JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar Gave Will Smith Advice For Recent Album

'Before I started, I made two phone calls," Smith said. "I talked to Jay and I talked to Kendrick.'

Before Will Smith completed his first new hip-hop album in 20 years, Based on a True Story, he called two hip-hop heavyweights to get some much-needed advice: Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar.

At a listening session that took place in Smith’s hometown of Philadelphia, Sway in the Morning‘s hosts, Sway Calloway and Heather B., spoke with Smith about his latest album.

“Before I started, I made two phone calls,” Smith told the audience. “I talked to Jay and I talked to Kendrick. I was like, ‘Hey, I want to get back in music. What’s the advice?'”

Jay-Z simply said, “Don’t fake your story.”

Smith elaborated. “He was like, ‘You gotta say what’s true for you.’ He’s like, ‘You’ll be looking at the younger rappers, and you want that to be true for you, but you don’t live like that.’ He was like, ‘Be true to your story. Tell your story.'”

Lamar’s advice to Smith: “Say that sh** you’ve always been f**king scared to say.”

“Basically, the same thing,” Smith added. “It was like, ‘Be honest.’ It was scary. That’s the thing with genre. Make the record you want to make. Don’t try to make the record that you think people will like you for. Make the one that’s authentic.”

It’s hard to believe given his big-screen success, but Smith first became a household name as a rapper. His hip-hop persona, The Fresh Prince, debuted in 1985. A successful record, “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” with his partner and deejay, DJ Jazzy Jeff, followed a few years later.

Then came everything else. In 1990, Smith landed on a hit television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and became one of the most popular and highest paid movie stars, thanks to three consecutive hits in the mid-90s: Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black.

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