A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since, but of course Will Smith actually started out as a rapper back in the more innocent days of old-school hip-hop.
Before Hollywood stardom, even before the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he and Jazzy Jeff were just another DJ and MC duo scrabbling about in what was a still embryonic scene. Their first single, Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble, was released 39 years ago, believe it or not.
Smith has recently returned to music after a prolonged absence. His latest album, Based On A True Story, came out next week is his first for 20 years. That’s a long long time to be out of the game and, to Smith’s credit, before he dived back he was humble enough to seek out the advice of two younger men.
“Before I started, I made two phone calls,” Smith said in an interview with the US radio show Sway In The Morning. “I talked to Jay and I talked to Kendrick. I was like, ‘Hey, I want to get back in music. What’s the advice?’”
He revealed Jay-Z’s reply: “Don’t fake your story”, recalling: “He was like, ‘You gotta say what’s true for you’. He’s like, ‘You’ll be looking at the younger rappers and you want that to be true for you, but you don’t live like that’. He was like, ‘Be true to your story. Tell your story’”.
And as for Lamar? Apparently, he said: “Say that shit you’ve always been fucking scared to say… Basically the same thing. It was like, ‘Be honest.’ It was scary. That’s the thing... Make the record you want to make. Don’t try to make the record that you think people will like you for. Make the one that’s authentic”.
In other words, remember the first rule of hip-hop: keep it real. And it sounds like that’s what Smith’s done, for in the album's opening track there’s a reference to the most controversial moment in Smith’s career, when he slapped the comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
Int. Barbershop - Day starts with the phrase: “Will Smith is cancelled,” before DJ Jazzy Jeff and B. Simone trade barbs about the rapper such as “Who the fuck Will Smith think he is?” and “I ain’t never going to forgive him for that shit he did”.
Then Track Two, You Lookin’ For Me, features Smith rapping: “Took a lot/I’m back on top/ Y’all gon’ have to get acclimated/ Won’t stop, my sh** still hot/Even though I won’t get nominated.”
And that, for a West Philadelphian rapper turned Oscar-winning actor, probably does indeed constitute keeping it real.
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