Dear Superstar: Will Smith

"The idea to come back to music is a long shot at best,” says Will Smith within seconds of entering his suite at Manhattan’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel. “But that’s the kind of shot I hit a lot.”

Indeed, you would have received long odds, when a teenage Smith first teamed up with friend and producer Jazzy Jeff, that the gangly, jug-eared rapper from Philly would become a platinum-selling hip-hop star, TV sitcom icon, A-list movie star and husband to big-screen hottie Jada Pinkett.

But it’s been three years since the 36-year-old’s last CD, 2002’s Born to Reign, whose poor sales suggested that his fans had transferred their affections to more expletive-happy rappers like Eminem. It’s enough to make a man (in black) angry! Which is exactly how Smith sounds on his new CD, Lost and Found. “Mr. Nice Guy” takes pops at gossipy DJ Wendy Williams and at Eminem himself, who dissed the Fresh Prince on “The Real Slim Shady.”

“Like it says on my record, sometimes people mistake nice for soft,” explains Smith. “I don’t think that we need to continue to make that mistake about Will.”

Given that the star of Ali could beat the tar out of Blender, it seems reasonable to ask if there are any subjects that might unleash Big Willie’s not-so-nice side.

“There’s nothing you could say to offend me, if it’s coming from a truthful place,” he says with a smile.

Well, the first question comes from …

“That’s bullshit!” Smith explodes, before emitting that distinctive baritone-hyena of a laugh.

Okay, this should be fun …

What was it like working with Snoop Dogg on your new album? Did he try to get you high?
j–bro, Tuscaloosa, AL
Oh, that’s my man. I’ve known Snoop for, like, 15 years. I just love that line that Snoop is able to walk—that the hardest, roughest gangstas in the world love Snoop and 4-year-old kids in the suburbs love him. Did he try to get me high? You know … I don’t know anything about Snoop’s personal beliefs with that stuff. But no, we had a good time in the studio.

Do you ever swear?
dj_hersh, Portland, OR
Oh, fuck, yeah.

When was the last time you threw a punch offscreen?
bradleyAA, Miami
I smacked a dude in LAX a couple of years ago. I haven’t punched anybody because I know how to punch now. And, if I punch someone, I’m gonna hurt them really bad. So I smack now. Because a smack stings. It was a photographer. They do this thing in L.A. where there’s two photographers and one photographer comes over to fuck with you and the other one’s across the street and they shoot it. So I made sure they got a good piece of film.

I read somewhere that you said you had an open marriage. If that’s true, can I get Jada’s number?
grillpower, Lancaster, PA
I never said that I had an open marriage. What I said is that our relationship is based on 100% truth. That, no matter what, there’s never going to be something that I would say or do that I wouldn’t tell her first. And then the interviewer said, well, what if you were with Eva Mendes and you wanted to … I said, well, I would say to my wife—if that situation presented itself—I would say, “Honey, I want to sleep with Eva Mendes, is that OK?” And, you know, she’d probably say no. But the point was, how can you expect to be successful in a relationship if you’re not telling your partner the 100% truth? The fact that the interviewer could take that in the direction he took it showed me where he is in his relationship, you know?

What was the first show you went to?
33oak3, Elizabeth, NJ
I saw Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five at a place called Dance and Skates in Philly. It was like watching a holy person lead a sermon. It just felt like it was so what I needed to be doing. It wasn’t like anything else. It was brand new, out of thin air as far as we were concerned.

Is it true that the studio refused to cast a white actress opposite you in Hitch?
jane_stables, Hamilton, NJ
It was actually the other way around. They didn’t want to cast a black woman. But this is a really good time for black folks in Hollywood in general. I think if we keep pushing right now, next year and the year after can continue along those lines.

It’s 1988, and you’re on tour with Run-DMC, Public Enemy, EPMD and Stetsasonic. Paint us a picture of what’s going on backstage.
chunky_lover44, Lubbock, TX
God, we were having a ball. That was the golden era of hip-hop. Everything was new. Every city was really receptive. That tour was essentially set up by Russell Simmons and Rush Management to break rappers into different places that they’d never been. For example, Run-DMC and Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were staying at the Four Seasons, to be able to prove that rappers could stay at the Four Seasons. EPMD were doing mall shows. It was much more calm, because we had this overall purpose for hip-hop. It was a party every night. But it was much more calm than the year before. The year before was ridiculous …

Are you religious—and have you ever been approached by the Church of Scientology?
donicello, Vancouver, BC
I’ve probably read 95% of the words in the Bible. Probably 60% of the Torah. 70% of the Koran. And the thing that is so amazing to me is how everybody, in essence, believes the same thing. I just can’t understand how we get from such similar beliefs to murdering one another. My beliefs are that individuals have to create relationships with God. You can’t listen to what the preacher says—you have to read the Bible yourself and make your interpretation. I’m good friends with Tom Cruise and I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious.

