Will Smith is resurrecting his rap career with his first full-length album in 20 years, and the West Philly native is promoting the project with a reference to one his greatest blunders as an actor.
Smith, 56, debuted a single from his upcoming album, "Based on a True Story," with a music video featuring Big Sean. The new song, "Beautiful Scars," makes light of Smith's infamous decision to turn down the generational role of Neo in "The Matrix." The part went to Keanu Reeves, who became a franchise icon, while Smith opted to star in the flop "Wild Wild West."
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In the music video, Big Sean reprises the pivotal scene in "The Matrix" when Neo is given a fateful choice: either take a blue pill to continue his humdrum life or swallow a red pill to delve into the secrets of a simulated society. Smith gobbles down both pills, cuing the music with an opening bar that pays homage to his hometown Eagles.
"Fly as a Eagle, fresh out of Philly. Yeah, I still rep the city," Smith raps. "Mirrors on the wall worth half a billie 'cause I'm a icon, somebody you can base your life on."
"Based on a True Story" is expected to be released in March.
Smith broke out as a rapper in the late 1980s as half of the West Philly duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, which paved the way for Smith's beloved sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." The group's cleaner presentation of hip-hop brought the genre a more mainstream audience with songs like "Summertime" and "Parents Just Don't Understand," which won the first Grammy Award for best rap performance in 1989.
Smith's solo rap career peaked with 1997's "Big Willie Style," a multi-platinum album that featured a bevy of hits from "Gettin Jiggy Wit It" and "Miami" to "Just the Two of Us" and "Men In Black." His last full-length album, "Lost and Found," was released in 2005.
Smith periodically has resurfaced as a rapper over the years. He showed up at the 2016 Roots Picnic in Philly and performed "Summertime" with his daughter Willow. He also reunited with DJ Jazzy Jeff for a pair of live shows in Europe in 2017. The duo released an EDM-style single, "Get Lit," that strayed from their boom box-era charm and was greeted with derision from music critics.
Before announcing "Based on a True Story," Smith already had released three singles that Billboard has confirmed will be on the new album. One of them, "You Can Make It" featuring Fridayy and Sunday Service Choir, hit No. 1 on Billboard's Gospel Airplay chart. Smith told Billboard he envisions going on tour in support of the album, something he never did regularly during his previous stints in the music industry.
"My dream is to work my way into a stadium tour," Smith said. "I'll probably do arenas this year and next year to see can I build a big enough, exciting enough show to require a stadium run. I have gigantic ideas about staging, using music, acting and screens — I've had a show in my mind for almost a decade."
Smith has never quite forgiven himself for rejecting "The Matrix," which he attributed to a terrible pitch from Lana and Lilly Wachowski, the sisters that directed the film. The Wachowskis were still relatively unknown at the time, and Smith once talked about their meeting in a video posted on his YouTube channel. At one point, Smith imitated them.
"'Dude, we're thinking like, imagine you're in a fight, and then you, like, jump,'" Smith recalled from the pitch. "'Imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump. But then people could see around you 360 while you're jumping, while you've stopped jumping."
With his characteristic goofiness and positivity, Smith still found a way to use his poor judgment to bond with his oldest son, Trey, in a series of home videos they made together.
Smith told Billboard he's bullish on the Eagles' chances in their Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs.
"It's time for my Eagles," he said. "We're unbeatable."