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Will Smith’s SHOCKING Confession About Hip-Hop & Hollywood! | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Apr 16, 2025
Will Smith opens up in this exclusive Sway In The Morning interview, revealing how Jay-Z's advice changed his approach to music and life! From his iconic early career with DJ Jazzy Jeff to his transformative moments leading to the creation of his highly-anticipated new album, "Based on a True Story," Will gets real about his struggles, fears, and triumphs. Hear how he rediscovered his creative spark, embraced authenticity, and collaborated with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Russ, and Jaden Smith. Don’t miss Sway Calloway and Heather B hosting this unforgettable listening event in Philadelphia, where Will shares personal stories, spits bars, and reflects on his journey from West Philly to Hollywood stardom. This is one for the hip-hop history books—tune in now for insights, inspiration, and an inside look at Will Smith’s powerful return to music! #WillSmith #JayZ #BasedOnATrueStory #SwayInTheMorning #HipHopExclusive #PhillyVibes #MusicEvolution #kendricklamar #2pac #heatherb #sway #willsmith #motivationalvideo #motivation #kendricklamar #motivationalspeech #jayz CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Sway & Heather B Introduce the Event 03:45 - Will Smith Enters the Room 06:45 - Will Smith Recalls His First Performance with DJ Jazzy Jeff 10:24 - The Importance of Lady B & Mimi Brown in Will Smith's Career 13:04 - Women in Hip-Hop 15:03 - Leaving Philadelphia 17:10 - Motivation and Inspiration 23:30 - The Messenger: A Personal Journey 29:55 - Collaborating with Other Artists 33:48 - Finding Stability and Self-Love 35:40 - Will Smith on Missing The Matrix Role 37:35 - Reflecting on Regrets 38:20 - Will Smith - You Can Make It (feat. Rapsody)
View Video Transcript
0:00
shade 45 is going live from Philly fresh out of Philly yeah I still rep the
0:06
city for Will Smith's based on a true story album listening playback with Sway
0:12
and Heather B welcome ladies and
0:18
gentlemen sway in the morning but we doing it at night time i go by the name
0:23
of Sway Callaway my partner in crime the one and only give it up for the billionaire herself the icon Heather
0:31
[Applause]
0:36
all right we going to have a good time tonight first first of all I need to know Philly's in the building make some noise
0:43
i said Philly in the building make some noise [Applause]
0:50
i'm really excited to be here when I first came into the into hip hop you know some of my favorite people um in
0:58
the beginning were people like the Treacherous 3 with Kumo D Grandmaster Flash Furious Five Schooly D was one of
1:05
my favorite people that came out of hiphop and when Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince came out that right there was my
1:13
high school so since that time that motivation and inspiration has kept me
1:19
in this game i've been able to look at some of my peers and watch them ascend to heights that no one has ever seen
1:26
when Will Smith came out there was no blueprint to what he was doing what Jazzy Jeff was doing philly is an
1:32
amazing place in itself you got three world supremacy DJs out of Philadelphia
1:38
you got Tap Money no excuse me you got Cash Money you got DJ Miz
1:46
and you got Jazzy Jeff right and when Jeff and Will came out they told us how
1:52
we could expand the boundaries of hip hop and we can appeal on every level across any genre and when they were the
1:59
first to win the Grammy give that a big round of applause let's go that just raised the bar even higher and
2:07
when he transcended into the movie business into Hollywood give that a big round of applause and became the most
2:14
valuable person in Hollywood that for us gave us representation right Heather B
2:19
absolutely that gave us upliftment and even the way he represented himself throughout it all was always unique and
2:26
he brought the world to Philadelphia heather I was in Oakland California i was in Jersey
2:32
okay what was that like for y'all in Jersey man listen let's go Jersey listen
2:40
no cap i get excited every time this time of year come around because I know summertime is about to drop even though
2:47
the song been out it's like our theme song I go to and I think for all of us that grew up loving this hip-hop culture
2:54
that is our bat signal that summertime is on its way every you know Memorial
2:59
weekend we ready to go and get it popping so yeah he's just been an inspiration like you said in the
3:04
transition from movies to television and even I was thinking today driving down here Will Smith may have been the first
3:12
rapper male to make a song about his son i I tried to go back and think about
3:18
this artist and that artist but yeah man just the two of us one of my favorite songs just the two of us right brand New
3:24
Funk was one of my favorite songs period and and that to me was the quintessential rap song i still play
3:31
that on Shade 45 Sirius XM damn nearly every single day all right um and it
3:38
just to me showed that uh Will Smith has had so much versatility throughout his career it's been 20 years since he
3:46
dropped the album the Lost and Found album and now we have the new one based on a true story okay rave in the
3:53
Wasteland ladies and gentlemen we going to give this man a standing ovation he brought it home to the Hard Rock
3:59
