Will Smith reveals how debuting 'Summertime' after“ Fresh Prince ”episode fulfilled lifelong dream
Will Smith gave us a groove slightly transformed in the summer of 1991 with "Summertime" — and in his new podcast, he breaks down how the song's music video made his life get flipped-turned upside down.
In an exclusive video clip from his new podcast, Class of '88, the Fresh Prince discusses the unusual release for the song's music video in 1991.
Jaden Smith asks his dad, as well as fellow guest Chuck D from Public Enemy, what it felt like to see their music videos on MTV. "How did it feel for you guys… to have a video on television, like you know everybody's tuned in to the same thing?" Jaden asks.
The Oscar winner reveals that his most memorable music video experience came on primetime network television, not MTV. "The biggest video moment for me of my career is when we did the impossible and premiered 'Summertime' after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Smith recalls. "We did a short episode, so we shortened the episode, and added the premiere of the video into the programming after the credits."
Mario Casilli/TV Guide/©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection Will Smith as the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'
"We said 'And here we have a special treat,'" Smith continues. "On network television, at 8 o'clock on Monday night for the entire nation we premiered 'Summertime.'"
Smith said that a certain smooth criminal was a major inspiration for the move. "Michael Jackson was the only person who had…Michael Jackson premiered 'Thriller' in primetime. And I had been wanting to do that my entire life," Smith says. (Jackson also debuted the video for "Black or White" on Fox, MTV, BET, and VH1 simultaneously in November 1991.)
"We got NBC to agree, and we shortened the episode and tacked the video on at the end, and the song was No. 1 the next week," Smith says. The song did hit the top spot on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart, as well as No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song went on to win a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Smith's podcast Summer of '88 explores the hip-hop explosion of the late 1980s with interviews with musicians like Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels, Rakim, Fab 5 Freddy, Jazzy Jeff, J.J. Fad, and DJ Red Alert.
All eight of the show's episodes are available now on Amazon Music, Audible, and other podcast platforms. Watch EW's exclusive video clip above.
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