Will Smith Gets ‘Jiggy Wit It’ on ‘Letterman’
Will Smith may be plotting a music comeback, especially if rumors that he’s been in the studio with Kanye West are to be believed, but for now the Fresh Prince’s happy rapping remains on hold — save for the occasional late night appearance. On Wednesday, Smith grabbed the mic as he was introduced on The Late Show With David Letterman, spitting a verse of his perennial party jam, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”
Smith dedicated the impromptu performance — complete with audience participation on the “Na na na” bits — to Letterman, and went on to insist the comedian had what it took to spit hot fire too. “You can, Dave, it’s in you! There’s a Negro inside of you, Dave!” Smith proclaimed. “Wow — that’s the best news I’ve had in years,” a slightly taken aback Letterman responded. “I gotta run home and surprise the wife!”
Smith also took the chance to bid Letterman a fond farewell before he steps down from his Late Show post in May by reading his own top 10 list of the things he’ll miss most about the host.
The actor duly paid tribute to the pair’s “electric sexual chemistry” and Letterman’s Harry Potter glasses, telling Letterman how much he’ll miss “how the wind whistles through that cute little gap in your teeth every time you say, ‘Smith.'”
While the future of Smith’s music career remains uncertain, the actor does have a handful of films in the works, including the upcoming Focus (February 26th), in which he plays a con man whose scheme gets thrown off track when a woman from his past returns.
Later this year, he’ll appear in Concussion, a chronicle of recent discoveries regarding the debilitating, and sometimes deadly, brain trauma suffered by football players, and the NFL’s response to the crisis. Smith will play Dr. Bennet Omalu, a neuropathologist, whose autopsy of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster led to the discovery of the new disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, much to the chagrin of the league.