Philadelphia shout out to everybody at the Hard Rock Philadelphia y'all really do rock hard without further ado let's
4:06
give it up to the man of the hour the one and only the icon himself give it up for Will Smith
4:16
[Music] it's out of the ordinary it's rather extraordinary a literary genius and a
4:23
superior beat creator have come together and we made a musical composition which we think is a remedy the dance floor is
4:31
empty you want to dance we got what you want jazzy Jing friends buzzing out with a brand new funk oh no keep it going
4:38
keep it going keep it going hey hey where at where at where at
4:47
where at say make money make money make money make money make money make money
4:56
make money there we go there we go there we go for
5:02
Will Smith in the building yo you see James Poiser over there will
5:09
James Poer in the house okay Poiser uh as you
5:15
know with the Roots crew you know roots in the house producer extraordinaire i'm at him with Access Music Group j put
5:22
your hand in the air there you go there you go okay we got Jay Period on the turntables over there salute to J Period
5:30
all right all right man man let's get We got my mom and my sisters in the house my mom and my nieces there we go there
5:37
we go there we go where big horse at we got Yeah yeah know my sister all the way up close she can't sit down with brand
5:43
new funk come on that's right that's her song too will
5:48
That's my sister right there that's Ellen what's up Ellen how you doing that's my other sister Pam down behind
5:54
her i met Pam she had a glass of water in her hand earlier yeah brand new brand new brand new funk kept my sister in
6:00
trouble my younger sister cuz she was too young to be at the parties when me and Jeff was out but she would she was
6:07
making her way in there come on she was I was like Ellen you are 15 you came in
6:12
here and she made it in right man look at all these people that came out for you man
6:18
yes yes yes thank you Philly thank you Philly that's right all right oh man
6:24
bringing it home yeah man let's have a seat man relax yourself will oh man come on man i was wondering what kind of
6:30
sneakers you going to wear oh you keeping it calm we keeping it calm yeah I noticed that i noticed that people who
6:36
got the most money they keep it the calmst right
6:41
keep it i brought my best jacket out for you will I'm still struggling will uh
6:47
you know it's interesting to hear you get on the stage and then start rocking the crowd like that yeah man and and
6:53
being in Philly man i used to come out to Philly in the late 80s and in the early 90s and Tap Money used to take me
7:00
around at that time and all people used to talk about is how you used to rock
7:05
house parties yeah no that that was our thing me and Jeff house parties we met at a at a house party um on my block it
7:14
was a a girl named Judy Stewart it was Judy Stewart it was Judy's birthday and I had DJed her party like
7:22
three years in a row and I noticed her birthday was coming and she didn't call me and I was like what's go I wonder
7:29
what's happening and then I found out that this dude from Southwest named DJ
7:34
Jazzy Jeff she had heard this dude and she like picked him over me so I
7:40
actually went to the party to like to like smash on Jeff what really i was
7:45
Yeah i went to the party to smash on him and and like I went in I went a little bit early and I saw and I was like
7:52
looking at it was like Jeff he had like glasses and like a a band-aid on his
7:57
scratching finger i was like this dude and it's like I had my name on my pants
8:02
and like he didn't have his name nowhere i was like how are people going to know who he is you know and he was like just
8:09
totally calm and real just just like like nerd scientist looking and I'm I
8:16
was like I'mma kill this dude today and then his his rapper didn't show up so at
8:23
the time he had a guy named uh MC Ice and Ice didn't show up and I had a
8:29
beatbox ready Rox C was my beatbox and Ready Rock C was late and Ice didn't show up so me and Jeff were in the party
8:35
for a couple hours so he didn't have an MC and he didn't talk like you know Jeff
8:41
like literally like four years ago started talking so right so he but he would do on them
8:49
turntables it's like Jeff Jeff was like inventing this stuff so it was like you know the first time I saw a transformer
8:57
scratch I didn't I'm like what is this dude doing on the turntables right so I
9:03
rocked and we just really is that first night from one night performing together
9:10
and we've been together uh ever since so come on that's how it happens you just never know so Jeff chose you uh yeah
9:18
exactly yeah yeah he would No just he's he um you know Jeff was one of them
9:23
dudes we were talking I wrote my I wrote my book a couple of years ago so I was going through my ideas and you know the
9:31
things I wanted to write about and I remembered and I was trying to think I don't have an image of Jazzy Jeff in his
9:40
mother's house we used to we used to practice in his mother's basement and I don't have an image of him i can't even
9:48
picture him ever anywhere but standing in front of his turntables i'm trying to think of one time I saw Jeff in his
9:55
house not standing in front of his turntables and he would literally for 14
10:01
hours a day be on on his turntables i don't see I don't have a picture of him
10:06
in his kitchen getting something to eat like a drink nothing like he just stood at those turntables and uh he really he
