Will Smith’s Story About Quincy Jones Casting Him on ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Is Pure Entertainment
Now this is the story all about how Will Smith’s life got flip-turned upside-down…
The origin story of Will Smith the fictionalized sitcom character is world-famous and needs no explanation. After all, he raps the full tale of his transformation from West Philadelphia hoop-shooter to Southern California royalty in the first few minutes of every The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (theme)” is arguably the most iconic opening number of the 1990s, so it’s only fitting that it should play before a show that the late music giant Quincy Jones assembled and produced.
However, the story behind the actual Smith’s ascension from broke rapper to sitcom superstar is even more incredible, poetic and perfectly absurd than the sitcom version of events, and it’s all thanks to an invitation Smith received to a party hosted by the legendary TV and music producer that was more life-changing than any motherly instruction to move in with his auntie and uncle.
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In 2018, Smith told the story of how the real Fresh Prince, record executive Benny Medina, introduced him to Jones at a house party where Jones immediately made Smith audition for the head of NBC before forcing the network’s lawyers to draw up a contract for Smith on the spot. How’s that for sitting on his throne?
Naturally, Jones composed the music over which Smith would rap the world’s greatest sitcom theme song explaining his character’s background, and Jones even performed a cameo as the cabbie who drives Smith to the Banks home before the Fresh Prince smells him later.
For his role in assembling the team for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and for his absolutely baller (and slightly boozy) hard-pitch to NBC head Brandon Tartikoff, the show’s co-creators, Andy and Susan Borowitz, loosely based Hilary and Ashley Banks off of Jones’ own daughters, meaning that Jones was effectively the real-life Uncle Phil of the show.
Smith might have been the Fresh Prince, but there was only one king.