Will Smith – What can we say about him?
Funny Guy
Serious Actor
Action Superstar
Family Man
Oh, look! It’s Will, Jada, Jaden and Willow…
wait…ohhhh *mind BLOWN*
But also, Savage Dad
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSyAYAzlx0W/
Don’t flex on Big Willy, son.
At age 48, he’s not planning to stop anytime soon. In fact, you’ll be seeing him playing the role of Genie in Disney’s upcoming live-action Aladdin.
But if you are “young thang” who only knows Will Smith as a movie star, we have news for you: He’s also a rapper. In fact for some of us older millennials, he was the only rapper we could listen to because he didn’t use swear words in his music. And there’s an interesting story behind that.
*cue in collective awwwwww*
We bring this up because we have a point to make here: Will Smith’s music was the starting point of his family-friendly entertainer personality. One can even say that he low-key brought about the mainstream acceptance of rap music. Let’s take a deep dive into his music and discover Will Smith – the man behind the entertainer. Here are 9 tracks that we think are his very best.
Before we start, a bit of info: Will Smith’s music can be divided into two era’s – the “Fresh Prince” era when he exclusively worked with DJ Jazzy Jeff (they still work together) and the “Big Willie” era when he struck out as a solo artist. Our list contains hits from both.
1. Parents Just Don’t Understand
Taken from the 1988 LP “He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper”, the track is about parents not understanding “cool”. Y’know, being cool, looking cool, having cool friends and being a smooth operator. If you were a 90s kid, you will be nodding and nervous laughing the entire 5 minutes this track plays. If you are a teen in 2K17, you would come to the quick realization that there is nothing new to your angst.
The song won the first Grammy for best rap performance in 1989, putting Will Smith – The Fresh Prince and his friend DJ Jazzy Jeff on the music landscape.
How popular was the song? Young Tupac and Jada Pinkett made a home video where they goofed on the song. (Could be the reason why he married her later.)
Best lyrics:
My mom started bugging with the clothes she chose
I didn’t say nothing at first
I just turned up my nose
She said, “What’s wrong? This shirt cost $20”
I said, “Mom, this shirt is plaid with a butterfly collar!”
2. Yo Home to Bel-Air (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme)
It’s strange how much of introduction to Will’s own life is also the theme song about a fictional character. The song not only mentions Will’s West Philly background but also alludes to the difficult circumstances he faced (And all shootin’ some b-ball outside of the school/When a couple of guys who were up to no good/Started makin’ trouble in my neighborhood). The show and the song are now considered as wholesome nostalgia but at the time, the network NBC which green-lit the show was taking a tremendous risk considering that they had never worked with a rapper. Luckily, Will’s charm and this theme song gave the show a lot of crossover appeal.
The track was composed by Quincy Jones (famous for his work with Michael Jackson) and produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff. It’s easily the most famous of The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff’s tracks and most spoofed as well.
Surprisingly, the group’s record company was not too excited by this. They saw the TV show as a distraction fom their contractually obligated recording. They couldn’t foresee Will and Jeff becoming bigger stars from the TV show with the ability to bring more sales.
Speaking about the lasting legacy of the song, DJ Jazzy Jeff has said “If you drop the theme song in front of 50,000 people on a beach in Singapore at a festival, everybody sings it. It’s everywhere.”
In fact, aren’t you humming it right now?
Best lyrics:
She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket
Put my walkman on and said I might as well kick it
First class yo this is bad
Drinkin’ orange juice out of a champagne glass
Is this what the people of Bel-Air live like
Hmmm this might be all right
3. Summertime
By 1991, Will Smith truly broke into the mainstream with the popularity of his sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Capitalizing on that popularity, Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff scored their first hit single Summertime. Unlike the previous track in which being cool was a struggle, this song is about actually being cool and enjoying that. In fact, you’ll feel kind of cool listening to it. It also won a Grammy (another?!?!?!) for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group and is arguably one of his older tracks that aged well.
There is a rumor that one of the greatest rappers alive Rakim was a ghost writer for the song. Will Smith himself admitted that he rapped in a deeper voice. Guess the lesson here is nobody can be that cool NATURALLY.
4. Men In Black
As the rap scene became more “harder” and serious-minded acts like NWA, Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. gained popularity, artists like Will Smith were finding it hard to be taken seriously. Due to the volatile nature of the rap scene in early 90s and following the deaths of rap icons Tupac and Biggie Smalls, Will Smith took a break from music to focus on his film career (a great decision BTW). When he did return to the music scene, he did so as a solo artist. Thus starting the Big Willie era. Not only did he have a whole new album of cuss-word free songs, he also had an action-comedy film coming up. So, it was natural that a song like Men in Black would come into existence.
