For the first time in almost a decade, Will Smith has dropped a new rap single. Well it’s not entirely a new single, but rather a remix of Colombian electro tropical band Bomba Estéreo’s “Fiesta.”
You see, there was a time before Mr. Smith starred in box office bombs like “After Earth” and the remake of “Annie.” Back around the turn of the millennium, after Will was no longer in the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” nor saving the earth in “Independence Day,” Will was one of the coolest rappers around, selling over 20 million albums as a solo artist. How many of you ’90s kids remember “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” or “Miami”?
Unfortunately, it may be tough for all you ’90s kids to get jiggy with the Fresh Prince’s latest track, as this new remix is remarkably #dad. “Fiesta (Remix)” features Will Smith spitting verses about Teslas and his dancing skills over thick, Latino EDM beats.
This is the sort of song that you know Will’s son, Jaden Smith, is eventually going to tweet about, telling us how it makes him want to cry in the back of an Uber or question the reality of mirrors. Because honestly, how many of us want to hear our dad rap about going to the club and finding their own Sofia Vergara?
For now though, Jaden seems to be ignoring this new track entirely and is dedicating his Twitter fingers to his MSFTS crew and his own hip-hop efforts. It’s going to be tough for Jaden to ignore his dad’s revived music career for long, because in addition to the new song, Will also announced this week a world tour and a new studio album.
(Fun fact: A very young Jaden Smith was featured on the album intro of “Wild Wild West” from Will’s classic 1999 album “Willennium.”)
While speaking with DJ Zane Lowe on the Beats 1 radio show, Will announced he would be touring with his longtime sidekick DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom Smith worked in the Philadelphia music scene before “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was even a thing.
Smith also revealed he has recorded more than 30 songs, with “six or seven that I really, really like.” This will be Smith’s first album since 2005’s “Lost and Found” and will feature a number of unnamed collaborators, with whom Will had been working in between filming sessions of the upcoming DC Comics “Suicide Squad” film.
Hopefully those collaborators include both Jaden and Willow Smith. If this happens, Will can embarrass his kids even more with fun, family-friendly songs that all of the other members of the MSFTS crew will tweet about.
Even if this dream team collaboration doesn’t come to be, you should definitely check out Will Smith’s latest remix. Not because it’s a good song, but rather for the sake of the nostalgia of being a #90skid who was cool before anyone else was. Oh, and hearing Will Smith proclaim he’s still OG is kinda great, too.
