Questlove Supreme: Will Smith

Questlove and Team Supreme present, a conversation with Will Smith. Thank you and you are welcome.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio, Man, I.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Better make the Central special, right, Okay, ladies and gentlemen,
everybody's searching for a hero.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
People need someone to look up Tom.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
No, actually to be Frank, our guest is a true hero.
There's literally no human being on earth who has not
heard of our guest. Like, seriously, you don't even need
to hear my voice anymore. But just for for now,
these success we can go hip Hop Legend, the first

(00:40):
hip Hop Grammy winner, Sticom Legend, or one of the
most beloved important family shows in TV history.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
A Golden Globe winner.

Speaker 5 (00:48):
Yes, oh yeah, that's new. We're new.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
We're now skipping. You didn't think that that was online
now I'm playing.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
No, But seriously, like, let's let's not take it lightly
that he has been a premier action hero, one of
the most highest paid actors. I believe seventeen of his
films that grows past at least combined eight billion dollars,
which is nothing to scoff that. You know, when I
say this man has his own money, I mean he
has his own money. No, seriously, I swear to God,

(01:26):
I'll put it this way.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Steve, you remember my infamous rat story, the.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
One I heard a thousand times.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah, I think I can remember it.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Right, So before before you came in the picture, I
will say, even his foot even the footnotes of his
life become other people's highlights. And I mean he invited
me to the Millennial back in nineteen ninety nine, December
thirty first.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
I'm sure he doesn't remember about that, Yes, right, exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
Inaugurations.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Do you know how many times I've told the story
of Mary Tyler Moore running over Liz Taylor's Wilcha or
my Jordan or my corns.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
That was my original rat story.

Speaker 5 (02:04):
Anyway, I can.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I can talk and talk, talk, talk about achievements until
the counts come home. But literally what hit home for
me personally was his really brave, rigorous act of complete
honesty and vulnerability, which is a word you don't often hear,
especially in the black community. And his book will amongst

(02:28):
other things that he's achieved. This intro is now ninety
minutes long, and the show's over. Ladies and gentlemen, please.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Welcome Bill Smith.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
Bring. Yes, there you go.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yes, you're like, wait, have you set up lights in
your apartment?

Speaker 5 (02:44):
Huh? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Were you set up lights right now here.

Speaker 5 (02:48):
So here's the thing. Here's the thing.

Speaker 6 (02:51):
I took this interview seriously right.

Speaker 7 (02:56):
No, this is the cleanest zoom display I've ever seen
in my life.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
I'm very ashamed right now.

Speaker 5 (03:05):
I was like, it's my man. You know, he asked
me to you know, to come on. It's Philly.

Speaker 6 (03:09):
It's all of that. It's like I got to make
you know, I don't know what he needs, what he
wants to use, Like I want to be I want
to represent properly.

Speaker 7 (03:17):
I want to It's just audio, bro, you could have
been on the couch anyway.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
So actually I want to start off and I'm I'm
gonna go against format and just sort of make this
a free round for everyone on the show, all of
us here.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Hello, Team Supreme. By the way, let's go anyway.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
So I want to know what did you do this morning?

Speaker 6 (03:46):
Me or Team Supreme tell you.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
I'm just curious what your average warning is like nowadays.

Speaker 6 (03:54):
So I usually I wake up about four am. So
so like four to six is my private quiet time,
like no phone, no nothing, I think, I meditate, I read.
It is like my favorite time of the day that

(04:19):
there there's very few days I'm not awake at four
AM and four to six is how I get just
centered and clear about what I'm going to do in
the course of a day. And some days I'll go
I'll go back to sleep from six to seven point
thirty or something like that and start my day. And

(04:41):
some days, if I'm energized, I'll get on the treadmill
at six and.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Start my day. See, I already feel like I'm doing
this wrong because no, because Grace told me, like, Grace's
time is five am. And that's the one promise that
I sort of like backtracked on, you know, Yes, we'll
get up together at five a m. And you know,

(05:08):
and then I went back to my normal ten am routine.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
Ah.

Speaker 6 (05:14):
Man, man, you can't underestimate the power of watching the
sun rise. There's something that that energizes a human body
about seeing the sun rise.

Speaker 5 (05:24):
It like wakes you up with it.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
It's like you get in sync with with like how
the world is moving.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
How long has that been a practice for you, Probably.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
About three years it started happening.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
I'm not a big sleeper. I'm I rarely, if.

Speaker 6 (05:44):
Ever sleep for you know, five hours straight, really, you know, yeah, rarely, rarely,
you know, I'll sleep for four hours, up for a
couple hours, and then sleep for three hours three more
hours like, but very rarely will I sleep. I never
sleep eight right, I'll sleep a combination of four up

(06:06):
for a couple hours and then back for four, but
never eight hours straight.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Okay, So can I ask you nowhere? That's where I
have excelled in life. Do you feel like you've slept
eight hours or more? Do you feel like you wasted
the day? And I know from reading your book, I
know that for you, the idea of hard work, performative
hard work is like job one. So letting the idea

(06:32):
of that go. I'll give you an example. This Saturday,
I've never gotten up at two in the afternoon. I
slept for fifteen hours. Yeah, I've never slept for fifteen
hours ever. And I didn't even feel tired. I just
opened my eyes and it's like, wait, it's still in
the afternoon.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
What the fuck? Yeah? And she let me sleep.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
For fifteen hours, like for you, is sleeping eight hours?

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Like that's a wasted I could have saved world in
the last hour.

Speaker 6 (07:02):
I used to I used to feel like that. It
used to feel like, you know, I didn't want to
be sleep. I always felt like I was Yeah, yeah,
that was a Quincy Jones joint. You know, boy, you
have enough time to sleep when you did, you know, so.

Speaker 5 (07:21):
So I prefer like I'll I take naps, right, you know, I'll.

Speaker 6 (07:26):
Lay down for thirty minutes at lunch, you know, and
you know, get a get a third, and I can
I'll be refreshed the thirty thirty minute nap at lunch.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
I'm like, really refreshed. But I don't like.

Speaker 6 (07:40):
The feeling of sleeping all the way through in that way.
But every couple of months, I'll definitely get one of
those fifteen hour jones. Like you know, if you do
that every couple of months, i'll get that full day
where you just shut it down and return that sleep debt.
But that that four to six practice is a new thing.

