Will Smith Is Back With A Rap Album After 20 Years, And The Oscar-Winning, Slap-Giving Actor-Rapper Is Two Steps Ahead of Trolls

 

Twenty years since his last album, Smith has dropped Based on a True Story. The album is practically the confession of a man tearing his guts out. Will Smith knows exactly what you’re thinking. He has already made the joke you were about to crack. Album opener, Int. Barbershop - Day has voices snapping like rubber bands, buzzing like electric clippers. It starts with: "Will Smith Is Cancelled." A Greek chorus of trolls, skeptics and ex-fans laugh and mock him. “Who the $&*# Will Smith think he is?

 

That boy damn crazy, how he raisin’ them kids.” A pause. Then: “I heard he won the Oscar but had to give it back, and you know they only made him do that #*$&* because he’s Black.” Another voice cuts through the static. “Him and Jada crazy, girl, what you talkin’ about?” And then the hammer. A breath held. Then: “You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth.” It's a callback to the infamous slap from 2022. The 2022 Oscars were supposed to be another glamorous Hollywood night, until Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face. Rock had made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, referencing G.I. Jane, and before the laughter could settle, Smith was on him. A hard smack, a stunned audience and then Smith’s voice cut through the silence: “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth.” Twice. Millions watched in real-time as one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors shattered his image in a matter of seconds. He still won Best Actor that night, but the slap stole the show. The next track on Smith's new album, You Lookin’ For Me, leans in harder.

 

“Won’t stop, my shit still hot, even though I won’t get nominated.” No apology, just a man sifting through the wreckage of his own legend. This isn’t just Smith’s therapy session. It’s a reunion. DJ Jazzy Jeff, Teyana Taylor, Joyner Lucas, and his own son Jaden Smith. A week before release, Smith dropped a teaser on Instagram. “The past couple of years, I’ve been doing a very deep exploration of who and what I truly am,” he said. “This album is me being honest with myself in a way I never have before.” Smith is taking this album on the road, starting with Europe. The mic is his again. No one’s slapping it away this time (like they did during his Oscars speech).