Hero1

Donald Clarke One of the biggest stars in Hollywood also happens to be a thoroughly nice bloke, even if he does make $28 million a movie. Will Smith talks to Donald Clarke about race, rap and his determination to keep making punter-pleasing blockbusters Once, on one of her rare visits to Planet Earth, the pathologically cantankerous journalist Julie Burchill said that the only people who claim to dislike Will Smith are those same contrarians (this from Julie!) who unconvincingly boast about not caring for chocolate or sunshine. And, for once, she was right. Will Smith may not be as good an actor as Robert DeNiro, he may not be as fly a rapper as Chuck D (or, let's be honest, Chuck Norris), but the sheer volume of positive energy Smith radiates seems sufficient to overpower even the most jaded sensibilities. Before our interview, I pop into a press conference where Smith and Alex Proyas, director of the perfectly respectable new science fiction flick, I, Robot, are entertaining a herd of my colleagues. The hacks, many of whom make a living out of having seen it all before, are clearly enchanted. Like Jim Carrey, Smith takes the "Love Me! Love Me!" approach to such events, but, unlike Carrey, he is genuinely funny. When a journalist's tape recorder gives out he picks it up and shows it to the crowd. "Who's is this? Nobody? Man, you're just embarrassed to claim it because it's so old looking." So what's the problem with Will? Why would Julie's friends pretend not to warm to him? Well, it's an odd thing, but for somebody with all the superficial requirements for a hip image - wit, poise, negritude - he remains quite startlingly uncool. The difficulties began when, alongside one Jazzy Jeff, Smith emerged in the late 1980s as clean-cut rapper The Fresh Prince. Just as hip-hop was getting nicely irresponsible, The Prince, a sort of Cliff Richard of the genre, was delivering such fiercely terrifying tracks as Parents Just Don't Understand and Girl's Ain't Nothing But Trouble. Tougher rappers were unforgiving in their contempt. "I specifically made a choice to be different," Smith tells me. "I didn't want to fit in. I also wanted to keep that happy look in my grandmother's eye. Yeah, sure, I could have written filthy stories, but I didn't want to just fit in. You know, my Mom would have to go to work and I didn't want to be embarrassed if I was out there with this song: 'See that girl with her big fat ass' and so on. But you know everybody was doing that, and when everybody is doing something I always want to do the opposite." So Smith rebelled by being unrebellious? Still, it must gall him a little that he became the butt of so many of the gangstas' jokes. "There is a problem in the black community now with equating stupid with cool and smart with corny. And for me there is a certain aggressiveness to my intelligence that I like to keep intact. All those big hardcore guys think you're tough because you're not smart. Well, let's fight if you're so tough. Let's see who's the toughest. Let's see if your stupidity is tougher than my intelligence. " Smith, whose father was in the refrigeration business, attaches great importance to family. He grew up in middle-class Philadelphia where, at the age of 12, he made friends with the then still unjazzy Jeff Townes. Will did well in school and was urged by his mother to take up an offer from MIT to study engineering, but he never seriously entertained the idea. Considering the mighty, ahem, willpower that I can sense in the room, I assume he was always filled with the desire for fame. "You know, in a weird way I never tried to be famous or rich," he says. "I just tried to be the best. The origins of my drive date back to Resurrection Baptist Church in Philly. My grandmother was always in charge of all of the children's performances and there was a look in her eyes that she had when I succeeded that I've been searching for through my whole career." Slightly creepily, he then goes on to explain that his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, co-star of the last two Matrix films, has, in this regard, taken the place of his grandmother."You know my whole career has been based on the women in my life, first my grandmother and then my mother and now it's Jada. You can trace the quality of my career based on the quality of woman I was with at that individual point in time. It is all about pleasing them." I resist the temptation to inquire just what sort of monster he was shacked up with when he made Wild Wild West and ask instead if he is seriously suggesting that he would rather that Jada like a movie than it take $80 million on its opening weekend. "Oh yeah. I can't survive without that look in my wife's eye. That is really what drives me." Now, ordinarily this is the sort of comment that would cause me to vomit into one of the Dorchester's fruit baskets. But there is just something so ingenuously bouncy about Smith that you can't help but bounce along with him. Then again, the longer you spend with him the more apparent his assiduous professionalism becomes. He knows you have a limited time with him and that you can only ask so many questions. With that in mind, he provides moderately colourful answers at a moderate length. You couldn't call him uninteresting, but equally you know you could sit there until the next ice age and not get him to say anything properly scandalous. This is a man who has always been in tight control of his career. He used his profile as The Fresh Prince to launch the successful (but awful) sit-com, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which he played someone called "Will Smith" who, like Will Smith, suddenly found himself having to cope with life among the super-rich. Three years later, in 1993, he made an astonishing big-screen starring début in Six Degrees of Separation. There was plenty of brain fodder in Fred Schepisi's film for students of race in American cinema. Smith plays a drifter who worms his way into a wealthy New York family's home by claiming to be the son of Sidney Poitier, another actor who has been accused of being, for reasons too complicated to go into here, the precise type of African-American that white middle America can just about cope with. Smith has always refused to play the race card. He insists that the issue is now incidental to the politics of Hollywood. "The thing is that Hollywood does not care about black or white. It cares about green: the dollar. The racist element in Hollywood is not based upon anyone's dislike of a specific race of people; it is based on the racist logical constructs that have been put in place." By which I take him to mean that any discrimination occurs simply because there is still a perception that black stars don't draw in the punters. Which is not quite racism I suppose, though the result is the same. "Well, yes. Part of the reason I had to struggle to get Independence Day was this concept they had that black people don't translate internationally. That is the racist construct that has to be broken. But, you know, that attitude is not hidden. There is a clarity of the position and an immobility in your enemy that makes it easier to fight him. Forty years ago there were people who were specifically trying to make sure that black people didn't get jobs. That's less true now." So, if Will Smith sells tickets, they don't care if he is pink, blue or mauve? "Oh yeah. Look, in Hollywood they would sell their grandmothers for a good opening weekend." Well, OK. But the industry still has some peculiar hang-ups about race. In I, Robot, Smith stars as a detective in 2035 Chicago who suspects a robot of having committed a murder. It is interesting that he never gets to kiss his (white) leading lady (Bridget Moynahan). I had read that Smith felt this was evidence of the problem Hollywood has with "the white girl and the black guy". He seems to have decided to backtrack slightly. "That wasn't actually the case with this movie," he clarifies. "We just thought any romance was wrong for the science-fiction thing. But yeah, that is still there. And it ismore of an issue with a white girl and a black guy than the other way round. I don't know why, but that is an issue with both communities in America. It doesn't seem to matter anywhere else. Eventually something will blow it away and it'll be gone forever. "You watched The Pelican Brief and there was this real tension. Will Denzel get to kiss Julia Roberts? Do they dare?" At any rate, Smith managed to kick the door in and followed up Six Degrees of Separation with a string of noisy, profitable blockbusters, including Independence Day, Bad Boys and Men in Black. It was in these films that he perfected the classic Will Smith character, a very slightly darker version of which features in I, Robot - sassy, witty, irreverent, but rarely profane: the sort of man his late granny could still love. It's a compelling act, but since Six Degrees he has really only broken out of it twice - impressively for Michael Mann in the beautifully made, but redundant, Ali, less successfully in Robert Redford's boring The Legend of Bagger Vance. Does he stick with the same style of picture simply because the money is so good? After all, he purportedly earned $28 million for I, Robot. "Never at any point in my career have I ever done anything for money," he says. "Part of the reason that I earn the money that I do is that I look like I care about the material. You know, it's funny to me that they pay me so much for doing something I love. But, hey, if they're making all this money from the movie, I'm going to get as much as I can back from them." So why has he focussed so hard on the action picture? "I have always wanted to make the films that most people will see," he says. "And the top 10 biggest films of all time are action films, and nine out of the top 10 are movies with creatures. So, for me, I said: I want to do action movies with creatures." Aha! This may be another reason why Will is not quite cool. He just wants to be liked so, so much. To paraphrase Johnny Vegas (stay with me here), he's not an actor, he's an entertainer. Then again, along with Ms Burchill, I am quite happy to oblige by liking him nearly as much as he wants me to. Will may be too nice for words - he even calls me "sir" throughout the interview - but, on balance, nice is better than nasty, isn't it? And for those of us who are susceptible to his charms, the reasonably exciting, occasionally moving I, Robot will do well enough for now. After two awful sequels - Bad Boys II and Men in Black II - it looks as if Smith is back in a position of power. So what next? He may still look like a gorgeous, cheeky teenager, but he is 35 and can't do action roles forever. "What I am really looking for is the Number One Answer Movie," he says cryptically. "Look at Gladiator. You have Russell giving this great performance, but you have all these great effects and it is a number one movie. Or Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. "I'd like to do something that good that also gives the audience whatever candy they need." Don't bet against him finding it. [url="http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/2004/0806/4015223511TK0608WILLSMITH.html"]http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/...8WILLSMITH.html[/url]

