On his first album since ’05, Will Smith takes the online hysteria head-on.
Will Smith addressed the fallout of the slap heard around the world on “Int. Barbershop — Day”, the opening track of his Based on a True Story album he dropped today. The song, featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff and B. Simone, starts with random voices conversing through rhyme. The first person proclaims, “Will Smith is cancelled!” Another verse ponders, “Who the fuck Will Smith think he is?” while the next detractor reveals, “I ain’t never going to forgive him for that shit he did.”
Smith directly references his acrimonious relationship with the Oscars after slapping then-host Chris Rock in 2022. “I heard he won the Oscar but he had to give it back / And you know they only made him do that shit because he’s Black,” he says. (He in fact didn’t have to give back the Best Actor award he won for his role in King Arthur). Later in the song Smith rhymes, “Him and Jada both crazy girl, what you talkin’ bout? / You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth.”
The latter bar was the demand he issued to Rock after the comedian joked about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia, and Will Smith walked up to him and slapped him before returning to his seat. He later returned to the stage to accept his Best Actor award. For the slap, Smith was banned from any Oscars-related event for 10 years, and resigned his Oscar Academy membership. In a public apology to Chris Rock the next day, he noted, “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.” He also apologized in a video.
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Based on a True Story is Smith’s first album since 2005’s Lost and Found. The 14-song album includes features from Big Sean, Teyana Taylor, Russ, and Joyner Lucas, who previously spoke on working with Will Smith on the project.
“Me and Will are always creating,” Lucas said. “We’ve got a lot of records actually. There’s a lot of records that we’ve done. I love working with Will. He’s an amazing guy for sure.” He added, “I got him on some other shit [in our work]. People going to fuck with that. The streets are going to fuck with this shit.“
