Jazzy Jeff

Under the stage name MC Jazzy Jeff, Jeffrey Miree was born in the Bronx in 1962 and belongs to the first generation of New York hip‑hop. Active from the late 1970s, he joined Funky 4 + 1, a Bronx crew associated with old-school rap, collective routines and the energy of block parties. With the group he performed "That's the Joint" on Saturday Night Live in 1981, a performance often cited as the first appearance of a hip‑hop group on national American television. After Funky 4 + 1 split in 1983, MC Jazzy Jeff began a solo career with Jive Records and released the album On Fire in 1985; its best-known track is "King Heroin." A second album was completed in 1987 but was not released. Jazzy Jeff's work fits within an East Coast rap aesthetic, still close to the genre's founding forms — with a frontal delivery, narrative lyrics and a direct inheritance from the Bronx scene. Sometimes credited as Original MC Jazzy Jeff, he should be distinguished from DJ Jazzy Jeff.