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If you open your Hip hop History books up to the chapter on what was fresh in the late 80s-early 90s, you would find a picture of Kid 'N' Play doing the kick step and Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D lamping in the background at the Apollo. This was the era where hip hop really started exploding onto the mainstream and artists started crossing over to the dismay of many hip hop purists. Kid 'N' Play did their part to make hip hop more accessible with joints like "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" and "Rollin' With Kid 'N' Play," coordinated dance moves and the successful House Party movie series. They were the first hip hop cats to even have their own cartoon! As you can tell by now Play was the one without the high top fade. He was the smooth brother from Queens, NY who always left with the ladies and continuously got Kid in trouble. After many years in the limelight Play a.k.a. Christopher Martin has chosen a different path, devoting his life to god and taking a behind the scenes approach to music. He took his vast industry experience and founded HP4Digital Works, a multimedia company that provides pre and post production for film, digital and live theater productions. Check below for an interview with one of the cats who really put fun into hip hop back in the day and find out what drives him now and what projects he has in the works. How would you compare the music back then - when you were creating it - to today? Well, I definitely think track wise the quality of the music is better because that's what is supposed to happen as you move on, innovate and get better. A lot of cats that are choosing to bow out are not giving passion or commitment that they once did because they feel as though the motives and inspirations for today's music isn't what it used to be in regards to the love culture and the gift itself. It's all money driven and I believe they have a point there. So as far as the music itself: it's definitely better. But as far as the total package: it seems to be diluted. To me you guys were like the last bastion of hip hop where you could actually dance to it. Now everybody seems to just want to stand around and nod they head. What happened to dancing? I believe music along with everything else in this world goes through its phases. When people seemed to be enamored with the whole gangsta thing I don't think it was because the whole world wanted to be gangsters. I think it was because it was refreshing to the ear and it was something different and that's how music and everything runs its course. When things are redundant, repetitious or boring you're thirsty for something new, no matter what sacrifice is as far as morals. With this case right here I think if you live long enough it will come around again, but sometimes things fizzle out because everybody can't do it. The main reason rap became as big as it has, is because everybody is not a good singer. Same with dancers: the ones that wanted to do the gangster thing probably weren't good dancers. So they're like: 'lets take what we know how to do and make that the thing.' Sometimes it's as simple as that. When you first started out what got you interested in hip hop? What got me involved in it - as an actual artist - was girls. I wanted to get into their pants. It was my understanding that girls liked guys who did big things, so I was part of doing big things. That ended up turning into something a lot more meaningful because like I said: not a lot of people can sing so they can relate to people who can rap and you come closer to be able to do that. The thing I really appreciated about it is how it really touched my generation and what was going on inside of me. Not everybody did it but there were some of others more deserving of the title icon that I felt spoke. It was just so amazing how they were able to transform what was inside themselves and inside of all of us and be able to put it on paper, wax, cassette or CD. How did you get down with your first group? I forgot the first group but the one that was most memorable was Quicksilver and the Super Lovers back in Queens in East Elmhurst. Our whole theme was this legendary god of the turntables who was able to bring up the legendary lovers of the past. My full stage name was Playboy. Everybody that got close to me just called me Play and that just caught on. We had Romeo, Prince Charming, Herbie the Luv Bug, all these different people with these legendary lovers' names and we said: if you were looking for the ultimate lover this is who you see. Then as life moved on, cats had to get jobs. Kid was part of a different group called The Turnout Brothers and a lot of his members went and got regular jobs and him and me were the only two left standing. His full stage name was The Kid Coolout and everybody close to him called him Kid for short. So then you had Kid 'N' Play. I'm sure his crew had a different focus. Did you think at first like: man this ain't gonna work out. Your style is over here and I'm over there. Or did you immediately click? Nah, never because we were always family. The DJ in his group was the brother of one of the rappers in my group. We were always a close-knit bunch and had friendly competitions and all that. So when that idea came up we didn't even think that seriously about it. This is one question I've wanted to ask you since like sixth grade. What sparked you to be like: I'm dancing and I'm just going to jump over my leg and it's gonna be hot?! It came from dancers we had. We always wanted to do a big show. We were very closely associated with and came up the ranks with Salt-N-Pepa and that's why our shows were similar to theirs. We always had dancers behind us but unfortunately at that particular time, which worked out for the best, unlike Salt-N-Pepa who had more money than we had, we couldn't afford to take our dancers on the road. So we had to consolidate it. Even the kick step was something the dancers did when we had them behind us. Salt-N-Pepa had male dancers behind them and we had female dancers behind us. I sprained my wrist trying to do that move. I heard that went on quite a bit. Of course the secret is practice but it had a lot to do with the shoes you had on and a lot of people didn't know that. We wouldn't even really try it with anything else. From time to time it would be ok but it was the Nike Cortex sneakers. It was like having bedroom slippers on your feet. If anyone was trying with the Adidas or other Nikes the sole was too big and it was hard for you to really do what you had to do because of all the extra rubber on the heel at the bottom. So that was the trick. To me when you guys came out with House Party you changed the game. We did an interview with Jazzy Jeff and he said the movie was originally for him and the Fresh Prince. How did it land in your hands? Yeah it was. It was inspired by Groove B. Chill, you know the cats that kept bumping into the turntables. They and the writers all went to high school together, so it was inspired by them. When they were looking for people to play the parts they wanted Kid and I to do it. But New Line Cinema wanted Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff to do it because they were more known. Fresh Prince and them turned it down because New Line Cinema had a lot of nerve; because at the same time they were suing them for that record "Nightmare On My Street." That's why they turned it down. So it didn't work out and we did our little crazy thing playing by the rules and auditioning and it happened. Now in the following movies how much creative control did you get? Because I can't imagine some old white dude coming up with a "Pajama Jammy Jam." We were fortunate