Current:Home > reviewsWill Smith resurges rap career with new single 'Work of Art' -Edge Finance Strategies
Will Smith resurges rap career with new single 'Work of Art'
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:32:59
The Fresh Prince is officially back in the rap game.
Will Smith released the debut single "Work of Art" off of his upcoming album Friday along with its music video. The track features Smith's son Jaden and singer Russ on the vocals with the Grammy-winning rapper reflecting on the different aspects of his personality.
"I am Musa, I am Jesus / I am Judas, I am the judge / I am the victim, and I'm the shooter / I'm in the Torah, and the Koran, and in the Bible / I am a shepherd / I am a leader, and a disciple," Smith, 55, smoothly raps.
He also alludes to his struggle in the public eye after he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.
"They tried to censor me / But then they sent for me," he raps in one section, adding in the chorus, "I am a saint, but if you touch, I am a savage."
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Will Smith returns to musicwith uplifting BET Awards 2024 performance of 'You Can Make It'
Throughout the music video, Smith reveals to Russ that he recorded over 20 songs for his upcoming project. "'Work of Art' was the song where I found my voice. It was like 'Ah! That’s what I want to talk about,'" he says as the two become part of a museum display.
Smith has been teasing his return to music in the past few months with an appearance during J. Balvin's Coachella set in April, followed by the first live performance of his song "You Can Make It" at the BET Awards in June and a surprise appearance at La Velada Del Año 4 earlier this month.
Teasing his fifth album, the "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" star wrote on Instagram on July 12, "The Theme of the music I’ve been working on is 'Dance in your Darkest Moments.' Over the past couple of years I’ve had to learn a different way to be with adversity — a different way to face hard times."
The actor's most recent studio album was “Lost and Found,” released in 2005. The album sold a half-million copies and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Contributing: Edward Segarra, KiMi Robinson
veryGood! (5411)
Related
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- The flickering glow of summer’s fireflies: too important to lose, too small to notice them gone
- NFL, players union informally discussing expanded regular-season schedule
- Police investigate death of Autumn Oxley, Virginia woman featured on ’16 and Pregnant’
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Why the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are already an expensive nightmare for many locals and tourists
- IOC awards 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City. Utah last hosted the Olympics in 2002
- Google’s corporate parent still prospering amid shift injecting more AI technology in search
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- WNBA All-Star Game has record 3.44 million viewers, the league’s 3rd most watched event ever
Ranking
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Netanyahu looks to boost US support in speech to Congress, but faces protests and lawmaker boycotts
- Find Out Which America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Stars Made the 2024 Squad
- Woman pleads guilty to stealing $300K from Alabama church to buy gifts for TikTok content creators
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Nevada election officials ramp up voter roll maintenance ahead of November election
- Find Out Which America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Stars Made the 2024 Squad
- Netanyahu is in Washington at a fraught time for Israel and the US. What to know about his visit
Recommendation
'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
Russia sentences U.S. dual national journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to prison for reporting amid Ukraine war
Fires threaten towns, close interstate in Pacific Northwest as heat wave continues
Former US Army civilian employee sentenced to 15 years for stealing nearly $109 million
The Grammy nominee you need to hear: Esperanza Spalding
Physicality and endurance win the World Series of perhaps the oldest game in North America
Survivors sue Illinois over decades of sexual abuse at Chicago youth detention center
U.S. home prices reach record high in June, despite deepening sales slump