(08:02):
I wouldn't miss that for anything like that up and
the whole world belongs to me, and it's private and
it's quiet. It's like that's when I do my best thinking.

Speaker 7 (08:12):
And you're still able to do that while you're taping
movies and stuff too, while you're shooting.

Speaker 6 (08:17):
Yeah, so usually with a movie, if if I have
an early call, it works perfectly because I'm up a
couple hours before anyway, and I'll just continue my day.

Speaker 5 (08:25):
And usually on those.

Speaker 6 (08:26):
Kind of days, I'll sleep at lunch, I take a
nap at least.

Speaker 8 (08:31):
What does a meditation look like to you? Because we
talk about meditation a lot on this show.

Speaker 9 (08:35):
What does it mean to you?

Speaker 5 (08:38):
The big thing for me with meditation is no pressure.
I don't pressure myself to.

Speaker 6 (08:43):
Do anything but just watch my mind to just be
aware of all of the things that are coming up
to just notice.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Damn.

Speaker 6 (08:53):
I hate meditating today, right, and I just I kind
of I take the time to just notice what's going
on with my mind.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
I don't wrestle with it. I let it. I let
it do what it do.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Baby, do you do trans meditation?

Speaker 5 (09:07):
No, I don't. I don't go that far like I.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
You know I have you know, you read the book,
so you know I've done ayahuasca and things like that.
Which is you know it's a form that you know
for me, that's a form of meditation.

Speaker 9 (09:22):
I didn't read it. Can you just tell me, man, don't.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
Spoil it, you don't.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I don't want you to spoil it.

Speaker 9 (09:28):
I'm so curious.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I was gonna I was gonna tell you, Will I
am what did I hit you the last time? I
was telling you that I was waiting for this very
specific I wanted my first ayahuasca journey to be with
this African couple that.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
That does it.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
And a funny thing happened to them, which is they
were now.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Like, you know what's happening.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
This Will Smith book has just come out and suddenly
we're in the mid So now I.

Speaker 8 (10:00):
Gotta ia, peyote, mushrooms, all family.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
Right, So I ayahuasca is really really different.

Speaker 6 (10:14):
So you know the the the the scene in Black
Panther right where he goes to ancestral plane. Yet ancestral plane, right,
So that's the African that's taken from the African version
of ayahuasca uh Eboga.

Speaker 5 (10:30):
Right.

Speaker 6 (10:31):
So it is as vivid as they depicted in the movie.
You you like, actually go meet, see talk to people,
you come back right like that's the movie is not
an exaggeration.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
Of what the experience is. Wow. Right.

Speaker 6 (10:49):
The only the only thing that was was uh potentially
a little bit of of an exaggeration is the directing
of the experienced.

Speaker 5 (10:59):
The it takes you where it wants to take you.
You don't get to like pick.

Speaker 6 (11:04):
Maybe at higher levels people can pick, right, but yeah,
I never got to pick.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
I got dragged right, So what did to drag you into?

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Who did you get to talk to? Did you need
to talk to any people from your past or whatever?

Speaker 6 (11:17):
My father came to me, you know, So that's what
I was saying. So I had that experience my father.
He came to me and showed me where he was living.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
You know, I will say to you laya that sort
of on that path. I think the lightest version of
it is, well, there are sound journeys you can take.
For some people step up from that is sound journeys
with mushrooms.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Some people do idahwasta.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Mike Tyson talks about doing toad, which is even more yeah, yeah, extreme,
But basically it's almost like you should really be open
for me at least in trying to heal like a
lot of the childhood trauma. First of all, I mean
there's literally no human alive, especially black human that has

(12:14):
not dealt with trauma, real trauma. And for I think
for a lot of us, we sort of normalized the trauma,
like I normalized like, well, yeah, Dad's supposed to be
your ass until you know, I'm a good personalities. My
dad beat my ass, and it's only it's really only

(12:35):
until like maybe a year and a half ago, where
I just had to settle that, yes, even though my
dad loved me, that that was the.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Highest form of the highest form of abuse and really
like damnit.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So I mean as a result, right, but that's the thing, like,
as black people, a lot of what we hold on
to for how we were reared, it comes from slavery
and that's sort of the one aspect that we can't
let go, which for me, at least in reading Will's book,

(13:10):
the reason why I say, like the vulnerability and the
honesty is really unprecedented, especially like I really want black
people and I know, like people are you know, attracted
to the fact that, like, you know, everything that's happened
in the last year or so in Will's life, that
they're coming here for that, like that dirt or whatever.

(13:31):
And it's really not about that. It's about really coming
to grips. You guys, remember on past episodes where I
told you about the laughing song, right, George Johnson, how
it just hit me that emotions were literally illegal for.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Three hundred years exactly you couldn't laugh.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
And if you you know the reason why they invented
the terminology barrels.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Of laughs was because slaves are built a barrel full
of water.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
So if you felt yourself about the laugh on the plantation,
instead of meeting the ire and the anger of.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
The overseer, you would dunk your head in the water
to suppress the sound. Same for anger. Who you assassin,
that who you're getting smart with?

Speaker 2 (14:19):
You better not cry if I give you something to
cry about, like all those things that we attribute to
black parents, like all that shit came from slavery, so
we literally could not show emotions it.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Was illegal or else you faced flashes.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
And as a result, I think the defensive thing that
we invented, like the same way we invented soul food
out of the worst food ever, Black people invent it
cool cool as a defensive mechanism like not showing, not
showing emotions, not being too affected, holding back, not not

(14:54):
not drawing, you know what I mean, And as a result,
it's really damaged us. Like if you really think about,
the last black person that I saw really on display
of this vulnerability was the last thirty seconds of She's
out of my life, like who Will? Who's willing to
be that open about about their life? And so for me,

(15:17):
why why did you feel as though now's the time?
Because when I read this book, I was when I
was relieved because someone went before me.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know, I give them three stooges.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Where they do the army thing and like who's the
first to volunteer? And everyone steps backwards and leaves, like seriously,
like every one in my life's like, yo, we can't
wait till you stop writing these bullshit as music books
and really no, no, for real, It's like you know,

(15:46):
every people were like, yo, no more music books, Like
tell us some real.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Shit about your life.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
And literally, when Will's book came out, I felt like, okay,
maybe it is safe across the street a little bit
without getting run over. So why did you feel like
now is the time to really share your story and
to be as honest and open about it?