enough to have black people who understood. Kid and I have been fortunate in all the movies we did - even "Class Act". And that was written by a white guy we love named Randy Miller. We always had directors that trusted our instinct. They would ask us: would this be said and how legitimate would it be. Sometimes we would just do it both ways and whichever one turned out better when you edit it, that's the one you did. Most of the time they let us do it any way we wanted to. But when there was a disagreement, the compromise was we'll do different takes of each person's version. We came up on Kid 'N' Play so we were there for everything. Besides Hammer y'all the only rappers I know who had their own cartoon and Marvel comic book. What was that experience like. They always wanted us, even till today, to do TV. We weren't really crazy about doing TV because at the time Eddie Murphy had advised us not to do TV unless you absolutely have to. At the same time, at the time, I had a child and I always wanted to do something to be immortalized for him at that age. So the idea came up to do that and that's what happened. Same thing with the comic book. It was just like what was going on now: you have to grow or you're going to explode. It was just a natural thing and may have come off as a little premature but it tickles me now because a lot of cats who would be very vocal about crossing over and selling out look at this now. It's the evolution of what's to be. The only reason that it didn't go longer is because a new NBC president came in and felt very strongly about live Saturday morning programming. That's when "Saved By The Bell" and "Hang Time" and all those shows came in. If it wasn't for that vision it would have lasted. It didn't have anything to do with low ratings, it was just that the president wanted to aim at teens on Saturday mornings. Things gotta run their course and not saying it because I did it. But if it wasn't for a lot of those things happening, I don't know if a lot of people would be benefiting from what they are benefiting from now. Those things had to prove that it worked. Even when it was time to do "House Party", I was reluctant and out voted. I didn't want to do "House Party" because of the track record of a "Tougher Than Leather" or a "Krush Groove". Those were great movies looking back on it in retrospect but at the time they were box office failures. I didn't want to be part of that humiliation. But "House Party" came out and did as well as it did. It cost over 5 million dollars to make it but it turned around and made over 30 million in a short time. I know it must be well over a 100 large now. From investment stats, percentages and averages that's a businessperson's dream. You touched on it a little bit but what is something you feel Kid 'N' Play is responsible for but you haven't gotten your just due? I think we get our just due. I'm fine. I can't really speak for Kid but from the dialogue we had he's cool too. Everywhere I go it's nothing but love. Sometimes you think that I have to have a record or film out now but when I'm around the current rappers today it's nothing but love and respect. They kinda throw out the red carpet treatment. I'm just thankful to live long enough to see the fruits of labor. The new stuff I'm involved in, I'm real excited about. I live life like everyone else, you have your ups and your downs but I know other cats who have been even more instrumental than Kid and I and they treat them unfair. I'm glad we don't get it like that. I think Hammer did an incredible job for rap but sometimes he is like the butt of people's jokes. I don't think it's fair. I think it's unfair how Public Enemy is treated. There should be a tribute to those cats and Big Daddy Kane. Yeah, I remember hearing someone say how they slammed Hammer for doing KFC commercials but now you see mad heads doing things like that. That's my point. It's like cats are seeing that maybe five plus years ago this would be crazy. The only one who has seemed to stick to his guns in regards to keeping it street is KRS-One. Everyone else is doing stuff that if you look five or ten years ago it would be like you sold out. You gotta make a decision: do you want to make friends or do you want to be blessed? Do you want to eat or do you want to be a starving artist? You can talk all that mess when you're younger because you live in your mother and father's house but when you end up having kids, you have mortgage and car notes to pay that keeping it street on the corner ain't gonna hold too much water. Are you still involved in the ministry? I'm involved in witnessing. My whole thing is hip hop and alternative hip hop that some would call Christian or Holy hip hop. My thing is it's stuff that's going to put light into people. If it's gonna raise a question or talk about a problem, it's also going to supply an answer. I think other rap topics are good as well and this is what is going on. But are we going to glorify it and pimp it or are we gonna come up with an answer? I don't get preachy that's not where we're coming from. The cats that I support and represent are coming at it on a real interesting angle real soon. Was there any particular situation that brought you closer to god? Just life. When you invest every dime and all your emotions and physical energy into something that you swear once you get it you're there and come to find out your not. Your tired, in debt and all kinds of crazy stuff go on and come to find out it's nothing but a big façade. All these people you grew up with under the belief that they made it, come to find out when you hang out with them and eat with them they share with you the hell they are going through. It's like if you're that happy why do you buy a new car every month? It's an emptiness that's not being fulfilled. If you got the car you love you not gonna do nothing with that for a long time. If you got the chain you love, why do you have to keep switching it and making it bigger and bigger? Not to judge, because I've been there and done that with the dookie rope chains, big medallions, and a series of Rolexes and all that. It's like clothes: you swear when you get that one outfit you set and next thing you know it's played out and now it's time to get the newer version. Are you doing anything with Frankie Cutlass? No not right now. He's a very cool brother. He helped me and Salt out with this project we are getting ready to come out with at the end of the year called "Rise", which is the first hip hop stage production of its kind. We taking it back doing old school, new school and crazy R'n'B tracks and at the end of the day it's about what is it all for. We're really excited about that and Frankie helped out a great deal getting the musical score together. Rockwilder did most of the stuff so it's really hot. We got Whodini in it, Dana Dane, Kane, some possible participation with Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick. All that's being discussed and negotiated. The only reason it's taking so long to do is because we insisted that it have the same budget as when you are putting out a movie with all the publicity and bells and whistles that come along with it. It's gonna be kind of hard to ignore in a few months. I read the press release and it said you took a lot from yours and Salt's lives and incorporated it. That's the inspiration. It's a story about two people: a kid named RaPp and his sidekick, a girl. It's based on a lot of real events and things from our experiences: the good and the bad. A lot of comedy and serious moments. It's really hot. A lot of money has been put into it. It's me, her and we are backed by Allan Houston from the New York Knicks. Are there specific morals or lessons to be learned from