10:13
he taught me work ethic like you know I mean I came with mine but nothing like that yeah jeff give it up for Jazz azy
10:23
um when I think about those times and I think about where we are 2025 what kind
10:29
of outlets did people in Philadelphia have to really promote you had the house parties y'all had Greek picnics too
10:34
right oh my god yeah talk about that so you used to rock Oh man no we don't talk about that no more oh okay greek picnic
10:42
oh man that's when you just made sure you were just trying to not get arrested
10:47
if you can get through Greek without getting arrested it was a good Greek picnic weekend right no you know but it was it was um
10:56
it was a really um great time that people would come together in hip-hop
11:01
cuz everything was new right it's hard to even imagine to today like that there
11:08
was no hip hop right that on on television like it it didn't exist on on
11:16
television and barely where's Lady B and Mimi are here like Yeah lady B and Mimi
11:21
was the the like they was like the Hey there they go stand up stand up stand up legend he said stand upend me and Lady B
11:30
yeah they were like legendary mimi the legend yeah love you baby yo Mimi mimi
11:37
almost got fired playing our music yo listen they was like "Hey get that
11:43
hippity and hop over there." What song what song was it was it girl
11:48
no girls ain't nothing but trouble was the first one girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble was our our first uh first
11:54
record and And you know me and B was like you know B was at what hat right v
12:00
was at HAT at H yeah and yeah 99 and uh
12:06
you know Mimi at DAS you know B be had a little bit more freedom at
12:11
HAT you know but tell me what
12:17
you know but you know Lady B and Mimi really like uh launched hiphop in in
12:23
Philly and it was like a it was like a fight to get hip-hop on the radio and
12:29
you know during that times you would go places and they the the radio stations
12:34
like their call would be more music no rap right like there was like a re like
12:41
a real energy against rap music being on on the radio you know so when you when
12:48
you had uh people that were like really willing to you know go up against the establishment to start uh playing rap it
12:55
was it was really uh it was really helpful you know our careers launched behind uh being Mimi yo get that around
13:04
women in hip hop Will I didn't even know that like women
13:09
in hip hop here in Philadelphia kicked it off and I know them and they're always nice to me
13:16
i love y'all you know cuz I got a chance um for a time period my partner King
13:22
Tech and I got a chance to be syndicated on Power 99 when uh Helen Little was
13:27
there and uh Kobe Cole legends were there and I remember coming out here to
13:33
Philly going "Wow man people just bleed hip-hop." Yes that's real me and Mimi
13:39
were 10 years before that me and Mim me were doing it before that
13:44
you know yeah it was like there you go
13:53
wow how hard was it though you know all of us seem like we have to leave our hometown to go get it yeah you know I
14:00
had to leave the Bay to go get it you know um Too Short left the Bay he had to go get it you know you at some point had
14:07
to leave Philly to go get it how hard or how scary was that for you at that time
14:13
you know I think that that that is really a part of the the the heroic
14:18
journey that everybody has to make like you must venture out of your comfort
14:25
zone right you you you you have to leave you you know you take you know the the
14:31
the seed was born in this space and it got nurtured and now in order to like
14:36
really break it and grow you have to venture out into the world and you have
14:41
to you know test the things that you learned and unlearn some of the things you you learned but I think it is
14:48
critical critical to venture out you know to to go and see and look around
14:56
and to to grow whatever the origins of those seeds were yeah so what made you
15:03
grow what what pushes you more then was it hip-hop was it television or was it film which one stretches you more so I
15:11
think really at at the core of it all like I'm a storyteller i'm a storyteller
15:17
and I'm an entertainer right like I like to make people feel right so the the
15:26
source of that for me is a story right so what even my music you know girls
15:32
ain't nothing but trouble and you know even brand new brand new funk i'm a storyteller it was kind of an accident
15:38
the way that it happened one day I was rapping and on the beat Jeff was backing me up and all of a sudden he brought in
15:44
a cut and I dropped my microphone and said "What the?" Hold up Jeff wait a minute play it he just smiled and said
15:51
"Yeah death ain't it i'm on I'm dead hold up." I was I was
15:57
like "Is he going to be there is he gonna be there for me?" Back man i got to go back take me on the road
16:05
yeah right so but it's like the thing was to that I was always telling a story
16:11
so at the core I'm a a storyteller that likes to entertain and then that
16:17
developed into because my lyrics were stories then when we were when videos
16:23
started it demanded a performance it wasn't just rapping i acted I had to act
16:29
it out because it's a story right you know your girls ain't nothing but trouble parents just don't understand
16:36
