In the lead-up to releasing his first album in two decades, Will Smith revealed the advice he received from the upper echelons of hip-hop. Speaking to radio station Sirius XM, he explained that Jay-Z told him to “be true to your story”, while Kendrick Lamar said, “Just say that s*** you always been f***ing scared to say.”
Sound advice. At his height as a rapper, Smith wasn’t exactly the hardest guy in the room. Instead, his skill lay in his breezy playfulness, his catchiness, even his family-friendliness (famously, he didn’t swear in his music). Paired with his exuberant pop-song-sampling production, often from his fellow Philadelphia native DJ Jazzy Jeff, Smith helped to commercialise hip-hop, even winning the first ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance.