this or is it mostly entertainment? I guess you can look at it as edutainment. It's really a situation where you need to know your worth because if you don't people will see it before you see it and if they're not good people they are gonna use it and abuse it for all it's worth. And by the time you realize what you have, unfortunately it's too late. We don't get all preachy and all sad. It's like everybody's story: you have the good, the bad, the great and sometimes the ugly. I heard there is supposed to be a twenty-city tour. What is the setup like is it more of a play or musical and who do you see as your main audience? We don't like to call it a play; we call it a stage production. We're looking at places like Baltimore, Philly, Charlotte and New Jersey. We're not interested in the big places like New York until 2005. My hope is that the people that will be drawn to it will be club heads or hip hop heads. It's not a church thing, even though the church relates to it. It's gonna be a party. We have several parts in it where it's a tribute to hip hop where the DJ goes there and has you going down memory lane and the whole nine. It's open to anyone who wants to see it. What's up with this Holy Hip hop album you're supposed to be executive producing? They threw it to me as a gift. My main love is visuals, music videos and movies. I've been fortunate enough to have some pieces that are getting ready to get launched. I have one that is called "Brother Lane's Last Call." It's a real story of an apostle that when he speaks, cats want to kill him. What happens is that we are able to recreate his story and bring in some other friends like Ralph Tresvant from New Edition, Shirley Murdock and a lot of other people. That's gonna be coming out real soon. Me and Salt also did a piece called "Apt. 36b," which is about a cat who loses his love and turns to drugs and drinking and all of that and not caring about life. These are all things that people can relate to but there is a hip hop theme. A cat who loves hip hop can relate to a girl leaving him dying and he turns to get high all the time. That's the cat you see in the neighborhood and you don't know why he's doing that. Same with Brother Lane's Last Call. You can have an evangelist trying to save people's lives but cats out there selling their drugs dissing the preacher are hip hop heads. So it's bringing it a lot of hip hop themes. Could you tell us a little about your company HP4 Digital Works? That's something I started which helps a person bring their vision to fruition from A-Z; whether I consult, participate in the production of it or post production. It's all working through digital equipment, digital cameras and digital editing. It's the not so glamorous part of the entertainment business. Was that something that you were always interested in? It's something that I became interested in. One of the scariest points is where you might have to come to the realization that this particular part of the entertainment business is over. So what do you do? The worst-case scenario or the nightmare of most people is to go back and work at Burger King or McDonalds. You can do that or you can realize some of the things that you were around that intrigued you when you got exposed to them. I became interested and obsessed with filmmaking. Then as a guy that never finished school the thing was: I didn't know anything. So I was really on this search for a trade when it was all said and done. I wanted to learn how to do something. You mentioned Kid earlier what's the relationship between you and him? Are you still on good terms? We're good. He just lives in L.A. and I ain't feeling L.A. I can't put my finger on it but I've never been comfortable in L.A. I did a lot of damage out there. I did what people go to L.A. to do party and meet women. Maybe it's burnout, I dunno. I'm not a big year round warm weather person. I like my seasons. Kid likes the heat and that warm weather so that's really for him. Kid is a great entertainer. He's doing his stand up now. He's an actor and even as a singer. The guy is awesome. He's like a quadruple threat. So for a cat like me who wants to do things behind the scenes you can do that anywhere but for what he wants to do, it's a good location to make things happen. Has everything always been cool with you cats and you just grew apart or was there a split somewhere? I don't understand the break up thing because we're two grown men. If it got to the point where we stuck as close as we were, there would be rumors we were gay or something. The thing is nobody broke up; we grew up. We're all for doing another film. I'm not interested in doing any records but we already agreed to do films. We're not just gonna gobble up anything that's gonna ruin the last impression. We kinda went out on a good note so we want a script that's gonna honor and enhance that. We're good. I don't know where the breakup thing would come from besides the fact that I went through what I went through and gave my life over to the lord and went other ways to finish growing in that. His thing was straight to L.A. and I'm not interested in living in L.A. If we were in the same city or something, then it would be closer to seeing us together a lot. The last couple of times I been there, I stayed at his place and hit a few clubs. So it's all good. What made you do House Party 3 instead of moving to something totally different? It was contractual. Did you have other roles that were coming in or were you pigeonholed by the House Party movies? I had a lot of roles coming in and I guess you can say I turned all of them down. I didn't really think that much of acting. As far as what we did do I'm thankful and how I can be like that is not for myself. Because if it wasn't for those movies I don't know where a lot of actors would be. I'm very happy for Bernie Mac. When we did "House Party 3" I saw "Who's The Man" and I saw him in it and said: I want to get you in "House Party" because you would be perfect to play Robin Harris' brother. And the studio loved it. We didn't have to do it, but we were introducing the world to new talent. We had TLC, Bernie Mac, Candy Alexander, Chris Tucker and it's real great to be affiliated with it. If we didn't do the movies it could have played differently for other people. Last question, do you have any memorable moments from the Kid n Play days that we can take with us? Man there is a whole bunch of them. I just agreed to do a book today that's going to force me to remember a lot of stuff. It's just that some stuff you can talk about and there's stuff you can't. I love Kid man. Him and my oldest son Christopher are the only people that can consistently make me laugh till I cry. It tickles me when I run into cats when they feel they aren't going to make it and they feel it's over and I'm like: how old are you? And they say 15. I'm like what? You still got a long way to go in this thing. We went through a lot but the better times of them all were when we struggled to make it. There were times when Kid would have enough for the brew and I would have enough to get something to eat and we'd put it together and make it happen. There would be times that we would be sitting by the radio and cats were blowing up. I remember one time it was Dana Dane, Salt-N-Pepa, and all of them were at the Apollo. We couldn't go because we weren't on the guest list and then we were by the radio listening to the live performance boiling with anger because we're like "we could do that." The whole thing was a ball and I feel fortunate because a lot of people will never experience it. When it gets bad is when you get greedy and you think it's gonna last forever. But you have to let other people get their shot and get on. from urban smarts

