Will Smith Declares Himself One Of The Greats, Addresses Controversy In New Freestyle

Will Smith is making it clear that he’s not just back in the booth, but he’s here to remind everyone why he belongs among the greats. The Oscar-winning actor and Hip-Hop vet recently dropped a bar-heavy freestyle with Lyrical Lemonade, where he boldly made his claim as one of the best to ever do it.

In the surprise “Lunch Break” freestyle, Smith didn’t hold back, likening himself to some of the biggest soccer legends, while flexing his duality in both music and Hollywood.

“Hip Hop’s Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo/ Goooal! Scored on these boys/ I’ve won damn near every award on these boys/ Sold-out movie theaters and even tours on these boys/ Feelin’ like a mop, wipe the floor with these boys,” he braggadociously spit over a thumping trap beat.

But beyond the boasting, the Fresh Prince rapped about his resilience and redemption following public and personal woes over the last few years.

Seemingly addressing the controversy that followed his infamous Oscars slap in 2022, Smith declared: “I be overcoming sh*t that y’all be having trouble with/ Let ’em run they mouths, I mean really, that’s what come with this/ They built a wall but I’m jumping it and loving it/ They want me to be done with it, but I’m still havin’ fun with it.”

The freestyle arrived on the heels of Based on a True Story, Smith’s first album in two decades. The 14-track project pulls back the curtain on his personal life, touching on everything from his complicated marriage to Jada Pinkett Smith to his highly scrutinized altercation with Chris Rock. On the track “You Lookin’ For Me?” he raps: “Personal life with my wife — mind your business, it’s complicated,” a nod to the public coverage of their relationship and Jada’s past “entanglement” with singer August Alsina.

Speaking of the album’s creative progress in an interview with Sway in the Morning, the Bad Boys star credited JAY-Z and Kendrick Lamar with helping him get motivated to record again.

“Before I started [the album], I made two phone calls,” he recalled. “I talked to Jay and I talked to Kendrick. I said, ‘Hey, I want to get back to music. What’s the advice?’ Jay said, ‘Don’t fake your story. You gotta say what’s true for you. You’ll be looking at the younger rappers and you want that to be true for you, but you don’t live like that.’ He was like, ‘Be true to your story. Tell your story.’ And that’s where I got the Based on a True Story, from Jay.”

Will recalled the GNX rhymer advising him: “‘Man, just say that sh*t you’ve always been f**king scared to say.’ It was basically the same thing. It was like, be honest.”

Take a look at Will Smith’s Lyrical Lemonade freestyle above.