charlie Mack first out the limo right it's all I think I can be Mike Tyson it was always theatrical so then when I
16:43
moved into television it was it was it was difficult but it was it was um a
16:50
natural progression for me that's what Quincy Jones saw he had seen from my music that oh that's acting you know and
16:58
then you know he tapped me for the for the Fresh Prince of Belair and then it was the just the natural progression for
17:04
me so at the chorus it's it's uh telling a story that keeps people riveted and
17:11
hence we have the title of your album based on a true story based on a true
17:16
story brave in the wasteland right yes yeah based on a true story when I hear that title
17:23
um for me it eliminates um the actor
17:29
um you know the film person you know and it gets straight to the poet the MC and
17:37
when I listen to this project I hear Will Smith the MC yeah for sure the poet
17:44
what was the the the circumstances the environment surrounding this project that makes it so different than the than
17:50
the ones in recent well not recent past you know what did you have any distractions while making this project
17:57
no so you know so what what what happened I really you know the uh last couple of years I really went internal
18:05
you know and um I did some deep like inward searching and uh really isolation
18:14
you know I had a I spent more time by myself in the in the past three years than ever in in my life and I got I got
18:24
in touch um with what what I call the uh despicable prisoners right the parts of
18:31
myself that I necessarily didn't want people to see you know um there were
18:37
there were aspects of Will Smith that were the the Instagram imagery you know
18:43
it's like the best parts the the the parts of smile all the time happy all
18:49
the time you know hardworking know you know that certain constellation of
18:56
characteristics that I wanted to share with the world and then there were those other ones you know that I that I pushed
19:02
down um and the last three years I just really just took a good look and was
19:08
just deeply honest and eye to eye and nose tonose with you know things like
19:15
fear you know things like anger and and sadness and and confusion you know so I
19:23
really like just took a good look at myself and decided not to run i decided
19:29
not to medicate uh decided not to avoid i'm going to be here with these feelings
19:37
and then something magical happened like um if I can describe if you can imagine
19:44
like you know that I shoved anger down right and then when it was up and then
19:51
when I welcomed it up it's like there was a hole under the anger that opened
19:58
up that was all of these great abundant assets sets like poetry started coming
20:05
out and creativity started coming out and it was like a geyser of you know new
20:13
energy and all of a sudden I could I could rap the way I always wanted to
20:20
right and it was like by cutting those parts off that I thought of as uh parts
20:26
of myself that I didn't like or parts of myself that you know didn't represent my family properly and parts that I thought
20:33
you know y'all wouldn't like me if y'all knew I was like that as soon as I like embraced it and allowed myself to be at
20:40
all this crazy wave of new creativity hit me new ideas saying things that that
20:47
I normally wouldn't have said before in a way I normally wouldn't have said it
20:52
right and then I just I got brand new i got a whole new creative energy and it's
20:58
even an exploration for me like I go in the booth sometimes i don't even know what I'm gonna say really
21:06
you You coming off the top of the head Will well you know not tonight
21:15
he said he know you i know you he know you saw that look in your eyes
21:22
hey last time hey but last time last time we set it off bro we set it off uh what I think of
21:29
it's been uh 20 years since Lost and Found right and you look at that that
21:35
album cover and you you're standing you know kind of downtrodden you know your
21:41
head is down i can't tell what you think and if you're confident or not and you're under this intersection of West
21:47
Philly and Hollywood right and I don't know what's going on there i don't know
21:53
what that was supposed to give but then when you look at this cover you're pretty much wearing the same outfit if
22:00
not a similar outfit your head is high in the sky you know you looking confident now you got the West Philly
22:07
tilt on your hat you know I don't know if that's a gang thing or nothing but no gang not a gang
22:14
okay great no no gang affiliation no gang affiliation okay well I'm glad okay good and we fight everybody in Philly
22:21
fight everybody no one's exempt we don't segregated it right
22:27
no gangs no gangs um yeah i want to know what happened between those two covers yeah
22:34
yeah talk to us about that man yeah you know it it's it was uh it was such a uh
22:42
transformative uh period for me man to to really um take a good look and like
22:50
cultivate the courage to be me yeah you know and it's like just just to be brave
22:57
enough to be me as I am and who likes it can like it you know
23:05
yeah so yeah it was really it was it was really uh it was an an endeavor of uh
23:12
like deep reflection and deep personal honesty and coming out of the other end
23:18
with like a superpower of of confidence and certainty and purpose and and
23:26
clarity it's it's uh it's really the best time in my life right now i listen
