The 10 Best Will Smith Songs of All-Time

Will Smith

Our latest article on the top ten Will Smith songs of all time features some great tracks that helped change the hip-hop landscape on the West Coast. As we all know, Will Smith is one of the most successful actors of all time.

However, before making it on the big screens, he was equally big on the hip-hop scene. His career began as an MC alongside DJ Jazzy in the group DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

The duo would however break up and Will Smith embarked on an incredible music and film career. Throughout his musical career, Will Smith has released four studio albums, the latest being his 2005 album, Lost and Found. Here are the top ten Will Smith songs of all time.

10. Party Starter

Starting us off in the tenth position on our list of the greatest Will Smith songs of all time is this 2005 song from the album, Lost and found. “Part Starter” was written by Will Smith alongside Ludacris and was a critic of the current commercialization of hip hop. The song contains some amazing lyrics with hard-hitting verses that you will absolutely love. In my opinion, “Party Starter” is one of Will Smith’s most underrated songs ever.

9. Wild Wild West

Will Smith was at his peak in music and film in the late 90s. In 1999, he released this incredible song as the theme song for the movie with the same name. The song is contained in his 1999 album, Willenium, and plays during the film’s closing credits.

The song samples from Stevie Wonder’s 1976 hit song, “I Wish” and some parts of the chorus are sampled from Kool Moe Dee’s 1987 song, “Wild Wild West”. The song is one of the greatest and most recognizable movie theme songs. The track peaked at the top position on the US Billboard Hot 100 and there is no doubt that it is one of Will Smith’s greatest songs of all time.

8. Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble

The number eight song on our list is the debut single by Dj Jazzy and Fresh Prince. “Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble” is contained in the duo’s 1987 album, Rock the House. The song sampled the 1960 TV Series theme song, “I Dream of Jeannie” and was featured in episode eight of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The track peaked at number 87 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #21 on the UK Singles Chart.

7. Miami

Will Smith was good at releasing songs meant to top the Billboard charts and “Miami” is another top ten Will Smith song. The song basically gives an insight into how life in Miami feels like. The song samples from the Whispers 1979 song, “And the Beat Goes On” and featured Nas as one of the ghostwriters, although he vehemently denied it.  “Miami” is a classic song and you will always enjoy the amazing vibe it brings whenever you are in Miami.

6. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

This song was written by Quincy Jones, the executive producer of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. However, Will Smith performed the song and even changed some of the song’s lyrics to his liking.

The song is about a guy who was born and raised in West Philadelphia but was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air, Los Angeles after a violent encounter with a neighbor. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song is one of the most liked theme songs of all time and many people born in the early nineties can rap the lyrics of the song word for word.

5. Men In Black

“Men In Black” marked the return of Will Smith in a light-hearted theme song for 1997’s biggest movie, Men In Black. This song was his first solo single as well as his highest-charting song.

The song features Coko from SWV who sings the hook and provides extra vocals throughout the song. The track had a $1 million video that featured a dancing CGI alien alongside Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The song earned Will Smith a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo at the 1998 Grammy Awards.

4. Parents Just Don’t Understand

This track revolves around two major verses talking about Fresh Prince’s parents who he feels don’t understand the difficulties that teenagers go through during that phase of life. The song has been played a couple of times on the hit show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and was ranked #96 on VH1’s list of 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs. The song also won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance at the 1989 Grammy Awards.

3. Gettin’ Jiggy With It

Coming in at number three is another Grammy Award-winning song, from Will Smith debut solo album, Big Willie Style. The chorus of this song samples the Bar-Kays single, “Song and Dance” while the verse samples Sister Sledge’s 1979 song, “He’s the Greatest Dancer.” “Gettin’ Jiggy With It” is an era-defining song, with the period when the song was released being referred to as “The Jiggy Era.”

2. Switch

The number two track on our list of the top ten Will Smith songs is one of his most underrated singles, coming off from his 2005 album, Lost and Found. Will Smith co-wrote this track alongside Kwame “K1 Mil” and the track was a major hit in several countries including the US where it peaked at position seven on the US Billboard 100. The song features some clean rapping from Will Smith and the song is well produced.

1. Summertime

Will Smith wrote this entire song and was inspired by Rakim’s flow during the writing process. The track featured DJ Jazzy Jeff and is contained in the duo’s fourth studio album, Homebase. Like most of the other songs on the album, “Summertime” was a mature record full of good vibes over a funky laid back beat.

The track samples instrumentation from Kool & the Gang’s 1974 song, “Summer Madness” and was the duo’s first single to reach top ten on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 8. The song also won Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff a Grammy Award for Best rap performance by Duo or Group.

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