JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Will Smith Music Career: How Bad Boys Actor Started As An MC Explored As He Performs At BET Awards 2024
Though Smith is among the leading Hollywood stars today, his road to success was defined by his music career. As life comes full circle, the rapper-turned-actor is embracing his music roots again.
Will Smith lit up the stage with the performance of his new song You Can Make It at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday, June 30. The actor’s first-ever BET Awards stage act, he recognized it as the perfect moment to flaunt his comeback to the entertainment industry following his massive falling out at the 2022 Oscars.
Though Smith is among the leading Hollywood stars today, his road to success was well-defined by his music career. As life comes full circle, the rapper-turned-actor appears to be embracing his musical roots all over again.
How Will Smith began his career as an MC?
Before he made waves in the film industry, Will Smith, 55, was best known as the other half of the hip-hop duo, DJ Jazzy & the Fresh Prince. He had teamed up with his childhood friend, Jeffrey ‘DJ Jazzy Jeff’ Townes, and created award-winning music for a few years.
Townes and Smith first met in 1985 while the former was DJing at a house party a few doors down from the actor’s residence, per a 2002 interview on Inside the Actors. He noticed Jeffrey did not have a hypeman and vouched himself as one, per sources. Eventually, they formed a trio, also inviting another friend, Clarence Holmes a.k.a Ready Rock C, to beatbox for them.
In 1986, the trio released their first single, Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble via World Records, per Paul Oakenfold Biography. Their music grew popular and Smith gained fame for his chill and profanity-free raps.
By the time he graduated from high school, the Bad Boys star was budding as a professional rapper and later signed their first album, Rock the House, with Jive Records in 1986. This steered their careers towards a new trajectory.
They hit a career milestone by winning a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for the track, Parents Just Don’t Understand in 1989. Smith’s group followed it up with another successful hit, Summertime that peaked at No.4 on Billboard Hot 100 and won them their second Grammy in 1991.
Smith found himself amid tax troubles after the Internal Revenue Service reported a $2.8 million tax debt against his name in 1988 and 1989, per CBS. Consequently, he lost most of his money and possessions, leaving him financially insecure by 1990.
Regardless, his fame was still in line as NBC contacted him and signed a deal to star him in a sitcom that would become his acting breakthrough, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The series ran for 6 seasons and set Will Smith’s acting career in motion. Rest is history.
Will Smith performed at the 2024 BET Awards
The Academy Award winner staged a riveting performance of his latest track, You Can Make It at the recent BET Awards. Standing in the middle of a ring of fire, Smith’s act was supported by Chandler Moore, gospel icon Kirk Franklin, and Sunday Service Choir.
The actor was eager to make his comeback to Hollywood and his song lyrics likened to the idea with messages about resilience and hope.
His BET performance comes only two days after he released the single that also features Friday and Sunday Service Choir. He also reprised his role in the fourth Bad Boys sequel, Ride or Die in early June.
ALSO READ: Fans Disapprove Of Will Smith's Rap At BET Awards; They Ask Him To 'Stick To Acting'
Latest Articles
