If you’re familiar with the theme song from the 90’s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, you’ll remember the iconic line, “in West Philadelphia born and raised”.
Now, a street in Pennsylvania bears the name of the celebrity who brought notoriety to the Philadelphia neighbourhood – Will Smith.
The signage for “Will Smith Way” was unveiled on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), with the actor and rapper present for the big reveal.
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Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders honoured the Oscar and Grammy winner, renaming a street next to Smith’s old high school.
“Philly, I love you. I am yours. You are mine,” Smith said at a ceremony along a section of 59th Street that now bears his name.
He reminisced about learning the values of hard work and education from his mother and father before hitting it big as an actor and rapper.
Smith’s mother, Caroline Bright, beamed as she joined her son at the ceremony.
“Nobody gets an easy ride,” the actor said.
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“That was one of the things these streets of Philadelphia taught me: that there’s nothing wrong with a hard day’s work.”
Among those who came out to see him was a former teacher who was the first to call him “Prince Charming” – a nickname he changed up a bit for the 1990s TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which Smith played a teenager from Philadelphia who goes to live with relatives in Los Angeles.
“The name ‘The Fresh Prince’ was coined in that building,” Smith said, pointing back at Overbrook High School.
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“I added the ‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang.”
Smith will release his fifth studio album Based on a True Story on Friday. It’s his first music project in two decades since Lost and Found.
As a solo rapper and as part of hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Smith has won four Grammys – for Parents Just Don’t Understand (1989), Summertime (1992), Men In Black (1998) and Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It (1999).
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He’s also starred in the movies Bad Boys, Men in Black and King Richard, which he won a long-awaited Oscar.
However, the evening of his win was tainted by his now infamous slap of comedian Chris Rock on stage during the ceremony in 2022 – almost three years to the date of his street name unveiling.
– Reported with Associated Press and CNN.
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