of every cut and scratch from Grandmaster Flash’s “Adventures on the Wheels of Steel”, which is one of the standout features in his new DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Scratch Skills course.

5. His studio is always ready

Jeff’s studio is perpetually primed for work. At the end of the day, everything remains set up, ensuring an immediate transition to work the next morning. The boundaries between Jeff’s studio work and personal life are almost indistinguishable, a situation that suits him well. This reflects something we’ve always taught our students here at the DJ school: reducing barriers to creative work increases efficiency and inspiration.

Finally…

Of course, ultimately we were with Jeff to record a course, and so we learned an awful lot specific to that too. In this article, though, I wanted to give you some of the broader impressions that rubbed off on us having spent a whole week working, eating, and sleeping under Jeff’s roof.

If you would like to learn to DJ like Jeff, you should explore our courses with him, both of which are now available in the Digital DJ Tips store. This includes the new DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Scratch Skills Masterclass, which complements our earlier course with him, DJ Jazzy Jeff’s How to DJ Right. These courses offer unprecedented deep dives into what it takes to DJ and scratch like this legend of the game.