Will Smith Didn't Like Quincy Jones' Original 'Fresh Prince' Theme Song So He Made His Own

Will Smith has admitted that he wasn’t a fan of Quincy Jones’ original take on the The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, spurring him to make his own version which the world knows today.

Smith and his Bad Boys co-star Martin Lawrence stopped by Hot 97 on Wednesday (June 5) to promote their new film, and the Fresh Prince explained how he and DJ Jazzy Jeff created the iconic theme song for the show.

After being asked about the music by Peter Rosenberg, Smith said: “So Quincy Jones was the producer of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He was mentoring me. Quincy had done a theme song for Fresh Prince. And, you know, Quincy did Sanford and Son; Quincy did a thousand things that you don’t even know.

“So Quincy plays a theme song for The Fresh Prince. It was that old school [mimics a stereotypical sitcom theme]. So I listened and I was like, ‘Ohhh… wow…. yeah.'”

The Oscar winner said he then turned close collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff for advice on how to navigate the awkward situation.

“Jeff was at the hotel and I was like, ‘Jeff, Quincy played a theme song. Dude, it’s no good at all,'” he continued. “Jeff was like, ‘Just tell him, man, he’ll understand.’ I was like, ‘There ain’t no way I’m telling Quincy Jones […] I can’t do it, man. Quincy knows better than I know.’

A few hours later, Smith said, Jazzy Jeff played him a different beat that he had made for the show — and the rest is history.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, that feels a little bit better.’ [Jeff] was like, ‘Yo, just write something,'” he explained. “So I wrote the theme song that night in the hotel room with Jeff. He had a four-track, we recorded it, and he was like, ‘Just play it for Quincy.’ And I was like, ‘Uhhhh.’

“So I played it for Quincy and he sat there and listened and I’m shaking and sweating. And he said, ‘Well, that’s better than that bullshit I did’ […] We did a whole record [with] a second verse, so Quincy made the edit and that became the theme song.

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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air could have looked very differently, too.

Earlier this year, De La Soul revealed that they almost starred in the hit sitcom ahead of Will Smith.

“A lot of people don’t know, yo, the Fresh Prince thing was offered to us,” Posdnuos said during an episode of the group’s Apple Music show Art Official Intelligence Radio with De La Soul.

He added: “They want us to do this? Russell [Simmons] was like, ‘Yo, y’all need to try out. Go out there.’ We was like, ‘Nah. We do rap and stuff.’ Honestly, we were scared. Seriously, we were scared.”

“And shit, I could have been Will Smith. I could have got married to Jada. Damn,” he joked.

Queen Latifah, who was a guest on the show, then softened the blow by chiming in: “You definitely could have. But I think you good where you at right now. I think you good.”