Speaker 5 (16:12):
Yeah? I think I'm sure you all have been watching
me publicly for the for the last thirty years.

Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah, I mean, come on, you know, I think first
and foremost, I can feel the wave coming right, So
there's a there's a consciousness shift that is happening right now,
right so, so a.

Speaker 5 (16:42):
Couple of things are happening.

Speaker 6 (16:44):
More people are realizing that there is no happiness to
be derived from any material conditions that you can put together. Right.
People are starting to realize that at no matter how
great your job is, no matter how great your family is,

(17:08):
no matter no matter how perfectly you cultivate your material conditions,
they are unsustainable.

Speaker 5 (17:18):
You you have.

Speaker 6 (17:19):
A perfect marriage and family, and then there's a storm
and three people in your family get killed.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
COVID and shuts down and you lose it. Shuts it down.

Speaker 6 (17:35):
Right, So people are realizing that material circumstances are unsustainable.

Speaker 5 (17:42):
Right.

Speaker 6 (17:43):
So if that's the case, if it's the case that
I can lose anything, how can I possibly enjoy my
time here?

Speaker 5 (17:52):
Right? And more people are waking up slowly to that idea.

Speaker 6 (17:59):
And people are starting to realize that you are the
only problem you have to solve, right, that your your
mind and.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
How you are with this world is the answer.

Speaker 6 (18:16):
Right, How to be with your circumstances is the answer,
not trying to get your circumstances perfect. Right, Okay, So,
and I'm this is this is the first time I've
been asked this question this way. So I'm struggling to
like to to to to say it right. This is
the first time you've been asked this question in this way.

(18:39):
So I'm not like I've never been asked a question.
The answer I want to give, I'm trying to form
it in my mind right now.

Speaker 5 (18:45):
Right.

Speaker 6 (18:46):
So, the the the realization that I that I had
is it doesn't matter so much what happens to me.
It doesn't matter what happens in my life. It doesn't
matter what happens with my family, It doesn't matter what
happens with my career.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
Doesn't matter what happens in my.

Speaker 6 (19:08):
Life as much as it matters how I think about
what happens to me and how I manage myself in
interacting what happens to me.

Speaker 5 (19:21):
Right, So, the answer that I realized is you can't
create loving interactions from unloving behavior. You can't. You can't.
You can't. You can't.

Speaker 6 (19:39):
You're trying to love and be loved at the deepest
part of your being. You want to love and be loved.
You can not create it. If you're scared, if you're angry,

(20:00):
if you're resentful, if you're hungry and craving, if you're
holding any of those poisons in your heart. You can't
create what you want. You can only create the opposite of.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
What you want, right, man, that's careful.

Speaker 6 (20:16):
So all of that to say, I knew that if
I was going to be happy, I couldn't be scared
of what people were going to say. That I had
to thoroughly and comfortably be me just as I am,
with no fucks given about what anybody thinks or memes.

Speaker 7 (20:40):
So being so to that point, in terms of being
you and in writing this book, how did you decide
what to tell and what not to tell? You know
what I'm saying, and not necessarily in terms of being
having any shame about any parts of your life, but
just as an artist having that line of saying, listen,
these are some parts of myself that I choose to

(21:01):
keep to myself. And I have the right to own myself,
you know, so as to not let these things define me.
You know, how do you decide what was take me
through the process of deciding how you wanted to tell
your story?

Speaker 6 (21:13):
So the only thing I was prepared and still am
prepared to say anything and everything that's true for me,
because I only get stronger by being vulnerable. I used
to think I got weaker by being vulnerable. I only
get stronger by being comfortable to share who and what

(21:35):
I am freely. The line that I drew is I
didn't want my words to be weaponized against people I love. Okay,
so I wanted to tell my story, and the difficulty
I was having was telling my story without telling Jada's

(21:59):
story right right to you know, to tell yeah, without
you know, telling Alfonso's story or telling Jeff's story.

Speaker 5 (22:09):
You know.

Speaker 6 (22:09):
So what I did is when I finished the book,
I had what I was calling a writer's camp, and
for two weeks I called everybody that I mentioned in
the book down to Miami and I read every word
of the book to all of the people in the
book so they would know what I was saying about them.

(22:30):
And then I let them respond and made adjustments and
and things like that.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
Everybody, Yeah, yeah, it was uh read. It was a
first Uh well, there there were a couple of people
who declined.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
Declined, But it was the first time my mother and
I had ever talked about my father being abusive. We literally,
I was I was fifty two years old at the time,
and my mother and I literally never talked about the
fact that my father beat her up, and her hearing

(23:10):
me read the chapter was the first time that the
conversation came up between us, and you know, it was
it was gut wrenching, but it was deeply purifying.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
And you know, when I was talking about.

Speaker 6 (23:27):
That idea of blocks to love, it's like the fact
that my mother and I couldn't talk about that there
was a barrier between us, right, and we loved each other,
but we weren't really connecting in honesty and authenticity, right,
So there's always a little bit of a facade because

(23:47):
we both know we're just not going to talk about it.
So it just creates a little bit of a barrier.
And neither one of us wants that. We want to
love each other wide open and vulnerably, you know. So
from me, it was cleaning out all of the barriers
and the blocks that I had to loving the people.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
In my life, you know. And it's and it's those
traumas make us close our hearts.

Speaker 6 (24:15):
You know, the worst crime you can commit against another
human being is to assassinate them in your heart.

Speaker 5 (24:22):
And you know, once your heart is.

Speaker 6 (24:26):
Closed to somebody, as nice as you think you're being,
as cordial as you pretend to be all I said
was yet, right, but you said it with a closed heart,
which the person understands clearly that you don't give a
fuck about them, right, And it's like you can't hide it.

Speaker 7 (24:50):
Right, It's like because you're not you're not showing that
you're open to seeing them in a different way.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Right.

Speaker 6 (24:55):
You'll be surprised how much your heart is closed to
people you say you love, right, And it's like they
know it and they can feel it. And sometimes we
can't feel it. We think if we treat someone nicely
and respectfully that we're being loving, But if your heart

(25:16):
is close to them.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
It's not.

