Will Smith Releases ‘Based On a True Story,’ His First Album in 20 Years

Will Smith‘s return to hip hop has arrived, as the rapper-turned-actor released Based On a True Story, his first album in 20 years, on Friday.

Smith had preempted the new album with the singles “Beautiful Scars” with Big Sean, “First Love,” You Can Make It,” “Tantrum,” and “Work of Art.” The album comes almost exactly 20 years ago to the day from when Smith released his last album Lost and Found. Based On a True Story reunited Smith with DJ Jazzy Jeff and also features collaborations with Teyana Taylor, Joyner Lucas and Smith’s son Jaden Smith. As The Hollywood Reporter reported last year, Smith signed a distribution deal with indie label Slang Records for the project.

“The past couple of years, I’ve been doing a very deep exploration of who and what I truly am,” Smith said in a teaser video Smith posted on his Instagram hours ahead of his official release on Thursday. “The process of this album is really allowing myself to be more honest with myself than I ever have about who and what I actually am. This is about to be the greatest artistic creative period of my entire life.”

The past several years certainly have been eventful for Smith, as the actor is still in image rehabilitation mode for the infamous incident at the 2022 Academy Awards where he slapped Chris Rock on stage over a joke Rock made about Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Still Smith seems to be keeping himself busy with the new music, announcing an overseas tour earlier this month that will take Smith through much of Europe starting later this summer. It’s unclear what the demand for the new music will be given just how long it’s been since Smith has been a full-time recording artist. Speaking on Sway in the Morning on Thursday, Smith recalled advice he got from Jay Z and Kendrick Lamar on recording the project.

“‘You gotta say what’s true for you and you’ll be looking at the younger rappers and you’ll want that to be true to you, but you don’t live like that,’” Smith revealed Jay told him. “‘Be true to your story. Tell your story.’ And that’s where I got the ‘Based on a True Story,’ from Jay.”