From hip hop pioneer to underrated rapper: Will Smith’s effort to revive his forgotten music career
Twenty years after his last album, the Oscar-winning — and controversial — actor returns to music, reminding the world that before he became a Hollywood superstar, he was one of the pioneers who helped bring rap into the mainstream
Willard Carroll Smith II, 56, is one of the most famous actors of the 21st century. According to Forbes magazine, he is the biggest movie star of the post-9/11 era. But what many people don’t know is that he was also one of the first hip-hop stars, playing a pivotal role in popularizing this music genre even before rising to fame as the lead of the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