Speaker 6 (25:18):
Behind every word is I really don't give a fuck.
And they hear it, right, They hear it no matter
what you try to say, and no matter how much
you try to cover it up.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
All Right, So let me ask you something because I'm
this is the one this is probably my major downfall
and the journey I'm in right now, Like I'm literally
I'm in amazed with my eyes with blinders on. And
if I could just figure out this one thing, I

(25:58):
think the world opened. But when I tell you, I
literally now there's there's a book I just discovered like
maybe last week called I think it's called the Big Step,
where the author speaks of how we set limitations for
ourselves and for me though, I am trying to figure

(26:23):
out and the problem is I'm trying to figure out
how to open my heart. And this is the stuff
I kind of shared on the show before. But yeah,
you know, like when you when you live, I feel
like when you live in fight or flight mode, that
you can either go with your brain or your heart.
And I found out it was way safer for me

(26:44):
to go with my brain. Like I got to be
the smartest guy, I got to be the most achieving guy.
I gotta be the provider, I gotta be, you know,
the hero that everyone And I'm currently in a situation
now where I'm hitting a brick wall because I'm almost
like the ten man, like I technically don't know the

(27:07):
first steps in how to open my heart.

Speaker 6 (27:11):
So the fundamental premise is flawed. The fundamental premise that
you're safer using your.

Speaker 5 (27:19):
Head is wrong. That's not true, right, So.

Speaker 6 (27:25):
You can only make an intellectual mess with that fundamental premise.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
Right.

Speaker 6 (27:33):
So, going all the way back to the beginning, the
belief system that has to grow is that the only
safety is in your well wishing and the authentic care

(27:53):
and concern for whoever's in front of you. You see
a samurai kill somebody and then pray over the body
the samurai, it's not like, you.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Know, fuck him.

Speaker 6 (28:07):
You know that motherfucker shouldn't have been tripping, right, It's
like the samurai is prepared to kill. You know that
that's what they do, but they spend half their lives learning,
you know, the techniques have killed for the purpose of
defending people, and then they spend the second half of
their life learning how to not have to. You absolutely

(28:32):
positively want to be able to defend people, and you
want to be able to build, and you want to
be able to create, and you want to do all
of that. If you're doing it with your heart closed,
if you're doing it where you don't give a fuck
about people, it can't go well. And you and you
can have all the money and you can do all

(28:53):
of that.

Speaker 7 (28:53):
People are your greatest resource. Yes, it's like why people
are your greatest resource.

Speaker 6 (28:59):
When people know that you care, right, they give you
so much room to make mistakes and stuff like that,
and your only responsibility is for people to be able
to see in your eyes that you legitimately care, and
you might have to make hard decisions, you know, and

(29:20):
somebody's mind might be so defiled that they can't respond well,
and you got to go samurai, right, But you don't
do it joyfully.

Speaker 5 (29:31):
You hate that you had to, you know, cut that off, right,
you know?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
All right, So let me let me ask you a
question because for me, like I put myself in almost
every situation that you spoke about in the book, but
there's one particular situation that I felt that you handled
with ease that I otherwise wouldn't have handled. Now only
starting maybe three years years ago, really not even three

(30:02):
years ago, like two years ago, I finally decided to
do something on my own without, you know, the collaborative
narrative that I do. You know, everything I've done has
been the collaborative with everything. So I'm thinking that if
I'm getting a phone call in Detroit and.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
It's Quincy Jones telling me to come out to.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
His birthday party, and you're asked to audition in front
of all those people at his birthday party, and he
happens to have your current lawyer still with you, now
I believe like to, you know, draw the papers and
make this show happen.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
I would have instantly.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Not only thought of millions of reasons to say no,
chances are I'm like, thank you very much, but you know,
I you know, I have something. I'm going back to
Detroit to go back to my group and stay with
my group. And I wouldn't have even gotten the freshman's
of bel air because I would have instantly, out of obligation,

(31:11):
chosen that first step in my career, which is just
a group. And so how did and you, I don't
know if you just glossed over or whatever, but did
you realize that that was the first paradigm shift that
your life is not going to be the same. Like
once you stepped on that airplane and went back to Detroit,

(31:34):
how do you explain to Jeff and you know, how
do you explain to these people that you made a
life changing decision?

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, well, of course is twenty four hours.

Speaker 6 (31:48):
Well, we were we were in a really desperate financial situation, right,
so like we we were, you know, we had gone
from Grammy winners back to one hotel room.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
By the way, I hate how, I really hate how
you sort of separate yourself from Ann in This Corner, which.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
My favorite record. I'm sorry, that's.

Speaker 6 (32:14):
That's crazy, but yeah, that that one, that one hurt bad.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
I know, I'm not diving you like I feel like.
And then she bit me was like, that's one of
my favorite Halloween songs ever.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
But I like and Jeff was on the beat box
I did with that one.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Anyway, there was one, there was one or two. Unfortunately
the public did not concur.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
But it worked out for you because if Quincy and
Benny don't see that performance of Mike Tyson on our sineo.

Speaker 5 (32:48):
That's true. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
So that album still holds heavy for you because that's
the moment that changed you know.

Speaker 6 (32:57):
Yeah, but I look back at it, I can see
I can see the value. Uh, definitely when I when
I look back.

Speaker 5 (33:04):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (33:04):
But to the first question about so, for me, I've
never been the kind of person that felt like I
had to.

Speaker 5 (33:14):
Stay with my friends to be loyal.

Speaker 6 (33:18):
I felt like my loyalty was to their growth and expansion.

Speaker 5 (33:24):
My loyalty was y'all got to keep up original lebron
You're right.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
Yeah, you know it's like no, no, no, it's like, yeah,
what what what was Robin Harris had a joke, what
was it?

Speaker 5 (33:37):
What was it you're talking about? Rob When you get
Richard famous, you're gonna change you. God damn right, I'm going.

Speaker 9 (33:50):
I ain't gonna have no change, change right.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
But the idea, the idea is for for me. It's like,
we got to climb. None none of us loved our childhoods,
none of us loved what our current situations were at
the time. Then if that's the case, we gotta climb.
We got to grind right.

Speaker 5 (34:12):
And it was always painful.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
For me when somebody couldn't keep up, but I would
much rather keep going and send them some help, then
slow down and let them pull us all down right, right.
So I've always felt like a responsibility.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
To my to my squad.

Speaker 6 (34:34):
But we gotta we gotta go right, we gotta climb right.
And for me at that time, that that meant no drugs.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
Everybody gotta train.