[quote=Jonny 5,Aug 26 2004, 04:26 PM]Bran Van 3000 - Drinking in LA[/quote] ha! i loved that song when it came out :rock:

well said ted..if i was you id never sign with a record label..you'd probably be stuck on their roster for a couple of years and then they'd never release your album anyway.. when the biggest of big artists are getting done on record labels what chance does any new young artist have...

dont let sonys poor promotion of born to reign fool you..fp can go platinum in his sleep

if MTV was smart they'd end the show with will and jazzy doing switch..but mtv aint that smart..but anyway we should get the very latest on switch and aLBum as will is interviewed on the red carpet... it really would be the perfect opportunity to debut switch tho!

[img]http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/images/rockthepeach1.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/images/rockthepeach2.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/images/peachalbum4.jpg[/img]

@ paul-hunter.com for august 21 it says, "Paul has just finished wrapping Will Smith's video" so maybe we will see it next week :switch: :rock:

[quote=Da Brakes,Aug 26 2004, 06:01 AM]Errrrrrr. This isnt much of a quiz![/quote] :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl:

i think kanye needs to listen to "brand nubians - dont let it go to your head" ... "keep your head on solid ground..cause what goes up..must come down"

hopefully when switch drops..and then the album..this place will really blow up :switch: :thanks:

[quote=Da Brakes,Aug 26 2004, 05:13 AM][quote=Jazzy Julie,Aug 26 2004, 10:34 AM] I should stop listening to old jjfp albums for now bcoz it just gets me more excited. And then every day when i come here i look for a post that says "ive seen the video for switch" but it never happens. aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!![/quote] ha ha! yea! me 2!! :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl: [/quote] :ditto:

mayday mayday :sneak:

[quote=DevilsJim89,Aug 25 2004, 10:02 PM]With real indepth bio, news, pictures...the works![/quote] yeah hopefully its not just a site to sell the new album..like all the sony 1's were...