23:31
to the album yeah that's dope i listen I listened to the album three times in the past 48 hours wow and this last ride
23:39
down here from Jersey I just started writing and I said the Reverend aka Will
23:45
the Messenger life issues for every genre that's what I wrote wow and
23:50
because to me this messenger the Reverend that comes on he's he's he's setting the tone he's letting everybody
23:57
know but then as I listened to the music I was like "This almost sounds did Will
24:03
just do a country record did he just do a this is he doing afro beats is this a
24:08
this?" And it just touched every genre but the issues the things that you were talking about and then how you came out
24:15
at the end you know was just absolutely the work of art the the work of art at the end um one of my favorite songs the
24:22
work of art like I put that up there now with Summertime and just the two of us and now a work of art it was it was
24:28
beautiful it was beautiful so I don't know if there if you're playing the messenger in this but what was the
24:34
concept going in so the thing part why did why I wanted to use the reverend than us uh the there's a character I I I
24:42
do on the album is the reverend and so because it's comedy it is fun the
24:48
reverend gets to say things that would sound preachy if I said it right so you
24:54
know I created this character and I you know I play a couple characters throughout throughout the thing but you
24:59
know um the first time the reverend makes an appear appearance i grew up in the church i grew resurrection Baptist
25:06
Church resurrection Baptist Church yes uh you know I I grew up in the
25:13
church so I always loved how the the the the the Holy Ghost would hit and how you
25:21
know Reverend West was the was the um he ran a choir so he played the piano and
25:27
and the choir and Reverend West would have a red suit on with red cazels red
25:33
shoes you know he was like and he would flip that room you know and I just
25:40
wanted to be able to do that like that energy where people just let go you know
25:45
in in positivity and joy right so the the part of going to the reverend is is
25:52
touching on that a little bit uh but the first one the reverend says the um I'm
25:57
doing an album is called based on a true story and um normally you would say
26:03
volume one i'm calling it season one because I'm doing it more like a TV show so I'm calling the songs episodes
26:09
because they have you know they have full themes and ideas to them so season one is called Rave in the Wasteland and
26:18
Rave in the Wasteland the idea then one of the things that the reverend says is he talks about you know now when I say
26:25
wasteland I'm not talking about some barren desert and some foreign land no
26:30
no i'm talking about that interior wasteland that place inside where we are
26:37
most terrified that place inside where we least trust God you know so it's like to
26:46
you know to be able to do it in a character and the concept of raving in the wasteland is you know one of the
26:53
things that I learned is the how how we think about the hard
26:59
time increases or decreases the weight of the hard time right the energy in
27:07
Okay the hard time comes and hard times come to everybody ain't nobody in here that not having a hard time and now you
27:14
can either and fall and collapse and make it worse or you can stand up in a place of
27:21
faith and joy and you can face your curriculum you know and it's like the
27:29
rave in the wasteland is learning for me to celebrate when the difficulty comes
27:36
it's like yes yes life I trust you let's go let's go this is This is the thing
27:42
I'm supposed to learn today i'm here for it so in a work of art that line I it stuck with me you said "Everybody wants
27:48
to be a lion until it's time to do lion shit." Is that what That's Yeah no that's part of that that's part of that
27:54
concept you know everybody want to be a lion until it's time to do lion [ __ ] you know and it's like you know life is I
28:03
mean stuff mommy sorry sorry until it's time to do lion stuff
28:08
will said mommy man i love that
28:14
um you know but yeah so it's like is there you know there is a the the
28:20
attitude toward the difficulty actually affects the level of
28:25
the difficulty you know and you know we are there are there are difficult times
28:33
that you know we are all going to have to face there's nobody in here that's not going through something you know and
28:41
it's like the highest thing we can do the song before work of art is called you can make it you know and you know I
28:48
like to say just everybody right now tune in to the people around you and everybody
28:56
you can do this at home also tune in to whoever's around you and recognize that
29:01
they're going through something that they haven't said to you everybody is going through something and
29:08
the highest thing that we can do for each other is say "Hey I don't know what it is i don't need to know what it is
29:14
what I do know is you can make it you can make it you can make it." Give it up for Will Smith man let's play some music
29:21
will let's play some music let's play work of art work of art yeah we start with work of art we start with work of
29:27
art okay let's do it man this is Will Smith's work of art bill Smith's based on a true story album listening playback
29:35
with Sway and Heather B i'm a work of art i'm a baby look at me
