Will Smith got his start in the music business in the mid-80s, eventually becoming not only a star of the rap world, but of the television and motion picture industries as well. Born September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia,
Smith was 16 when he joined forces with aspiring DJ Jeff Townes and became the Fresh
Prince. Smith gave up a scholarship to MIT to continue pursue his music career and the two released their debut album, Rock the House, in 1987, scoring a hit with the single "Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble.” The pair's music was quirky, cheery and squeaky clean, a
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far cry from the new Gangsta Rap that was beginning to rear its foul-mouthed head, and mainstream success was near-immediate, making Smith a millionaire at age 18. The duo followed up with the album He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper, the first hip-hop LP to go double-platinum. In 1989, they won the first ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance for the track Parents Just Don't Understand.
Smith’s success in the music world caught the attention of Hollywood and he was soon offered the lead in a new NBC sitcom, “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” where he played a sassy, street-smart kid coping comically with life in Los Angeles' richest area. The show was a major success and lasted for six years. At the end of its run, the movie offers started to come in and Smith starred in a series of megahits including, “
Independence Day” and the “
Men in Black” franchise. For Men in Black, Smith returned to the studio for the first time in several years to record the movie’s rap theme under his given name Smith’s debut solo LP, Big Willie Style, also appeared in 1997, featuring such Will Smith songs as "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," "Just the Two of Us," and "Miami." Shortly on the heels of his first box-office disappointment, 1999's Wild Wild West, he returned with the album Willennium. It also fared poorly, compared to Smith previous material, and occasioned the release of a (slightly) more artistic record, 2002's Born to Reign. It also failed to live up to expectations, but Smith’s next record, 2005's Lost and Found, was propelled to the top of the charts by the hit single, "
Switch", which appealed to mainstream audiences. The single stayed atop the charts for months and returned Smith to the forefront of Hip Hop.