[b]Burger King Insanity Written by *****, ******, ****, ** ******, ******** ******** & ******[/b] One day as Prince was skiing down a slope wearing nothing but a kilt he spotted something in the distance, it was Julie and Kimmie, prince instantly recognized them from when they tried to steal his kilt. Now they were waiting for the discriminators and Liverpool haters with huge baseball bats. A fight was brewing when from out of the blue they began emptying the fuel out of his cars engine in the car park. Suddenly an aardvark ran from the forest and began mounting prince. Julie shouted to Kimmie, “Let’s take a photo of this and sell it on Ebay.” “We could fetch the van, load them inside and drive off so that we could then dump them off a cliff coz they aren’t worth any money not even for ransom.” [b]Road Trip[/b] Julie agreed,” yes we must rid all scouser haters from this earth, or at the very least Liverpool.” They threw prince in the van and hit the road, but Kimmie had to stop cause the van wasn’t glittered up enough to her liking. When on the side of the road they spotted a leopard skin couch, which they saw Tim sitting in, having been picking mushrooms from the side of the dirt track. They pulled up to kidnap him and steal his couch, when at this time Prince jumped out, snatched their wing mirror and ran off back to the slopes. Kimmie pulled out her trusty harpoon and got prince right in the leg, "Bow down oh Scottish one and shimmy to the Kimmie" she proclaimed. Prince threw the wing mirror at Kimmie, which got lodged in her ear, it didn’t seem to faze her though, cause Kimmie never listens to anyone anyway. Kimmie put Julies spiked collar around her neck, and dragged her along on her leash to help hunt down Prince and Tim. Then da brakes ran up to them, “Help help me, Simone is huntin’ my ass down." “Quick jump in the van,” Julie said. Little did da brakes know this was all part of a devious plot to help steal the gizzard from the local wildlife. Brakes jumped in, and Kimmie and Julie hit the road when this wrinkled old bag cuts them off on the road. “I’m gonna go so solid crew on their ass!" da brakes yelled. As only a scouser would, Julie started ramming the little old lady. Kimmie ever quick-thinking jumped out of the van, for a duel, when Julie also jumped out to jump on the old ladies sunroof, leaving Brakes steering. But then, out of the bushes came a zombie then kimmie left because the scally haters had hit a certain point, and if she stayed she would have killed them all with a snake. Then Steve Irwin jumped out from the bushes, "wow that’s a bewdy!" he wrangled the old lady to the ground but wait her wigs fallen off that’s no old lady that’s Wild Child. What the hell are you doing here?” they screamed. [b]The Special Sauce[/b] Wild Child had come to sample the culinary delights of the local burger king! “I'll have a whopper please, extra sauce!” Little did he know Jonny was working back there and having a rough day. When he saw Wild Child he gave his whopper something extra. Having been downloading some intriguing videos earlier that day, Wild Child had a whale of a time, although for some reason had some of Prince's kilt stuck in between his teeth. Where had Wild Child been sticking his mouth they all wondered? None of them really wanted to know either but the truth was that Prince had been eating jam in the forest when he spilt some on his kilt. Insects were chasing him, so he had yanked it off and legged it much to the shock of the local wildlife. Wild Child had thought the jam was blood and being the vampire he was wanted a taste of it, instead he got a mouthful of jam and kilt (and god knows what else.) So he had headed to burger king to get rid of the horrible after taste. Jonny was angry that Wild Child interrupted just before he climaxed, so he got a nice surprise in his burger. It was Hero1's Underwear, this was all very well, but it didn't put Wild Child off and just as he was savoring the flavors of the extra sauce, Wild Child became curious about his strange tasting whopper. So he headed back to the kitchen where he found Julie, Jonny and some French fries in a compromising position. Jonny screamed, “It isn’t what you think!” When up popped AJ from under the sink. Julie screamed, “It is what you think!” The French fries hit the floor, it was as if time moved in slow motion, suddenly the manager walked in! The manager, fan 4ever, proclaimed, “What the hell do you think you are doing? Dropping the French fries on the floor like that!” Fan 4ever scraped them up, and put them on Wild Childs plate as a gift "on the house" Wild Child became furious! He erupted into a furor and begin to attack da brakes viciously who was standing by innocently looking on. Julie got on the phone and called for backup because Wild Child was letting the "food" go cold and she knew there was only one person that could help her. Prince grabbed the sauce that had dripped through the wrapper of whopper and smeared it all over Wild Childs body. Jim appeared and suggested we offer up Wild Child as a human sacrifice. [b]The Sacrifice[/b] Just then, Tim came from out of the dishwasher with a steak and firewood. Da brakes started spitting sum fire, and he wasn’t even rapping. The blaze was lit, all they needed now was a pole and some rope. Wild Child was rather appalled, but felt no one likes a party pooper so he agreed with being sacrificed. Jonny provided the “pole,” and AJ found some rope. Da Brakes found a piece of red cloth but no one seemed to care. Let the ceremony begin! Just as they were about to burn Wild Child to a crisp Kevtastic walks in wearing nothing but a tutu. Wild Child was enraged. So Da Brakes cunningly did the bull fighting thing with the red cloth to anger him. Kev asked what was going on, but was told that he wasn’t allowed to play because he didn’t fit the "cool" dress standard used in this Burger King kitchen. Prince asked for his kilt back as he only wore a strategically placed leaf, when they decided to begin the ceremony. Kevtastic started dancing with frivolity, but slipped on the whopper sauce. Julie and Kimmie stole all the cutlery and headed for the backdoor, Prince who was wearing nothing warmed up by the fire, Wild Child started screaming for mercy. Jim grabbed his hockey stick and began whacking Wild Child between the legs with it. Da brakes starting pulling red cloth after red cloth from his sleeve. Suddenly daedulus mortality appeared to everyone in a vision, "I disagree with the way you are sacrificing Wild Child, its wrong!" "You should poke his eyeballs in first, and slice of his skin as well so it will hurt more!" Hannibal Lector walked through the door, "hmmm delicious." Now they had a dilemma, feed Wild Child to old Hannibal or sacrifice him in the fire. They decided to sit on him first, but soon bored of the idea so AJ volunteered to hold the livid Wild Child down with his CD collection while they thought. Suddenly, the room was filled with 50 thugs holding Machine Riffles knifes and baseball bats, it was the So Solid crew, they came to avenge their honor and murder Da brakes for dissing them. [b]Not So Solid[/b] Prince threw his previously strategically placed hands onto his head claiming his innocence, where upon bearing himself to the world, everyone but Jonny turned away. In a moment of genius, AJ grabbed some CDs and used them as Frisbee