PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In West Philadelphia the place he was born and raised, now there’s a road known as Will Smith Method.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and metropolis leaders honored the Oscar and Grammy winner on Wednesday, renaming a road subsequent to Smith’s previous highschool.
“Philly, I really like you. I’m yours. You might be mine,” Smith mentioned at a ceremony alongside a piece of 59th Avenue that now bears his title.
He reminisced about studying the values of laborious work and schooling from his mom and father earlier than hitting it large as an actor and rapper.
“No person will get a straightforward experience,” he mentioned. “That was one of many issues these streets of Philadelphia taught me: that there’s nothing improper with a tough day’s work.”
Amongst those that got here out to see him was a former instructor who was the primary to name him “Prince Charming” — a nickname he modified up a bit for the Nineties TV present “The Recent Prince of Bel-Air,” wherein Smith performed an adolescent from Philadelphia who goes to stay with kin in Los Angeles.
“The title `The Recent Prince’ was coined in that constructing,” Smith mentioned, pointing again at Overbrook Excessive Faculty. “I added the ‘recent’ as a result of it was hip-hop slang.”
Smith will launch his fifth studio album “Primarily based on a True Story” on Friday. It’s his first music undertaking in twenty years since “Misplaced and Discovered.”
He gained Grammys for “Summertime,” “Males In Black,” “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Dad and mom Simply Don’t Perceive.” He’s additionally starred within the motion pictures “Dangerous Boys,” “Males in Black” and “King Richard.”
