If you introduce Will Smith to the tune of his own music, there's a chance he'll grab a microphone and put on what appears to be an impromptu performance. Case in point, the rapper/actor visited Late Show with David Letterman and before he sat down to be interviewed, he rapped for the audience...
Will Smith appeared on Late Show with David Letterman this week in anticipation of the release of his latest movie Focus. As you can see, Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra played Smith onto the stage with an instrumental performance of his hit 1998 song "Gettin' Jiggy wit It." Not content to merely acknowledge the song, Smith happily grabbed a microphone and performed part of it for the crowd before taking the couch for his interview.
Not only does he obviously still remember the words to the Big Willie Style song, but it's evident Will Smith is still very comfortable taking the stage and performing. This wouldn't be the first time in recent years that Smith has performed one of his classic songs on a talk show. A few years back, he performed the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on The Graham Norton Show. Check it out...
It's been about a decade since he released an album. That was Lost and Found, back in 2005. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star has been much more active on the big screen than he has with music in recent years, with starring roles in I Am Legend, Men In Black 3 and After Earth among his recent credits.
It's been fairly hit or miss for the actor on the big screen, with After Earth coming in as a big miss both critically and at the box office. Winter's Tale was also a miss. So those of us who want to see him in a hit are hopeful that Focus will deliver. The film, which hits theaters February 27, has Smith playing a con artist who's teaching a novice (Margot Robbie) the tricks of the trade.
Beyond that, we have Suicide Squad lined up for 2016, in which Will Smith will play Deadshot. So there's that bit of potential awesomeness to look forward to.
On a more personal note, as a fan of Smith going back to his Fresh Prince days, I love the random bit of rapping on Late Show for the flashback it gives us to the days when Smith was everywhere, both as a rapper and an actor. His enthusiasm and sense of humor are two of the things that make him stand out as a celebrity as well as an entertainer. And that's a big reason I will probably forever be optimistic that his next movie -- whatever it happens to be at the time -- will be a hit. Here's hoping that's the case with his upcoming projects... and that we see him grab the mic more often when he does TV appearances.