29:41
you still trying to go on tour i'm auditioning that's Yeah no that's good that's good i'm auditioning yeah you
29:47
definitely You got the serious face and everything i'm going to work hard yeah yeah yeah yeah you in you are in thank
29:55
you you said it from your family brother couple things um one of the things I
30:01
appreciate about you um is your ability to be open enough to
30:08
work with other artists and younger artists you know good friend of mine Simba from the Bay simba that's my dude
30:17
Simba is the truth man and he speaks so highly of you uh Russ give Russ a round of applause
30:24
russ on that one revolution has been incredible what what your own son yeah that's Jaden
30:30
on the Hook right there jaden on the Hook uh Sky Zoo yes that's right okay
30:36
dang okay you paying attention come on well what I'm saying i'm hip-hop too bro
30:42
joiner Lucas a Joiner Lucas yeah you know how do you decide what energy works
30:49
for you when working with another artist now you know so what what happens I you know I got another track with Big Sean
30:56
and there are there are people that you know I'll have a meeting with or you you
31:03
run into somebody somewhere and there are people who are like on the path
31:10
right and it's like when I I had one conversation with with Russ and same
31:16
thing happened with Big Sean one conversation and it's like you know there are people who have made the first
31:25
phase of discovery and it's people who realize what they're looking for is not
31:31
outside and that's the thing and I'm looking when I'm talking to somebody and it's like Big Sean and like there's
31:38
there's a like there's a really difficult period when you realize sex
31:45
money power a partner no matter how great they are are not going to fill the
31:51
void you know and there's people that realize that and it's like when I looked
31:57
at Big Sean and we were talking I was like I cuz I see in his eyes he was like he got it we talked about it Russ
32:04
definitely you know and there's a certain amount of life experience that that people have had and are like oh no
32:13
if I can't make enough money to be happy if I can't have enough sex to be happy
32:18
if I can if there's nothing out here that I can do to be happy then what is
32:24
it and what what happens is you just start hoping to God that God's
32:32
hair you start but you know but it's a really you know fortunately and
32:38
unfortunately it's an inward journey where you really just start cleaning up
32:43
your interior castle and can you make can you make your inner world enough for
32:48
you to be happy you know can you be with you and be happy and not need all the
32:56
other stuff so it's really a lot of this music is about that time where I had to
33:02
you know suffer the detox of my addiction to external validation and
33:08
suffer you know even even to the need for love you know it's like I have
33:14
people around me that love me deeply it's just they can't love me enough if I
33:20
don't like me you know it's like it's a it's a bottomless pit it's like I got to
33:27
love me fully minus everything you know and that's been that's been the the the
33:33
journey can am I trying to run away from my own mind am I is my mind so messy
33:40
that I can't even sit by myself for 20 minutes without needing a distraction
33:46
you know so it was like that that process what does that mean when we see
33:52
let's just if you step out of yourself someone who's as accomplished as you are and been on the planet over five decades
34:00
it's still right you know don't have that stability that's scary for me you
34:07
know what I mean because we look up to certain people and you figure they got it all together but when I listen to how
34:12
you speak Yeah in many cases you it seemed like you worse off than a lot of the people that look up to you yeah no
34:19
listen once you once you know it's like that's why we love the Matrix we don't
34:24
know for sure but that's why we love the Matrix when like Neo has his whole
34:30
perception of the material world stolen and he got to put it together again
34:36
outside the Matrix that's really what the job that's what it is when you
34:41
realize nobody can love you enough for you to love yourself you can't make enough money to not you know feel weak
34:50
or scared and you can't have enough guns to feel secure and you get you know it's like when you've realized there's
34:56
nothing out there and the whole game is interior it is
35:02
terrible that first that first realization is it's a really terrible thing but then the process I promise you
35:10
all it the the the the that the interior promised land is real it is real that
35:16
you can stabilize yourself in the difficulty and the brutality and cruelty
35:21
of this world and you can find a space where you become light and love in all
35:28
situations you know and that's the highest place love coming out of you when you can get love coming out of you
35:34
versus trying to extract it from everything and everybody vampirically that you come in contact with thank you
35:41
Will this Yeah this is amazing yeah I look at on the Beautiful Scars video yes
35:48
you know and you bring up Neil in the Matrix a lot i don't know if it's out of regret that you didn't pick the role and
35:54
lost out on billions of dollars that was a hurt piece that was a hurt
36:00
piece that was a hurt piece right i didn't get it i didn't get it when they pitched me the Matrix i didn't get it
