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·
: Anticipation
February 25 is the date of
· the upcoming 34th Annual
· Grammy Awards. It's sure to
· be a big night for Natalie Cole
who nabbed four nominations
· including best album of the
year, record of the year, and
· jazz vocal performance, and
· traditional pop performance.
Her father, the late Nat
King Cole will be honored as
well, with recorded works
selected for the' Grammy Hall
of Fame including his "Mona
Lisa".
Whil� Natalie is assured of
walking away with some­
thing, it's not so clear for
Whitney Houston, Mariah
Carey and Oleta Adams, who
will square off in the category
of pop vocal performance,
female.
Boyz II Men (who
received two nominations)
will face Color Me Badd in,
the category of best new art­
ist.
Up for rap solo perfor­
mance are Queen Latifah,
Hammer, LL Cool J., Ice-T
and Monie Love.
Rap performance by a duo
or group include Public
Enemy, Salt-N-Pepa, D.J.
Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince,
Naughty by Nature, and
Heavy D & the Boyz.
The real stiff competition
will come in the area of male
R&B vocals-Luther
Vandross, Teddy
Pendergrass, Peabo Bryson;
James Brown, Stevie
Wonder, and newcomer
Keith Washington.
Female R&B vocals in­
clude Aretha Franklin, Patti
LaBelle, Gladys Knight,
Vanessa Williams and Lisa
Fischer go toe-to-toe.
Pull Out
Your Hankies
Maze's Frankie.Beverly
got into the holiday spirit
with a proposal to girlfriend,
Pam Moore. Moore is a
television new co-anchor in
tbe Bay Are • Word is a date
will be et soon.
More regrets·
Actor Phill Lewi , star of
the CBS' eries-"Teech"
(cancelled just six wee
after airing lut fall), has
pleaded innocent to
manslaughter and drun en
driving charges stemming
from a crash that killed 21-
year old woman over the
holidays. Tests indicate
Lewi ' blood-alcohol level
was three time the legal
level.
_ � plied by K. Barb
_ pecial cootribulOr: UII Col­
(Bela�-n.sc-e)
By GAIL BUCHALT R
R.prlntwl with"."", �on
from Par.chI ".,.,,,.
IN THE SCENE THAT OPENS
EACH weekly epi ode of the it­
com Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a
policeman catche the how' tar
nd name ake pray-painting graf-
fiti on w 11. In a ub equent
cene, the mischievous teenager i
aying goodbye to hi family in
Philadelphia, bound for Bel-Air and
the suppo edly good influence of
his wealthy aunt nd uncle.
Yet as clo e as Will Smith is to
his television character=-botb love
music and to make people laugh,
and each has retained his urban
roots-this cenario would never
have transpired in Smith's own life.
"My father had me under total
control," Will Smith aid, sitting in
hi dressing room. "It's very im­
portant for a boy to grow up having
such a strong male figure around. I
always felt loved, but I was alse
scared of my dad. Just to hear him
call my name would strike fear in
my heart."
Smith smiles when he says this,
as he doe any time he speaks of his
father, who designs and installs
refrigeration units in supermarkets.
Smith's mother works for the
Philadelphia Board of Education.
4
"MY D D WAS alway a think­
ing-type person," he said. "Every­
thing he did, he did for a reason.
One time when I was 15 and my
brother, Harry, was 12, he wanted
us to fix a broken-down 16-foot by
14-foot trench and rebuild the wall.
"I kept thinking, 'This is impos-
sible. .
This is totally impossible.' I
knew I'd be building that wall for
the rest of my life, not just the sum­
mer. It actually took us over six
months to finish it."
Just a few months ago, Smith
said, his father told him why he had
. assigned his sons such an arduous
task.
"Dad explained that when a kid's
growing up, he needs to see some­
thIng that's impossible to do, and
then go and do it," he said. "There
are always going to be walls in life.
He helped us get over one, so we'd
never be scared to take the first step
and try to do the impossible."
He adds with a laugh: "And of
course, he also got a really nice
wall."