missiles, when Prince had the idea of throwing peaches as once the rest of the peach falls apart the stone can turn into a missile. Besides, everyone was getting hungry and they were angry that the ceremony had been interrupted. The So Solid crew hadn’t expected such firepower in a burger king kitchen! They started to open fire blindly and mostly shot their own people in the kneecaps, legs and feet. Prince, protecting his innocence with a tea towel around his waist, grabbed his ski poles and proclaimed, "en guard" before grabbing the sacrifice as a human shield. Outside, snow had begun to fall and the temperature was -17*C. The confused Wild Child stripped off his clothes, and ran off in the scud into the night. Jonny served the So Solid boys up with some quality grub, some that earlier he had really tried hard on preparing. Satisfied, the Crew left peacefully with very full stomachs having licked their plates, and having tasted the brilliance of the quality scoff, duly agreed to leave Brakes alone. [b]Hoppin’ Mad[/b] Prince meanwhile had spotted W3 outside. He invited W3 inside, who promptly presented him with a new kilt. Also, on W3's travels, he had encountered a rather strange block of ice. He opened his suitcase, and out tumbled Wild Child within an ice cube. Jonny put him in the oven to thaw out, while Jimmy The Kangaroo hopped by to do his funky Kango song everybody ignored Jimmy the Kangaroo who hopped along on his way. Which made Jimmy the Kangaroo feel very lonely and unsure about his own manly hood. So Jimmy went off on his travels in search of that gay aardvark that had been plaguing Prince earlier that day. Just then, Tim turned up wit his full gear of handbag, dress and beard and decided to help jimmy with his search. Tim, struggling to raise his arms past his 3ft beard, pointed little Jimmy in the right direction, before deciding he would remain in the kitchen as he was getting hungry. Wild Child should be thawed out by now, and he was anxious to proceed with the ceremony. To his surprise, as he opened to oven door, Wild Child was a big ball of flames, Jonny, who was only good at making sauce in the kitchen, had put wild child on a high setting. Wild child launched out of the oven onto Tim, who's beard set alight! Tim was upset that his "beauty" was being abolished, and he didn’t mean his beard. Prince, looking as dashing as ever, grabbed a damp tea towel (Jonny's from earlier) and used it to smother the flames on Tim's beard, saving the day. But then Daedalus Mortality rushed in and said "I don’t agree, your not doing that right, you have to put out a fire this way." He proceeded to immerse Tim in a vat of Jonny's special sauce. Meanwhile, Wild Child lay there burning because nobody had actually saved him, so Jonny used his fire hose to out the flames. Tim, dripping fresh from the vat, pushed Jonny onto the ground, and tied Wild Child to Jonny's “pole.” But there was a problem, as both FuQ and Brakes spat fire to set the fire alight, Tim noticed his already singed beard was caught up in the rope, but wait, Jimmy appeared and gnawed Tim’s beard off to set him free. Once Tim was free Jimmy kicked him in the face. "That’s what u get for giving me the wrong directions". Tim was left bewildered on the floor. [b]Scouser Fight[/b] When Kimmie appeared to steal Tim's beard, Julie annoyed that Kimmie got there first decided to steal Tims beard from Kimmie, and to the others alarm a huge scouser/cat fight had begun, with nails, pulling hair and biting. “,”Stop shouted prince. Daedalus mortality said "you are all idiots you don’t know how to fight, you idiots." Convinced they were idiots, Julie and Kimmie began crying, before they realized they were only idiots for fighting, because fighting doesn’t solve anything, so everyone had a group hug until they realized they were all still covered in Jonny’s man juice. “By the way, where had Jonny gone?" proclaimed Julie. Jonny had done a quick dash to his computer to download some girls modeling, but he stumbled across a web cam in the Burger King! Now that everything had got out Wild Child’s family came to avenge his treatment! Little did they know Wild Child was the dancing model!! As Jonny wiped the man juice off and started 2 run out of the restaurant, he tripped and slipped on a banana skin and broke his rather excited penis! Which totally broke of and slipped down the drain into the sewer, which was then picked up by jedi2002jaime@hotmail.com who promised to return it, but about a week later it still wasn't returned. Jonny got upset and got his mother to knit a new one. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, a giant Mutant Gold fish was striking havoc upon the town but unbeknown to the fish Julie was not only a robber by trade but also a half trained veterinary nurse. She pulled a can of polish from her knickers and sprayed it on the mutant fish (it kills fish don’t you know), the fish roared in anger before it toppled down and landed on AJ. [b]Souped Up[/b] He span it around on the turntables before scratching and mixing it out the open window. “Hey" a voice shouted, "that’s my job" and to AJ's surprise it was Jazzy Jeff. "I’m the best DJ around here!" Who suddenly learned he had a fish allergy and started to have severe breathing problems! Someone is going to have to perform mouth to mouth, since Johnny was no longer feeling very masculine he had no problem with the idea, but as he began to bend down, real big willie came rushing in. He screamed in a mad fit; "A customer of mine was complaining he found a penis in his soup!! I instantly recognized it as Johnny’s because of the pink glow and the dark piercing in the tip! “So have you got it for me?” Johnny asked. “No, I used it in a stock,” RBW replied. Jonny howled with disappointment, “What can I do I cant use this woolen penis my mum knitted for me, its all flaccid.” [b]Cover Up[/b] Suddenly the MIB came rushing in, “One of you here is an alien.” They all stood up and admitted they were aliens, but at the exact same time. Now there was a dilemma for the MIB, "you’re not all aliens," said the MIB, “We know u are all covering up for the real one. The only way to tell who is the real alien is to prod you all with electric cattle prodders. The alien will have an orgasm lasting 30minutes.” The gang looked on, in anticipation of this fantastic pleasure, as after all, they all believed themselves to be the alien. Jonny, the most excited of the crew pleaded "me first, oh please me first", the MIB hesitantly stepped forward and proceeded with the cattle prodding and waited for the result. Jonnys woolen glove seemed happy, but the crew decided that was normal. Proceed to next person, AJ was next, he was prodded and appeared to have a huge orgasm, "It’s him!" the MIB screamed, "no wait" cried Da Brakes, "he has just spotted a rare jjfp album lying on the floor.” When they came to Prince it was extra charged, as they were sure that only insane people wear kilts (it isn't a skirt guys!). Prince flew backwards against the wall, before angrily calling FuQ and bigted to come and help beat these guys up. The MIB, undeterred by this phone call, then proceeded to neuralise everyone on the scene. They remembered nothing. The MIB left, realizing it doesn’t matter who the alien is, those guys were all so nuts weren’t really on this planet in the first place. [i] [b]THE END[/b][/i]