36:05
you didn't get it no look they didn't cuz they didn't pitch it right the Wowski brothers the Wowski brothers they
36:12
they they they pitched it and this was my pitch for the M this is what they said to me bro so we're going to invent
36:20
these cameras right and what's going to happen is you're like you'll be able to jump but like freeze and then the camera
36:29
goes around while you're jumping frozen and then you'll move again it's gonna be
36:35
crazy i was like I'm making wild
36:42
west and then I saw it i was like you jump in you freeze it was like that was the right
36:49
pitch oh man it was terrible it was terrible when you when that happens what
36:55
do you talk that to black oh man and listen I pick good most of the time i
37:00
pick good most of the time uh but yeah I miss the I missed that one hard that's the biggest one that's the biggest one I
37:06
missed i missed that one but also when you look at a movie you can't just change the actors and it be the same
37:14
thing so it was like no they they were perfect so it was going to be me and Val
37:19
Kilmer was going to be Morpheus oh right so then that would have changed Trinity
37:24
and it would have been Yeah it would have been a mess it's good the way it is okay great that's what I'm going to tell
37:30
myself yeah you It's good man that's how I keep my interior castle clean
37:37
okay is there a song then that you would that you wish you would have made or maybe a song that you wish you wouldn't
37:44
have released oh man that's that's funny you know I don't I I generally don't do
37:50
regret right like I'm a like I'm a future thinker right so the way that I
37:55
keep myself sane is I'm okay no it's fine that's cool what's now but tomorrow I can't wait what we going to do over
38:02
there you know so I I generally I I don't look back at all you know so it's
38:08
it it is uh I'm I'm much more anxiety for the future than I am regret for the
38:15
past yeah uh I want to get into another song this is a playback right uh so
38:21
we're going to go into You Can Make It congratulations it's your first number one since getting jiggy with it yes is a
38:28
number one gospel record you can make it gospel record i was like yo is it a gospel record yeah and the thing is I
38:35
wasn't even So with this album I told myself no genre i'm not So you were saying there's a record that has a
38:40
little country feel on there a little really hard hip-hop and you know there's
38:46
a afro beats and Right all right so I told myself no genre i just want to make whatever comes out and you can make it
38:53
um was was one of those it just felt like it it it needed Sunday Service you
38:59
know so Jason with Sunday Service came out he listened to it loved it and he just you know he blessed it with that
39:05
flavor let's take a listen to it right now bill Smith's based on a true story
39:10
album listening playback with Sway and Heather B yeah yeah yeah that sound good
39:17
right there right that sound good to y'all yeah it reminds me you know when you graduate from like high school or
39:24
middle school like the big graduation song yeah it's It's good it's good it's encouraging yeah man we have um Hard
39:31
Rock Philadelphia give them a big round of applause shout out to Hard Rock shout out to Hard Rock for putting this
39:37
together for us thank you yes creative Control is in the building that's my team i see Cooty with the camera over
39:43
there my man Chance over here kenny Cool Sh from ABC News is in the building
39:48
right here in Philadelphia we see you Shaheen Reed legendary hip hop
39:54
journalist right here we got complexes in here we got a lot of folks that came out j1 my serious sex staff i'm just
40:02
trying to shout people out Will to say that I did it while you were sitting yeah yeah okay we got uh Kango Sons here
40:08
from UTF that's right kango that's my brother rest in power to Kangle from UT
40:14
right here um okay cool i'll keep it moving all right u I want to talk about
40:19
Bulletproof because I I know we our time is um you know getting limited with the live broadcast portion of this but I
40:26
want people to hear this and I want to read back some of the the lyrics in the chorus yep
40:33
this loyalty to me is a like robbery yeah cuz when I love you it's like you
40:39
hit the lottery mhm i want to know what is it like being in Will Smith's circle of love and trust
40:48
no that it's like that that's a that is um you know the the the lyrics of of
40:53
bulletproof um it's funny it's like I'm talking about being uh bulletproof but
41:00
it it's it's a spiritual bulletproof right it's the idea that you're not
41:06
you're not actually touchable by people's words it's they're actually not
41:12
getting anywhere near you that and it's like that was a I did a lot of Matrix in
41:17
my mind but that idea of Neo you know being bulletproof at the end is when you
41:22
realize it's not you got to accept it for it to hurt you right you got to let you got to like let it hurt you um so
41:30
that you know the concept of being bulletproof um the lines before that the
41:35
the um uh was pick a finger you know
41:41
pick one anyone any finger to describe me they all apply to me whatever finger
41:47
you pick don't lie to me cuz if we friends you flip and do something fly to
41:53
me my body might stay but you can say goodbye to me you cause so then that's
41:59
the disloyalty to
42:05