WHILE HE'S constantly be­
sieged by a silly side and a craving
for the spotlight, he's also studious
and has a penchant for reading
about history. But Smith's most
compelling needs seems simply to
be himself. He said fear has never
been a dominant force in his life­
except when instilled by his father.
"There was no peer pressure that
could ever make me do anything I
didn't want to do," he aid. "Kids
would try to get me to smoke reefer,
but I knew I was too silly already.
Also, my father would have killed
me if I came home smelling of that
stuff. It wasn't even a- considera­
tion.
"I was into making music with
my family. My ister Pam was six
years older, and he was a big in­
fluence. We alway had a piano
and drums in the house, but I liked
writing music better than playing."
By 12, Smith was. going to par­
ties and vying for center tage as a
rapper. He never planned on a
m ical career, he said. He was just
having fun. Eventually, at one of
the partie , he ran into Jazzy Jeff.
They quickly became friend and
co-rappers.
"Rap," said Smith, i a music
based on being the best through ar­
guing, insulting and battling verbal­
ly with each other. It's about
competition. But I don't think it
has to be ngry. In fact, when it first
started, rap w about having fun."
QUNICY JO ES, him elf a
winner of 19 Grammy and the ex­
ecutive producer of Fresh Prince of
Bd-A;" 'd Smith the
c·
p
r i
•••
I
o
nd Whoopi Goldberg hen he co­
produced the film The Color
Purple.
"He h high elt-e teem," id
Jone .
"I gue you h ve to if you're
going to be rapper. People p y
$15 to go to ho p rty, and if
you're no good, the crowd lets you
know pretty quickly nd not kindly.
Those are the kind of parties where
Will started.
In its bro de t sense, rap ing can
verge on lap tick.
Will learned to entertain in that
environment, and that certainly
take care of your inhibitions. I
think that'S why he' such a natural
on televi ion."
But, of course, Smith had no idea
he was "paying dues"-he was just
having a great time. Even hi
parents' divorce when he was 13
years old didn't devastate him.
"IT REALLY didn't bother
me," he said.
"I was extremely precocious and
realized my parents were much bet­
ter off being apart. I t brought peace
to th� house and each parent. My
mother moved in with her mother,
and we spent weekends together.
Our family remained clo e-knit, ex­
cept my parents never talked to
each other."
Smith continued to excet in both
chool and music. He even e � caped
a brief rebellious moment un­
scathed; Once he took hi dad'
truck without permission - he
didn't dare to ask for the keys, be­
cause he was only 14. Almos im­
mediately, he collided with a car.
Luck was definitely on his side.
The other driver was unhurt and
also unlicensed and fled the scene.
The truck was barely dented. The
worst part of the accident, Smith
said, was telling his father. Yet, he
recalled, he found that confronta­
tion surprising: "My dad just
grabbed my wrist and held it light­
ly, looked at me and said, 'You'll
never do that again, right?' And I
said, 'Right, Dad."
There were no more indiscre­
tions. By his senior year in high
school, Smith - with SAT scores
of 1260 out of a possible 1600 -
had scholarship offers from more
than 100 colleges and universities
and, more important ·to him, a hit
record, "Girls Ain't Nothin' But
Trouble."
THE DAYS OF making records
in Jazzy Jeff's basement paid off
with more than good times-al­
though Smith asserts that he, like
numerous other recording artists
before him, never saw any money
from the small label that put out his
first ingle. "You got to 'get done'
the first time out," he said, slipping
into slang. "That' j t the way it
The rap and TV star Will Smith, 23.' •
hi t and is back for a second season.
a house. But I realized I had to
change my attitude, Now, instead
of getting bored, I put that energy
into my work. I started my own
record label, and I'm producing
three acts."
Smith' greatest talent may be
landing in the right place at the per­
fect time. He and Jazzy Jeff were
waiting backstage to go on the Ar­
senio Hall Show when Benny
Medina, a Warner Bros. vice presi­
dent, showed up with Quincy Jones.