Speaker 6 (34:45):
If you if you want to do something different, you can,
you just can't do it here, because like we are
a crew of dreamers and we want to see how
close to the sun we can get, you know, so
and and that mentality, you know, you know, Charlie Mack,
it was so good to see you.

Speaker 8 (35:03):
Charlie and Jeff had at ig conversation mid COVID.

Speaker 9 (35:07):
It's funny.

Speaker 8 (35:08):
I wasn't suppoed to say this, but I kind of
did call Charlie and gets some some cheating things before we.

Speaker 9 (35:11):
Did this conversation.

Speaker 8 (35:13):
But I wanted you to speak on that friendship between
y'all three men, because really that was kind of like
the greatest way to see the three of you. I
don't think it was no other interview, no big you know, networks,
y'all three.

Speaker 9 (35:25):
Just busting.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Charlie Mack first out the limo come people.

Speaker 6 (35:32):
You know, we talked about that in the IG lib
and I talked about it a little bit in the book.
It's like Charlie's a dreamer. Charlie's a big giant.

Speaker 9 (35:43):
Dreamer, Thank God for it.

Speaker 5 (35:45):
Right, you know, Jeff is.

Speaker 6 (35:50):
A little more cocooned, right, Like Jeff wants his spot
and if everybody agrees to go, Jeff is gonna go, right.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
But Jeff climbs in another way. Jeff climbs with talent.

Speaker 6 (36:04):
He spends you know, sixteen hours a day behind his turntable,
so his climbing was in a different way and you know,
jayl who's as my manager, is like one of the
most well read people that I've ever met. We gravitated

(36:24):
to each other, you know, growing up in Philly, and
it was like we were doing the stuff that everybody
else was doing, and we was getting into trouble that
everybody else was getting into. But we all kind of
had our eyes on a different a different future for ourselves.
We all knew we were doing more than this.

Speaker 5 (36:48):
And you know, your friends are critical.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
It's like one bad friend can blow your whole shit
in one night. Your will.

Speaker 8 (37:00):
Time you gave a speech, I never will forget this.
Shout outs to your baby sister, Allen, who's a great woman.
I came to a party you through for when the
Beckhams came to LA for the first time, and you
gave a speech about friendship and why it's so important
to be meticulous about friends. Can you just people need
to hear that at for a second, because it ain't
just Arich and the famous everybody.

Speaker 6 (37:21):
It is. You know, there's a couple of quotes I've
heard around that, and it's it's.

Speaker 5 (37:29):
Attributed to Confucius.

Speaker 6 (37:30):
He says, look look at the five people you spend
the most time with, and that's who you are.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
That's who you are. Yeah, show me who you're with,
I'll show you who you are. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
Right.

Speaker 6 (37:42):
And you know I heard that. I was probably eighteen
the first time I heard that, and I.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
Was like ooh.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
It was like, okay, well, if that's the case, then
I want.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
This one, two, three, you know.

Speaker 6 (37:55):
But it's like, who your friends are is is you know,
one of the most critical decisions, you know, especially as
a teenager, that's one of the most critical decisions that
you can make. If the five friends that you associate
with are straight A students, you're probably gonna learn how

(38:17):
to be a straight A student. If the five friends
you associate with carry guns and sell drugs, you're probably
gonna end up carrying a gun and selling drugs.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
Right.

Speaker 6 (38:31):
So it's like, you know, human beings are creatures of
an example, and we fall into those lines of who
we're with, who you lay down with, who you're who
you share at bed with is probably the most important
decision you making your life ever make, you know what

(38:57):
I mean? Right, So it's like choosing your friends and
your closest associates is how you fertilize your dreams. Right,
you can't have a life that's better than your associations,
Like it's impossible. Your life is a team effort, right,

(39:22):
so you can't have a better life than your team.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
I got admit when I finished the book that part
of me felt not quasi deflated, but the fact that
I made a decision. I made a decision like maybe
two years ago, that Okay, I'm really gonna concentrate and
get my thing together. I'm a direct this movie, and

(39:51):
I'm gonna go hire and hire and.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Achieve and achieve and earned and achieve and the chief.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
And then I know you told the the last six
chapters you know is a doozy of the book again,
no spoiler words, but you know something happens in September
twenty eleven that sort of changes the whole trajectory of your.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Life and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
And when I read, when I read that you had
to take you know, like you had to take in
a total assessment of everything that you were and it
wasn't about how much you made and how much you
you know, how many records you broke or whatnot, and
you kind of had to start all over again. Like
what I know that that level of achievement and that

(40:37):
level of fame can be somewhat addicting. Right So, now
in twenty twenty one, ten years after the fact that
you had that, there's a story you tell about Jada's
fortieth birthday party in which I kind of feel that's
that's your paradigm shift to led you to where you.

Speaker 5 (40:56):
Are right now.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Well, for starters, it's almost like, what are your life
goals right now?

Speaker 5 (41:04):
Because everything else well.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
More than that, I think he discovered that none of
that matters.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
And to me, I actually felt like, oh shit, wait
a minute, like I'm trying to win this Oscar so
I could do more movies and get more power and
get more power and get more money and get more
power money. And then I realized, oh man, that's not
going to make me happy, because this book is basically
like a cheat sheet of you know him five years

(41:35):
and two where I want to be right. So for
you now, like what is important? Because I know you're
not saying throw the baby out with the bath water, no, no, no,
forget my achievements forgetting my career, not at all.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
But what's what's what's the priority now?

Speaker 6 (41:51):
So what happened is all of my climbing and all
of my achieving and everything that I was trying to
build is I was trying to fill an internal hole
with external achievements, right, And it's impossible, right, you can't

(42:12):
make enough money, you can't have enough sex.

Speaker 5 (42:16):
You know, you can't win enough championships.

Speaker 6 (42:22):
That to fill a traumatic void inside yourself and my
traumatic void.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
So you're saying that internally at one point you felt like, well, shit,
I made eight point five billion in movies, like I
should have did twenty You're.

Speaker 5 (42:39):
Right, and that so that's the carrot on the stick
that with there there is no end to achieving. There's
no end.

Speaker 6 (42:49):
It's an infinite there's an infinite amount of money and.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Beautiful women and yachts and right, you know.

Speaker 6 (42:59):
So what I realize is that what I was trying
to fill is at the end of the day, I
didn't like me right, So at the end of the day,
I didn't feel good about me, and I needed those

(43:21):
things so I could feel good about me, right, And
all the way back to being a little boy in
chapter one is you know, watching my father beat up
my mother and I.