We don't got bars y'all all right bro i've been campaigning for you you know
42:11
they have these conversations about goat these goat conversations and all this stuff i said "Why nobody mentions Will
42:18
as much." This is really the first this that's he I do you know so here's the
42:24
thing i never I never really this is the first time in my life where I'm able to
42:31
devote the time and energy to every single line making sure every single
42:39
line is exactly what I want to say and because I've opened myself up to speak
42:46
from different parts of myself there's more color in the things that I'm I even
42:52
allow myself to say you know so it's like you know before before I started um
43:01
you know I made made uh two phone calls i talked to Jay and I talked to Kendrick
43:06
and I was like "Hey I'm I want to I want to get back in music and it was like
43:11
what's the advice?" And Jay said like
43:17
"Don't fake your story." Wow he was like "You got to you got to say what's true
43:23
for you." And he say "You'll be looking at the younger rappers and you want that to be true for you but you don't live
43:28
like that." It was like "Be true to your story tell your story." And that's
43:34
that's where I got the based on a true story from Jay um and Kendrick he said
43:40
he paused he said "Man just say that [ __ ] you always been
43:45
[ __ ] scared to say." Sorry mommy you got to say sorry though
43:50
you got to say sorry i mean that's Kendrick said that mommy I just say
43:57
that the same thing yeah it's basically the same thing and it was like be honest
44:02
be honest and it was like that was you know a it was scary right to like just
44:09
like say right and that's the thing with genre make the record you want to make don't don't try to make the record that
44:16
you think people will like you for like make the one that's authentic so in the
44:21
intro of the album when when you're doing this collage of uh fans and
44:28
listeners just Yeah they just dissing you they saying you're whack the opening of the album is uh based on the
44:35
barbershop scene from Coming to America yeah so the opening the the opening line
44:42
of the whole album is the barber i'm playing three of the characters jeff is playing one and be Simone is playing one
44:50
so I'm you know a bunch of the characters and the first line of the album is Will Smith is canled right so I
44:58
do the barber but it's in rap verse with all of the characters talking to each other dope so yeah you you hit
45:04
everything that people have said about you in the last three years
45:09
and uh and to me that kind of falls in line with what you were saying about
45:15
bulletproof yeah right you know yeah and bullet bulletproof uh you know I really love that when the the the hook is my
45:21
favorite couple lines of bulletproof um it's it's uh uh the hook uh Jack Ross is
45:28
singing he's a a dude i found him on on Instagram his voice is crazy you'll hear it in a second but the hook is I got the
45:35
keys to heaven but I earn them things in hell i'll give my life for something but
45:41
my soul just ain't for sale i'm bulletproof you know so it's like I just
45:48
you know I just said everything exactly the way I wanted to say it on this album
45:54
will Smith y'all freedom freedom right there brother yeah uh Will this has nothing to do with the
46:01
album but uh what makes a person a goat in your description what makes a goat
46:08
um I think the the big thing for for me the people that um I think of across all
46:17
walks of life um uh you can't be a goat in my
46:24
mind until you've been on your knee with no energy to get
46:29
up until you had to figure out how to get up from hell until you've had to
46:36
look in the eyes of it being over and then what did you do like when you've
46:42
been you've been to the the the edge of of lo losing it all and then how do you
46:50
manage that you know so to me it's like that that is the thing that makes
46:57
somebody a goat is that they they've been to the edge of their sanity they've
47:04
been to the edge of loss and they made their way back to patience and beauty
47:11
and peace and love and kindness let's give them a standing
47:16
ovation give it up for the [Applause] goat Will Smith ladies and gentlemen
47:23
love you brother listen I love you man let's play that bulletproof but before we do I want to thank all of you for
47:30
coming out today and making this a really special right philly philly man represent man thank you thank you all
47:36
right you want to say anything in closing Will uh you know just in in closing um you know I I was I was shaped
47:44
in in the the streets of of Philadelphia and West Philadelphia
47:51
born and ra um you know and the the the reason I
47:57
wanted to come back and do this and I just wanted to stand in in Philly and say to people in
48:03
Philly everything is possible from this place right everything is possible james
48:12
Poer the roots like you know there are people in this room that came from the
48:18
places that the kids in these streets are and have been to the top of what this world has to offer philly is
48:26
there's difficulty and there's brutality and there's pain just like everywhere in the world but this place is open to
48:33
everything and everything you possibly could dream take advantage of it bill Smith's based on a true story album
48:40
listening playback with Sway and Heather B
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