Medina took one look at Smith and
seemed dedicated to playing the
field, in real life he's currently in­
volved withjust one woman, whom
he declines to name. She has. been -
buay helping him pick out furniture
for hi rental house in Burbank,
Calif. Soon, he acknowledges, he
must buy a house in Lo Angele for
tax reasons, despite his dismay it
the high price tags.
Smith is going Hollywood in one
other way: He wants to gear his
career. toward making films-his
hero is Eddie Murphy, the man
who e comedy has made him laugh
the most-and he's contemplatillJ
an end to his rapping days.
"A RECORD Is'like a baby," be
aid. "You have to rai e it. You
can't just let it go out on its own. I
didn't tour behind thi last albu
and I don't want to feel I'm neglect­
ing it. ItI can't do it right, I'd rather
. not do it. I guess it goe back to my
parents. They both worked hard
and expected the arne from me. If
I say so my elf, I think they trained
me well."
Or, as Fresh Prince-the em­
bodiment of Will Smith' . upreme­
ly self-confident side, who cracks
ise, dances at the nap of a finger
and lov life at the top-would
y: "I'm extremely hip. In fact
I'm so hip, I'm at the highest levei
of hiptivity."
YET FOR ALL the fun stardom
has brought Will Smith-including
sitting with the players during the
NBA Gatorade Slam-Dunk Con­
test-he feels a strong sense of
�sponsibility to his old neighbor­
hood. ,Jazzy Jeff has a recurring
role on Fresh Prince as his econd
cousin, and Smith insisted that
another Philadelphia friend, Benny
"Boomps" Richburg, be hired as a
writer. He's still with the show.
"In Philly, talented people tend
to gravitate together, be it
ballplayers or rappers," Smith said.
"I knew what Boomps could do and
how he'd re pond to working in
L.A, He's great.
"It's extremely important (or me
not to nece sarily put Blacks in
power positions but to make sure
they have an equal shot at getting·
there. This is a really political busi­
ness, and people always hire their
friends. I want my own p e too.
I'm a young Black man, and I want
my po e to be young Black men
and women-but the bottom line is,
whoever joins us must be the best."
Although Smith' music ha
been criticized for being too
mainstream and middle-cia ,. he
re ponds by aying imply: "I do
what makes me feel good. I al 0
feel the pre ure to be a good in­
fluence. I write lyrics my mother
can listen to. When he goes to
work, and people talk about my
. records, I want her to be proud of
me. Rapping comes from your,
background, and mine was a regular
working-Class neighborhood.
Those are the i ues I deal with."
Smith's la t album,
"Homebase," dealt with girls, um­
mertirne, girl , car wrecks and more
. girls. Altho on album Smith
"I always felt loved,.
but I was also scared
of. my dad. It's very
important for a boy to grow
up having such a strong male
figure around."
is."
A 'year later, he and Jazzy Jeff
igned with Jive Records, which
paid the duo 30,000 aDd bought
out their first contract. Smith dis­
missed all though of going to col­
lege afierdiscussing the matter with
hi paren . Their only advice w
for him to do what he wanted.
"I never had a big plan," he said.
"M�ic w alway a casual thing,
a bobby. But it took off with our
first Ingle, and then we bad the hit
'Parents Just Don't UnMrstand.'
By the time I was 18, I bad $2 mil­
lion in the bank nd eight cars in
garages. I had a problem: When­
ever I lot a little bored, I'd o I bop-
. Ati I, ""tI __ ·
thought about the concept for a sit­
com that he'd been nurturing. He
mentioned it to Jones, and within
day they were on the phone invi t­
ing NBC executive to meet Will
Smith at Jones' home. The novice
actor read a few pages of script and
o impressed the executives that
network attorneys arrived in Jone '
driveway soon afterward to
negotiate a deal.
Smith id getting in front of a
camera wasn't at all frightening.
Although he never had acted
before, he aid, he w making great
money doing omething he enjoyed
and felt he had nothing, to lose if it
didn't work. The how debuted in
tbe immedi te
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