Speaker 5 (43:34):
Didn't do anything really.

Speaker 6 (43:36):
Got me it really like it really damaged something inside
of me. You know the the opening line of the book,
You know that I talk about I've always felt like
a coward, right, And people would look, well.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
Dude, you did this, and you did that, and you
did this and all that.

Speaker 6 (43:57):
And none of the extra internal stuff fixes your internal
impression of yourself.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
That initial wound, that initial wound.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
Right.

Speaker 6 (44:09):
So the journey for me came down to, well, if
I don't have all of those things like who am I?
If people don't clap with my movie, if people don't cheer.

Speaker 5 (44:22):
When I walk in?

Speaker 6 (44:23):
What if people booed when I walked in? Would that
change who I am?

Speaker 5 (44:29):
Right?

Speaker 6 (44:30):
And I realized that I had given away my self esteem.
It's supposed to be self esteem, but I had given
away my self esteem to achievements and to what my
woman feels about me, to how other people view me
and what they say about me. And I had trapped

(44:52):
myself in trying to uphold an image of who I
was rather than being who who I really was.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
I wasn't comfortable being who.

Speaker 6 (45:04):
I really was because I felt like the world would
punish me for that. You end up acting in real life,
you just.

Speaker 5 (45:13):
Pretending, You're just pretending all the time.

Speaker 6 (45:16):
Right, So one of the things for me every time
I've walked out on the Tonight Show and I hear
y'all playing, invariably.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
I have a little bit of a little boy.

Speaker 6 (45:30):
In security because the roots are the real Philly group.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
Philly.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
No, don't say this will because literally, no, no, no, no no,
this is what I have to say, literally when I'm
in any situation that's fearful.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Lately it's been giving speeches.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
I hate giving speeches, and the moment, the thing that
I think about, you're literally the most confident curtain walker
of the Tonight Show.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
That like, literally when you.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Like, I know these I know who looks down. There
are people that run to the couch because they're so insecure.
There are people look down like You're the first person
I know that takes a second to walk out. You
come out like you know, like you're you're you're in
room in the coliseum, like you're ready to con So literally,
when I get to my space before before I give

(46:35):
any speech whatsoever, I think I literally have to vicariously
do a what Wolve Smith.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
So please don't even tell me someone as like.

Speaker 6 (46:49):
Three time every time I've ever walked out on that show,
and I hear y'all playing, I cannot do anything but
get myself to get other to try to look cool.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
For the Roots.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
So you're psyching yourself.

Speaker 9 (47:06):
Wow, big Philly shit, y'all.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Literally we're literally here.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
Yeah, you always in your poker face, right, So I'm
looking at you. I'm looking at you, trying to get
to like and you know, you give me the nod
and you're right there, and I was like, it's the
poker face. He's doing the poker face. I can't that.

Speaker 6 (47:24):
The worst one of all was remember the one where
I did like the five entrances.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Yes, that's my favorite of all time.

Speaker 6 (47:32):
All I could think was you thought I was the
corniest motherfucker that has ever walked out on the show.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
This is so funny because in my mind, in my mind,
I literally right. So, just just to recap for everyone,
there was a period after if you remember the Michelle
Bachman incident. Yes, were suddenly they understand that, oh the
Roots customized walk ons for people. Suddenly people wanted to

(48:03):
do these epic ass walk ons, like literally, Will Smith
and Steve Martin all their walk ons are very epic.
Now that's funny because I felt unworthy. Like when you
walk out, I felt like a man, we're just dominions
from West Philly that isn't on his level?

Speaker 9 (48:22):
Can a Philly moment real quick?

Speaker 8 (48:24):
Because well, how does it feel you kind of started
this wave, I mean outside of Philadelphia international gamble huff,
but this huge wave of like Philly talent? What does
it look like? Fast forward? To not just see the roots, right,
but to see Kevin Hart like Philly is like killing it.

Speaker 9 (48:43):
What does it feel like to be like the kind
of daddy of all of this?

Speaker 5 (48:46):
You know? And it's so funny because like.

Speaker 6 (48:50):
And and this is this is why working on your
mind is the only work to do.

Speaker 5 (48:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
We need to talk more.

Speaker 6 (48:59):
Right, So for me, I perceived myself as an outcast.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
From that group, right, that was right? So to me,
a I I was the real Philly dude.

Speaker 9 (49:16):
But he wasn't from Philly.

Speaker 6 (49:17):
He wasn't from Philly, but he was holding it down.
Really that was a repping for Philly. A mirror is
the look of repping for Philly.

Speaker 9 (49:26):
But you to look making it from Philly?

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Right? Yes?

Speaker 7 (49:29):
So, but you know what, but I will say this,
I will energey as a non Philly person as an
outsider perspective to give you a little context on that.

Speaker 5 (49:37):
Will.

Speaker 7 (49:38):
I think for you, you just became to like you just
became to embody like so much other things, Like you
became bigger than Philly. You became bigger than you know
what I'm saying in the United States, Like you just
became Will Smith. It was not no, this is Will
from Philly. It's just no, this is Will Smith. So

(49:58):
I think and maybe from the standpoint of you know,
maybe you may not didn't see that you were getting
that love, and so it like like you said the
cool factor quote unquote that a mirror might have had
or AI might have had. I just think you were
just in a whole nother stratosphere and people fuck with you.
I mean we all because even now, like when I
have conversations about your career and stuff, I'm like, bro

(50:21):
Independence Day and all that shit. Aside, He's the DJ,
I'm the rapper that is a classic hip hop album
like this, Bigga got a legit classic under his belt,
like don't get it fucked up. And I always wonder,
did you ever feel that you weren't respected as an MC,
you know what I'm saying. Once you went so crazy
and movies and your career, well he took off.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Wait let me add on to that and let you answer.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Will I just want to let you know that I
was one of those listeners you and Jeff had went
to Das the night that He's the DJ and I'm
the rapper came out yep, and you had to battle
with Steady be Man. Listen, Tarik, and I heard that

(51:03):
munchie Chie line that I don't know there was feeestyle whatever,
but like that's the first time I heard someone like
play the dozens and ryme at the same time. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
And he called SETI b like you big munchie Chi
and that that moment was the first bonding that Tarik

(51:25):
and I ever had, Like we called each other like
did you hear that he called him a munchy cheek
like and it was all over school the next day.
Like after that, it was almost like you could do
no wrong, like so there was never a thing like
oh that boy corny whatever.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
Like literally that battle, I wish I had that on tape.