What was your most embarrassing outfit from the Fresh Prince era?
Elroy, Madison, WI
Aw, like, all of them! Here’s an easier question: Was there ever a good outfit? You know, what was the one outfit you thought was OK? God, I watch it on Nick At Night and it’s amazing that I became famous from that. I think I was trying to have as bad an outfit as I could possibly have.

Was there a point where you ever got sick of the word jiggy?
a-kos, Lake Elsinore, CA
Yeah. Right now. Ha! It was crazy. Jerry Seinfeld really launched that record. People were liking it, but as soon as Jerry Seinfeld said “jiggy” on the show it just went through the roof.

Do you let your kids listen to gangsta rap?
gigantic, Jupiter, FL
I don’t shield my kids from any of that stuff. They listen to everything. But they do all the clean versions. You can go on the iTunes music store and download clean versions of everything.

I just found a porn movie called Six Degrees of Penetration. Is it true that you watch all the porn versions of your movies, and do you remember that one?
freshman_prince, Chapel Hill, NC
I always see those. People always send them to me, like the stars of the movies send them, like I’d enjoy it. There were a couple that were pretty bad. Men in Back—that was no good. It’s like, come on, man, don’t do that to my movie!

Have you ever thought of getting your ears fixed?
Therealramona, Albany, NY
Oh, they are fixed. They’re as good as they could possibly be. Anything I did to them would take something away from them.

Did you ever try to get Tommy Lee Jones into hip-hop?
agentj, Newton, MA
Oh, yeah. Because I would blast the music every morning, that’s how I would kind of get myself started. And Tommy—he starts his days quietly. But he could hear the music in his trailer. He came in one morning, I’m blasting the music, and he said [drops into pitch-perfect Tommy Lee Jones impression], “Will, I need you to get me a package of all this rap music—’cause I either have to start liking it or I’m gonna end up killing your ass.”

Who’s the craziest actor you’ve ever worked with?
jj666, Richmond, VA
Crazy. Crazy in what sense? [Blender: “The ‘Gary Busey’ sense.”] Actually, I worked with Gary Busey’s son, Jake, on Enemy of the State, and Gary was on the set one day. And … uh … Gary’s … that’s a powerful dude, there. But the thing about acting and artistry is, you kind of want to be a little crazy, because it takes you off center and your choices are different. Martin Lawrence, for example, is just beautifully, comedically off. How he sees the world—it’s bizarre. But that’s what creates the perfection in his comedy.

Is that your real laugh?
mj stoudt, Oak Park, IL
[Genuinely insulted] Yeah, that’s my real laugh! I only have one. Like, I enjoy stuff. So, when I let it rip, it’s ripped.

What kind of drunk are you?
yellowbastard, Dunwoodie, GA
I think I have an allergy to alcohol. If I drink four sips, I’m gone. It’s a wrap. I just get really silly, but if I drink too much I go to sleep. So, I’m a very sleepy drunk.

How big is your Big Willie?
apollo_creed, Louisville, KY
Tell me what the perfect answer to that question is. Like, what is the one that I don’t look like a damn fool. [Blender: “Big enough”?] Yeah, I’ll use that one.

Did you ever get the chance to hang out with Tupac?
david_gutz_y2k@yahoo.com
Yeah, Tupac and Jada went to school together, so they were friends for a lot of years. He always viewed what I had and what I created as where he would have gone, under different circumstances, you know. I looked at him the same way. With different influences I absolutely, you know, I would have viewed the world the way that he viewed the world. So we had a real admiration for one another.

You almost went to M.I.T. einstein’s theory of relativity—what’s up with that?
hendu44, Milwaukee
I’ve studied it for a lot of years. It’s a very interesting concept. But it kind of destroys all of our basic, mechanistic views of mathematics. It’s difficult to get your head around. But I understand it as much as a hard-headed mechanistic thinker can.

Have you ever been arrested?
jiggypiggy, San Diego
Only once, but it wasn’t my fault. That’s what they all say! But it wasn’t my fault. This is back in Philly. One of my buddies beat up this dude, and I was there. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

When Fresh Prince cast member Alfonso Ribeiro turns up on your caller ID, do you take the call?
jonny_wolf, Aspen, CO
Oh, that’s my man! Alfonso directs a few episodes of [Will-and-Jada-created TV show] All of Us every year. And we just sold a TV show that he’s going to star and direct in.

What have you got planned for the remaining 994 years of the Willennium?
gooter, Oakland, CA
Ha! Let me concentrate on the next six months right now. I feel like I can shake them up a little bit with this album. I think people will be really surprised when they listen to some of the tracks. I view myself as a new artist. I’ve never been this talented musically before.

Hey, big willie, Were you a hit with the ladies before you were famous?
little fish, Bloomfield hills, MI
Yeah. You know, a friend of mine, we always have that argument. He tells me that he’s more handsome than I am and that I only get girls because I’m famous. I say, no, that’s what you don’t understand. You’ve got a bit of a miscomprehension there. I’m famous because I get girls.