Remember Will Smith's Will 2k Video?

[Booker T Garvey]

Im 32 and I'm not gonna come in here on some revisionist bullshyt but when I was a kid I saw Will first and foremost as an actor that released some music and soundtracks to his movies. Of course now I know better but then I was was 10-12 years old that was that.

Remember an old interview with RA The Rugged Man who gave Will huge props where he said back in the day Will could slide up to any radio show and destroy any mic

This makes sense though, by 1999 he’d been an actor longer than he was a rapper

 

[Threnody]

This song was my shyt....The Fresh Prince version of "Escobar 97'"

 

[Lil Draco]

This was my shyt when I was a kid. Got the album just to play this song

 

[New Jeruz Jewelz]

Yeah Will prior to acting was nice. His music always had a comedic edge to it. His comeback was looked at as safe but who could see Will Smith come back on some angle that Young MC tried and failed at. He kept true to his image and that’s really why he still has respect.

I hated that we let Eminem disrespect Will & Mike during that era.

 

[Dynamite James]

What's the name of that song playing at the beginning ??

shyt is fire but I forgot the name of it

 

[murksiderock]

I never knew this had a video. I just sat here and rapped it word for word...

I saw him as an actor who was trying to rap on the side. Similiar to Shaq a ball player who tried rap on the side.

I'm 30, and I wanna say I always knew he was a rapper first. I definitely never looked at him as an actor over a rapper...

At this point, I mean he's 35 years in the entertainment industry, I'd definitely say his legacy is more as a GOAT actor than a rapper, I'll say that. But I can't recall even as a kid viewing him as not a rapper or an actor first, at some point I must have been told or shown he was a rapper because I always knew it as far as my memory can recall...

Speak for yourself.

Maybe some nikkas around you felt that way but not all Black people did. Will has certified classics like Summertime which is an absolute staple, don’t matter from the hoodest of nikkas to the squarest of squares in the African American community, that shyts a classic. Big Willie Style just went a little “pop-ish” but I have never saw anyone question Will or disown him as you are speaking.

Yeah we definitely dropped the ball on how we publicly shamed his style back then. And as I've gotten older, I'm a little ashamed that so many of us were ashamed of him. He could always rap...