i know nuthin... :cya:

i think it will be ol skool mixed with the new.. like a code red or willennium..it will have a "new sound" but the very core of the music will be ol skool rap

thanx 4 the props :thumb:

its the first single for the sharktale soundtrack yeah.. featuring christina aguilera and missy elliot right.. well if the sharktale soundtrack doesnt have will on it..i hope it does poorly! :cussing: :cussing:

[quote=Jazzy Julie,Aug 25 2004, 12:28 PM]Also if Will made WillSmith.com it would go into competition with this site, surely Will would have to check out his competition. I spose we would just go back and forth to both sites tho like we used to.[/quote] when i was introduced to miguel head of overbrook music..he said how they were working on willsmith.com at the time..and he gave me his business card..and told me to e-mail him with my details..so i've done that..they got my info if they need me for anythin on willsmith.com... but if they dont its all good anyway.. will needs a proper website after the rubbish sony has served up...so hopefully the new 1 will be dope :rock: :rock:

[quote=KevTastic,Aug 25 2004, 06:25 AM]Don't be dissing the rock music. Then again in this forum im not gonna win an argument on that topic :cya:[/quote] you like the pixies kev? they are my fav rock group.. :rock:

some1 should get this [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2245&item=6921135154&rd=1"]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...6921135154&rd=1[/url] its got a jazzy jeff and fresh prince interview from 91

Latifah turns crooner on new album By Elysa Gardner Gannett News Service She's been a hip-hop icon, an entrepreneur and an Oscar-nominated actress. Now Queen Latifah is trying on a new hat: traditional crooner. On Sept. 28, Latifah will release her first CD featuring all sung vocals. "The Dana Owens Album," which reintroduces the 34-year-old Jersey girl by her given name, includes pop, jazz and R&B classics such as "Lush Life," "I Put a Spell on You," "Hard Times" and "Hello Stranger." AOL First Listen premiered two additional tracks Tuesday: "California Dreamin'," made famous by the Mamas and the Papas, and "Baby Get Lost," previously a hit for Dinah Washington. "I've always loved to sing, and I've always wanted to do an album like this," Latifah says. "Even on my rap albums, you can hear the influence of jazz and big band and reggae and all forms of music, though I could only sing on the hooks." It was Latifah's movie career rather than any specific musical projects that led to "Owens." "I got a lot of requests after "Livin' Out Loud,'"' she says, referring to the 1998 film in which she played a lounge singer. Then came "Chicago," in which Latifah got more praise for an even flashier singing role, Mama Morton. The born-again singer is set to appear on "The Today Show" and says she would eventually like to tour "if the album is successful." In the meantime, Latifah has her plate full with a medley of movie outings. On Sept. 3, her production company Flava Unit will unveil its first feature, "Cookout." "It's the story of an athlete who graduates college and goes into professional basketball, and how everything changes in his life. It culminates at this big barbecue, or cookout, as we call them. I have a cameo as this crazy security guard." Latifah will show up more prominently in "Taxi," a "big old hysterical action comedy" with Jimmy Fallon, due later this fall, and "Beauty Shop," a spinoff of the "Barbershop" films due April 1, co-starring Alfre Woodard and Kevin Bacon. Another part that remains dear to Latifah is that of role model for plus-sized women, even after her recent breast-reduction surgery. "It wasn't really something I wanted to do, but it was something I needed to do," she says of the procedure. "You can't help but miss something that was a part of your body for your whole life, to some degree. But I must say, it feels a lot better now. My back doesn't hurt, and my shoulders don't have dents in them from my bra." Thus unencumbered, Latifah plans to continue multitasking with more relish than ever. "There are a few more hats I would like to wear. Real-estate mogul would be nice, and eventually mother. Gotta wear that mama hat -- a couple of times, hopefully. I better get a move on."

latifahs always been movin in the singing direction... order in the courts sales were really bad.. hey id like her to rap just as much as you guys..but i'll take any album at this stage..