Speaker 9 (51:46):
But answer the question, but I want to know what.

Speaker 7 (51:47):
Is But yes, yeah, yeah, do you feel you get
those respects that respect SNMC.

Speaker 5 (51:52):
More now than during during that time.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
I feel like when people look back with with a
little bit of history, yo, that was kind of that
was kind of interesting.

Speaker 5 (52:02):
Yeah, he wasn't half bad.

Speaker 6 (52:06):
What it was is Jeff and Ready Rock would body anybody.
So that's really so I was in between Jeff and
Ready Rock, so I felt supported in that way, like
nobody could beat Jeff right and what Ready Rock was
doing was just you know, he was one of one

(52:27):
right in terms of beat box, so there was like
nobody really even to battle him. So I always felt
like as a crew we would win, Like if people
wanted to go a head up, I felt like as
a crew, we would win. But I never felt like
because the acting came in so quick, I felt like

(52:47):
I never developed the level of rhyme skill that I
felt like I could if I had had in it
to stay in it, you know. And it's like and
then then I got scared, so I was trying to
make hit records instead of making what I was feeling, right,

(53:09):
So I got I got twisted in there in a
way that that jammed me up.

Speaker 8 (53:14):
But Charlie said that nobody was not even trying to
battle you on the streets because you was killing it
so hard and then not to mention the battle and lyrically.

Speaker 9 (53:21):
But then when it came to fisticuffs, you wasn't a
game neither.

Speaker 5 (53:25):
No, that was unless I had to.

Speaker 6 (53:30):
I had to learn how to fight quick, so you
know that was That was the one thing that was
always a surprise to people. It's like I had so
much you know, anger and resentment build up. I would
suck upunch somebody quick, right, So I like, I was like,
just fight me, then fight me then, right.

Speaker 9 (53:52):
People think they know they have no idea. Can I
ask a random Westbrook question please?

Speaker 8 (54:03):
Because I know we're getting tight with time, But you
got a couple of my favorite shows that's either coming
on or on right now.

Speaker 9 (54:08):
I wanted to throw it out real quick.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
I forgot about Will Smith. The business this is.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
I'm trying to get.

Speaker 9 (54:17):
Start with the most random of randoms, which is Cobra Kai.

Speaker 7 (54:20):
Hey, listen, let me tell you something. Let me tell
you something, brother, Hey, let me tell you something. Man,
Look Cobra Kai bro even without them to stop, man, listen,
whole boy.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
When he went to that draw and he.

Speaker 10 (54:31):
Pulled out that god damn ponytail. When Homer pulled that
scrunching out when he put out the hairtie. I said, boy,
let's go, let's go. Terry Silver is back. Bro, me
and my wife, y'all know, I'm not giving those pawmers.

Speaker 4 (54:47):
I mean, he's in the trailer like no. Season four
Cobra Co was the best one.

Speaker 6 (54:51):
Caleb pink at my brother in law. Yeah, soir, Caleb.
Caleb is uh, you know, I trained him for about
five years and now he started his own company. He's producing.
So he brought in uh Cobra Kai to the to
the family.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
So yeah, he's Uh.

Speaker 6 (55:12):
They just got nominated. They got nominated for uh SAG Awards.
Uh last night the Copra guys nominated.

Speaker 9 (55:21):
And eight Babies Dreams Come True.

Speaker 5 (55:24):
Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Yeah, man, that show is fucking great. I love that show.

Speaker 5 (55:28):
Because Caleb brought it in.

Speaker 6 (55:29):
I was like, Cobra Kai the Karate Kids, right, because
you know, we had done the Karate Kid with Jaden.

Speaker 5 (55:34):
We were already working with the I P.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
I was wondering, are we gonna get.

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Jayden in future seasons of Cobra Ka.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
Can we get.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
We need a need?

Speaker 5 (55:46):
That's a great idea, that's a good question, that's a.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Really cool got to show them to teach yourself.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
No, right.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
Was brilliant World Earth.

Speaker 8 (56:02):
Welcome to Earth, Welcome to Okay, so from the Earth,
just finish all the episodes, Brother, Brother Brother. First of all,
can you break down to the world how National Geographic
makes that ship look like that?

Speaker 5 (56:14):
Yes, I know you had.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
To be in.

Speaker 9 (56:16):
Me and my boyfriend were like, what in the GoPro
do they do how?

Speaker 5 (56:20):
I mean know, listen, it looks gorgeous.

Speaker 6 (56:23):
You know there's a company called Newtopia that that Westbrook
we partnered with, and you know it's just nat Geo
knows how to do it.

Speaker 5 (56:32):
It's like, you know, they're they're getting us into some.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
Really beautiful places, some places that are untapped.

Speaker 5 (56:43):
It was like that the and they just know how
to shoot it. I don't even know what they're doing.

Speaker 9 (56:49):
And your honest, I love because we can see your fear.

Speaker 8 (56:52):
So when you circle back on the Fear episode, I
was like, thank you, because yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Gonna say if they presented you something that you were like,
I'm not ready this season, like maybe next.

Speaker 5 (57:03):
Yeah, there's one. There's one that we pushed to next year.

Speaker 6 (57:07):
It was a trek to the South Pole and it
takes nine days, and it's tense, tense all the way
for nine days to to the South Pole.

Speaker 9 (57:19):
And I was don't want to big you up for
having so many explorers of color on.

Speaker 6 (57:23):
Yes, yes exactly, but and you know what, that's all
I'm gonna shout out and that geo and and uh Newtopia.
You know that that is a part of their demand
for the show. They like they They are specifically mandating
that the all of the episodes be representative. So yeah,

(57:45):
they are the truth and bel Air.

Speaker 5 (57:51):
It is about to be crazy.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
As as evidenced by even though you know the gloves
have been blacked out. Yeah, are you ready with your
acceptance speech for the Oscars?

Speaker 5 (58:08):
Hey, man, you can't. You're not supposed to talk about
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 6 (58:13):
I was, I was talking. I was talking earlier about that.
Oh for another thing, we had the Women of the Movement.
Women of the Movement, Yes.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
We have that.

