Will Smith Just Spit a Freestyle and… Yeah, That Oscars Slap Is Still on His Mind
Will Smith is back in his rap bag — and this time, he’s not pulling any punches. The Bad Boys star dropped by Charlie Sloth’s iconic “Fire in the Booth” segment in the U.K. this week, and girl, he went in. If you were hoping the Oscars drama with Chris Rock was over and done with… surprise! Will basically put it in a verse, gift-wrapped it in bars, and handed it right back.
Let’s talk about the line that has the internet doing double takes:
“If you talking crazy out your face up on the stage and disrespect me on the stage, expect me on the stage.”
Oop! That part. And just in case that wasn’t direct enough, he added:
“Jokers dish it out, cry out when it’s time to take it, city full of real ones wasn’t raised to fake it.”
We see you, Will. You didn’t say Chris Rock’s name, but honestly, you didn’t have to.
This isn’t the first time Big Willy Style has hinted at The Slap™ in his music. His new project Based on a True Storyincludes a few lyrical nods to that infamous moment at the 2022 Oscars — when Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head and Will reacted by storming the stage and smacking him. Live. In front of Beyoncé. And the rest of Hollywood.
Since then, Will’s gone full reflective mode. Earlier this month, in a sit-down with BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz, he got real about what life has looked like since the world watched him go from Oscar-winner to Twitter trending topic in 0.5 seconds.
“The last few years for me have been really deep reflection,” he admitted. “After the Oscars, I shut it down for a minute and really went into the internal work.”
Translation: therapy, journaling, maybe a little sage-burning energy.
He continued, “For the first time in my career, I was having to deal with a level of disapproval that I never had to experience. The addiction to the approval of others that I had to dissolve — it was brutal.”
Whew. Say what you want about Will, but that’s a level of self-awareness a lot of celebs never reach. And whether you were Team “He Went Too Far” or Team “He Was Defending His Wife,” no one can deny that slap changed everything — including how Will sees himself.
He described it like this: “It was just like there was a manhole cover over some unexplored areas, and the manhole cover came off. It was scary for a minute what was in there.”
Honestly? Relatable. Who hasn’t gone through a messy public moment (or, you know, a cringe group chat leak) and had to take a long hard look in the mirror?
Now, with new music, a new mindset, and Fire in the Booth bars that have everyone talking, it’s clear that Will Smith isn’t hiding from the past. He’s remixing it.
So what’s next? Probably more freestyles, more movie promo, and maybe — just maybe — a Chris Rock clapback in stand-up form. Because if there’s one thing about this saga… it’s never truly over.