“What is the song about?”, you ask. IT’S THE ENTIRE PLOT OF THE MOVIE!
If you owned a VHS copy of the Men In Black movie back in the day, the music video of this song was a post-credits Easter Egg. Today, it’s just a click away on YouTube. I know it’s cliché but if you would only get it if you were a 90s kid.
BONUS: If you’re curious, the instrumental is straight-up sampled from this track.
5. Getting’ Jiggy wit It
How to solidify your comeback? Make sure the follow-up is a sure shot success. “Getting’ Jiggy wit It” was that follow-up. Again, this song is solidly on brand – Will is the cool guy who is fun to hang with but not too cool that it’s intimidating to be around him. What really makes the song memorable is the Hype Williams-directed music video and everything in it.
The sea-blue reflective track suits
The gold-black Egypt backdrop
That Hawaiian flower-pattern suit
That guy
This lady
This is not a party song. This IS a party in a song. One of my favorite things about the song are the record scratch sounds – done by none other than DJ Jazzy Jeff. It goes to show that Will doesn’t forget where he came from and who his real friends are. #RoleModel
6. Miami
If songs can take you to new places, this track is pretty blatant about where it wants to take you. But don’t expect this to be just a song about Miami – the city. It’s more about Miami, the state of mind. The song and its music video would have you convinced you need a vacation. If you have trouble logging out of the work state of mind, then this song is the cure.
That Will Smith. He love everyone!
There is a rumor that rapper Nas helped to write this one along with “Getin’ Jiggy wit It” but he dispelled this himself, saying “Will is a true MC”. If by true MC he meant Nostradamus then this video proves it.
Will raps about meeting Ali in “Jiggy” who calls Will “the greatest”.
He later on played Ali in the biopic.
A young Eva Mendes shows up in the music video.
Seven years later, she would star opposite Will in the rom-com Hitch.
Think about it.
Best lyrics:
I only came for two days of playing
But everytime I come I always wind up stayin
This the type of town I could spend a few days in
Miami the city that keeps the roof blazin
7. Freakin’ It
This is what we call “I Made It” song. Most rappers have one and so it makes sense that Will would make one too. After all, he had become a big league entertainer.
Look Ma! We made it.
Taken from his second album Willenium (because 1999!), the song was Will Smith telling rappers that success doesn’t come from writing violent lyrics and creativity doesn’t require use of profanities.
(Eminem had something to say about that.)
To back that up, he mentions his own global fame, his 4 Grammys and his USD $ 7 million paycheck for Wild Wild West (which isn’t a good movie BTW). But the best thing is him countering the claim that he is a “soft” rapper with a clever comeback.
Best Lyrics:
I read in Rap Pages they refer to me as soft
Yeah, more like Microsoft
8. Switch
Now, this is a weird one.
Featured on Will’s fourth LP “Lost & Found”, this track sounds like a dance track and has a music video with a lot of body-shaking but it’s really about a bunch of non-dance things. The track starts with Will talking about his status as a veteran of the rap game (when this was released Will had been in the biz for 20 years). He moves on to talk about supporting artists by buying their music, his “hover hands”/no touching rule and his movie stardom coming in the way of him enjoying “normal people” things.
Sure, he eventually raps about dancing and ends the track with an invitation to join him on the dance floor. Eventually. Nonetheless, the beat is catchy and surely livens any room the track is played in. (BTW, there is a common misconception that this track is a tie-in with the movie Hitch, released around the same time. It is not.)
Best Lyrics:
First one in, last one out the club
Bursting in, passing out in the club
Back at it, this cat is the wit and the charm
Taking you higher like a syringe hittin ya arm
(The causal drug reference! Who woulda thunk?)
9. Party Starter
Longing for the Good Ol’ Days was a running theme on the “Lost & Found” album and it even got into the track “Party Starter”. He compares himself to “braids, that’s never gon’ fade” and staunchly stands by his standards even if he is called “old-fashioned”. He longs for the days when music was made “without A&R’s and ultimatums”.
He takes this party starting business very seriously.
This is the same track where he calls music his calling. So, it’s weird that Will has been absent from the music scene since. He hasn’t released an LP or single since, save for his covert feature on Colombian dance act Bomba Estéreo’s track “Fiesta (Remix)” in 2015. (This one is a banger and we can’t believe the world slept on it.)
In a 2015 interview with Zane Lowe, Will did say that he has been working with DJ Jazzy Jeff on new music and he wrote 20 to 30 tracks while working on Suicide Squad. He is also starting a world tour of sorts with 2 shows in August this year – one in Croatia and the other in Blackpool, UK. We can only hope that Will Smith – the Fresh Prince – does something musical in this live-action Aladdin. Maybe, a tie-in rap track with the movie.
Who doesn’t like a Genie that can rap? 😉
Insecure U 