Will Smith Addresses Chris Rock Oscars Slap Scandal On ‘Based On A True Story’
Will Smith lays it all out in the Based On A True Story album. Released on Friday (March 28), the opening track, “Int. Barbershop — Day,” goes straight to the elephant in the room. The infamous ‘slap heard round the world’ and its fallout. (He smacked host Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars and then collected the Best Actor statue.) In the song, which features DJ Jazzy Jeff and B. Simone, the West Philly native takes on the viewpoints of both critics and fans.
Opening with the call “Will Smith is canceled.” A second voice responds with; “You can’t cancel no icon.” Cue the 56-year-old colorfully rhyming, “Who the f**k Will Smith think he is?, And that boy damn crazy how he raising them kids,” with “And I ain’t never gonna forgive him for that shit he did,” added in multiple times. It’s hardly unapologetic.
Will Smith appears to slap Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California.
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The conversation continues by standing on his historic efforts as the first Hip-Hop Grammy winner and his status as a A-List A-Lister. And it does not fail to address falsehoods surrounding his much examined life.
“I heard he down bad I heard he won the Oscar but he had to give it back/ *And you know they only made him do that sh*t because he’s black,” shares the track. “Bottom line y’all, Will Smith is wack/I mean, he rich, funny and sexy too/You wish you had a Jada Pinkett next to you/Him and Jada both crazy girl, what you talking about?/You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth.”
The multiple voices used to represent the rumor mill add, “One classic album, what that make him? Jay-Z?/ Jay-Z plus movies and TV/” and “I don’t like his damn music, that ni**a don’t f**king curse/ He gon’ drop a new record like we all gon’ forget/He need to take another year and untangle some shit,” likely referencing the 2020 scandal where his wife Jada Pinkett Smith confessed to her “entanglement” with August Alsina.
Will Smith attends SiriusXM’s “Sway In The Morning” Live From The Hard Rock Cafe In Philadelphia at Hard Rock Cafe on March 25, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Noam Galai/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Based On A True Story is Will Smith’s first album since 2005’s Lost and Found. The 14-track album features the aforementioned talent, plus Russ, Jaden, Fridayy, the Sunday Service Choir, Joyner Lucas, Big Sean, Teyana Taylor, and more.
“Jay said, ‘Don’t fake your story,’” explains the Bad Boys star about advice he got from Jay Z. In conversation with Sway in the Morning’s Sway Calloway and Heather B, Smith revealed; “He was like, ‘You gotta say what’s true for you, and you’ll be looking at the younger rappers and you’ll want that to be true to you, but you don’t live like that. Be true to your story. Tell your story.’ And that’s where I got the Based on a True Story, from Jay.”
He also elaborates on pointers received from Kendrick Lamar, detailing “And Kendrick said, ‘Man, just say that shit you always been f**king scared to say.’”
Listen to Based On A True Story below.