Will Smith once shared some strong opinions about the rap community that some artists like Eminem took slight issue with. It turns out Dr. Dre may have also had a problem with Smith’s comments as well.
So when the opportunity presented itself for Dre to poke some fun at the blockbuster superstar, Dre apparently couldn’t resist.
How Will Smith stood out from other hip-hop artists
Before he was one of the world’s biggest superstars, Smith was first introduced to mainstream audiences as rapper Fresh Prince. Him and his partner in rap DJ Jazzy Jeff would produce several hit records that cemented their legacy in the genre. But most of Smith’s music intentionally veered towards lighthearted content that helped separate him from other hip hop acts.
“That was really our major distinguishing quality at the time,” Smith once said on David Letterman’s My Next Guess Needs No Introduction (via Billboard). “It was comedy, it was punchlines, it was fun. We stood out in a really good way. We sort of had our own lane.”
As he matured, Smith also enjoyed solo success as a hip hop artist with platinum records such as Big Willie Style.
But despite his commercial and critical achievements, some didn’t embrace Smith’s less aggressive approach to hip hop. Especially since Smith made it a point to avoid cursing in his records, which became a rarity in the rap community. This gave Smith a reputation that he didn’t appreciate.
“Not pressure as much as it was always that I was soft. I hated that, being called soft,” Smith said.
His decision to avoid using profanity in his records stemmed from a letter he received from his grandmother.
“’Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like these to express themselves. Please show the world that you’re as smart as we think you are. Love, Gigi,’” Smith remembered the letter saying. “That was the reason I never cursed in any of my records.”
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Dr. Dre once secretly dissed Will Smith on the ‘Bad Boys 2’ soundtrack
Smith received a bit of backlash from some in the hip hop community for his attitude towards rap. Eminem delivered a quick jab at Smith in his song “The Real Slim Shady” back in the day. But Smith may have also been unknowingly dissed by another Aftermath artist as well.
Dr. Dre and Smith collaborated on Smith’s successful Bad Boys II film. Dre lent his talents towards the project by scoring several scenes for the Michael Bay feature.
But if Dre’s former friend Bruce Williams was to be believed, one of those tracks may have contained a hidden message targeting Smith. Williams had been a part of Dre’s entourage for years, and eventually wrote a memoir detailing his experiences with the rap mogul. In his memoir Rollin’ With Dre (via Page Six), Williams gave a quick story of how Dre secretly might have sneaked a Smith diss into Bad Boys II.
“We made sure that the music underneath that scene was the song ‘B**** N*****’ from The Chronic 2001, because that’s what we thought of that hater, Smith. We had to get our fun where we could,” Williams claimed.
Will Smith once felt he still had more music in him
Smith hasn’t come out with a record in years. Lately, he’s put a bit more focus on his movie career instead. But the Oscar-winner still dabbled in the music industry from time to time. In 2018, he shared he still felt like he had another hip hop run left.
“‘Summertime’ and ‘Brand New Funk’ are the two records I’ve made and I think I got more in me. I’m in the studio now and I have real things to say. That’s the thing that’s gonna be new and different and interesting about the music that I create going forward,” he said on the Rap Radar podcast.
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