Noam Galai/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Will Smith has rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous people on the planet, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune from being starstruck — just ask Grandmaster Caz.
During a recent interview with Sway while promoting his new movie Bad Boys: Ride or Die alongside co-star Martin Lawrence, the Oscar-winning actor received a surprise visit from his Hip Hop hero.
The wholesome moment came as Smith was waxing poetic about the Cold Crush legend, saying: “The way that I rap, was based on Grandmaster Caz ‘Yvette.’ The Fresh Prince, the character — everything was centered on Grandmaster Caz’s verse [on] ‘Yvette.’ I was like, ‘I want to rap like that.’”
The former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star then began spitting Caz’s second verse from the 1985 song before the man himself quietly entered the room and walked up to him from behind.
When Smith turned around to see who it was, he let out a huge roar of both shock and excitement before sharing a warm embrace with Caz (who also famously helped write the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”).
“Ladies and gentleman, the full, complete and total inspiration for the Fresh Prince, Grandmaster Caz,” he said while introducing his idol (who required no introduction) to the room.
Grandmaster Caz isn’t the only rap legend who has rubbed off on Will Smith.
During last year’s A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop TV special, the 55-year-old admitted to biting Rakim’s flow on his enduring 1991 hit “Summertime” with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
“‘Cause I had been screaming all night, and I couldn’t get my ‘happy-go-lucky’ high voice,” he said during the performance. “And [the producer] just said, ‘Yo, just gimme that Rakim shit.’”
While many fans have long speculated that Smith’s raps on the song were actually written by Rakim, the God MC set the record straight in an interview with HipHopDX in 2016.
At the time, Rakim’s former partner-in-rhyme Eric B. had claimed that they were originally supposed to appear on the “Summertime” beat for a single of their own.
Rakim emphatically denied writing Smith’s raps, but said that the story about he and Eric B. having the beat first was largely true.
“It was ironic that me and Eric B. had sampled it, and we had it ready to go,” he said. “But when [DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince] came out with it, a lot of people thought it was me because of the style he used. But it was one of those things where that was them. I didn’t write it. That was Will and Jeff.”
Rakim also explained that the beat, which sampled “Summer Madness” by Kool & The Gang, was “soft” and out-of-character for his natural baritone so he was content with letting Smith use it.
“It was something he had on the backburner, nahmean?” he added. “Again, it was something that we wanted to use, but we felt that the time wasn’t right because of the choice of all the records that we had on the first album. But that’s a joint that you can’t deny.”
He continued: “You know, maybe it could’ve been hooked up a little more street-ready, and it was something that we thought was a hit record. But we didn’t want to come out and grasp on that first album. We was trying to ease back on that.”
