Will Smith: Born to Reign

Grammy award-winning rapper and larger-than-life screen actor Will Smith puts on his sharp black suit and dark shades once again to get jiggy with the aliens from outer space in Men in Black II back to back with a new album entitled "Born to Reign" which includes the movies theme song Black Suits Comin’ (Nod Ya Head). It’s the follow up to the hugely successful Willennium album released in 1999.

Will continues to reinvent himself and, unlike other movie personalities, never lost the innate charm and charisma that rocketed him to fame. As an actor, he always had that "likeability" factor and easy-going style that draw people to watch his movies dress him up in a sleek MIB suit and let him utter "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good," and it will surely be a blockbuster hit.

His father once said, "Boy, you remember when I told you that if you worked hard and focus, you can have everything you want? That’s nonsense, boy. You’re the luckiest person I’ve ever met in my life." Lucky, sure, and talented, too.

Will Smith began rapping when he was 12, and after he graduated from high school, he turned down a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pursue his musical career with his buddy Jeff Townes. They called themselves DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, rendering a series of clean, family-oriented rap albums including their Grammy award-winning album He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper and the crossover single Parents Just Don’t Understand. This was short-lived because by the time Will was 18, he had lost most of his fortune because of his spending habits. What’s more, the IRS was after him.

But he found his luck again, landing the title role in the TV comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel Air which lasted for six years. This paved the way for the big screen in the films Where the Day Takes You (1992), Made in America (1993) and Six Degrees of Separation (1993), where he played a young gay, con artist. Two years later, he found his first major commercial success in the movie Bad Boys alongside Martin Lawrence. Soon after that, he joined the ranks of Hollywood’s most valuable leading men, getting millions per picture. With a five million dollar talent fee, he was cast in the sci-fi thriller Independence Day (1996) which was one of the year’s biggest moneymakers.

Though Will was doing well in the box office, his three-year marriage to Sheree Zampino fell apart and he soon gave up custody of their son, Will Smith III. With his career on the upswing, extraterrestrial life forms proved to be profitable for Will. He soon starred in Men in Black (1997) with veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones. It topped the box office and the record charts as well with his same titled single for the blockbuster movie.

The success of his single inspired him to try rapping again, and that same year he released his debut solo album Big Willie Style, which spent 96 weeks on the Billboard 200 Best-selling Albums chart, 72 of those weeks in the Top 40. That same year, Will found love again and tied the knot with his second wife actress Jada Pinkett. A year later, Will starred opposite Gene Hackman in another action flick, Enemy of the State. Before 1998 was over, Will had picked up several awards, too!

In 1999, Will appeared in the critical disappointment, Wild Wild West. He says, "My biggest emotional defeat and the greatest emotional pain I’ve had as an actor was when Wild Wild West opened up to $52 million. The movie wasn’t good. And it hurt so bad to be the No. 1 movie to open at $52 million and to know that the movie wasn’t good." The film’s title track, however, was a summer hit. Soon after the movie, Will ushered in the 21^st century with his album Willennium featuring guest appearances by K-Ci, Lil’ Kim, Biz Markic, Slick Rick and Tatyana Ali.

Will starred with Matt Damon in the Legend of Bagger Vance in 2000 and in his next movie, Ali, he bagged an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.