Speaker 6 (58:22):
Yeah, yeah, that's uh with jay Z produced that with Jenny. Yeah,
so that that that's coming out too. But I was
just talking about the you know, the idea of I'm
trying to be spiritually above the the desire to win awards.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
That's right, I get it.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
But I told you, but I told you, I predicted
you did.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
I believe that Beyonce is gonna win that night.

Speaker 5 (58:53):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
I believe that you're gonna win.

Speaker 6 (58:55):
Love it, And I won't say no if they If they,
I won't be like I.

Speaker 9 (59:03):
Believe it don't matter because the people love you and
that's what's first.

Speaker 5 (59:06):
So there you go. I love me, which is the
new thing that I've gotten to.

Speaker 6 (59:11):
It's like I feel good about me with or without
an Academy award.

Speaker 7 (59:17):
One thing I wanted to ask you, Will that I
think it would be helpful for a lot of people
when you talk about just your journey of just you know,
growing and you know kind of you know, learning to
love yourself and be happy and everything.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
You know, a lot of people can look and say, well, Will,
that's easy. And Nigga, you made iron legend. I mean
you know what I mean, right, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (59:36):
You got a team, you got therapists, you got chefs,
you got accounts that you got all that. So to
someone that's you know, not in your position, what would
you say? I is just that taking what is step
one of wanting to just be better and have a
healthier relationship with yourself?

Speaker 5 (59:52):
What is step one?

Speaker 7 (59:52):
Regardless of money, whatever, what's the first step you can take?

Speaker 6 (59:56):
I think I think the first thing is to take
an honest look at your life and how much of
it do you like? Right, Just take a really good
look at your life, right, because it is a journey.
You do have to make a journey, and the journey

(01:00:17):
is from you know, unpleasant and unwanted circumstances to circumstances
that you desire, right, and all the learning that you
will have to do will be on your journey.

Speaker 5 (01:00:35):
Right. So the first thing is to commit to transformation. Right.
There's no easy road. There's no easy road you're gonna have.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
Want the work is still yours.

Speaker 6 (01:00:52):
The work is yours, and the work can be done
in any circumstance. There's like, you know, my Grandma's used
to say, God is everywhere, right, so you can find
it anywhere. You just have to commit to transforming your life.
First and foremost, you have to decide, you know what
I'm done, and I'm making a change. And the first

(01:01:16):
changes are always going to be really obvious, right, the
first changes of how you eat, or who you associate with,
or a job you're doing that makes your fucking stomach hurt, right,
you know what I mean, It's like the first couple
of changes are going to be really, really obvious, and

(01:01:39):
it's the courage to make the first change, right where
people of that are in bad relationships, you're you know,
you're in a bad physical condition, you don't you're you're
in a neighborhood, you don't like, you're, you're you're doing
things that you know are hurting yourself. And it's like,

(01:02:01):
just the first step, just find that first thing that
you know, damn well does not need to be in
your life that you are babysitting the book. Is there
a book that you recommend there? Well, I mean there's
there's a couple of things.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
It's really hard.

Speaker 6 (01:02:17):
I mean, other than Will, I think Will is one
of the best books on the market right now for
the transform of your life of everything I read.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Let me just let our listeners know and for all
the like nigga, I don't read it whatever, no, no, no, no, no,
I'm gonna let you know what time it is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
It's weird enough.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Having written six books myself, I didn't consider myself a reader. However,
when I started, you know, when the pandemic started and
I started doing my morning walks versus podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:02:49):
Man, I've read.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
I've read so many books audiobook style, which is still
reading like yeah, whatever for you snobs, like you have
to read it first in order to read a book. Now,
I believe the way that you should take in Will's book,
your first thing is I definitely believe that you should
listen to the audiobook because it's different when it's coming
from his voice.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Yeah, and not to mention, he Pepper's the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
Soundtrack that makes it feel like it's a podcast or whatever,
like there's down effects, re enactments and.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Him imitating Charlie Mack and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
I feel, and it makes it endearing, especially those last
six chapters. So fante, I would actually recommend you once
you listen to that, that'll you know. I think it's
important that people really taking this book.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
And hear what Will is saying.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
And I don't think it's a hashtag like only rich
people stuff or whatever likes. It's literally having the will
to know you want to change, and especially where we
are now where a lot of us and what I
mean us hip hop nation, a lot of these cats
are expiring and they're fifty before they make sixty.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
And I think a lot of that just has to
do with the will.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
To not.

Speaker 3 (01:04:10):
Want to move on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
I think it's one thing that it's like when you
get past twenty, you're like, Okay, I didn't get shot,
so now I'm good. And then there's a point where we,
you know, try to not have a stroke or make
sure our health is right. Now I'm realizing that sixty
on is going to be a crazier battle for us
to have the will to live and.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
All those things.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
So I would actually recommend Will's audiobook first as a
central reading.

Speaker 8 (01:04:41):
I was just going to ask the craziest question of all.
I was just gonna say, hold on, battle Fresh Prince
and Jazzy Jeff.

Speaker 9 (01:04:45):
In the versus what.

Speaker 5 (01:04:49):
We said, who's going to.

Speaker 9 (01:04:50):
Who's going to battle Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff in
the versus it was a.

Speaker 5 (01:04:53):
Job, It's going to battle Jazzy Jeff. Yeah, I was
like battle.

Speaker 6 (01:04:59):
I was us having that conversation with somebody the other
day and somebody was like, you know, y'all, y'all should
go with.

Speaker 5 (01:05:05):
L was like l L L L Yeah, I record,
all right.

Speaker 6 (01:05:12):
I'm not gonna have me getting bodied by ls.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
You know, you know what I actually think, you know
what I think your match would be who I would
I would think that Jessey, Jeff and the Fresh Prince
versus Naughty by Nature be a good versus.

Speaker 6 (01:05:29):
Okay, okay, okay, that might be fine.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
I'm mad. I'm not mad.

Speaker 5 (01:05:34):
I think I think.

Speaker 3 (01:05:34):
It's evenly matched.

Speaker 5 (01:05:36):
Yeah, yeah, it's like I think that would be. You
got like twenty albums, right.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
That boy got Hello and Buster I think are more
of a match.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
I don't care if they feel if they're outclassed each other,
but I feel like ll and Buster almost.

Speaker 5 (01:05:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:05:53):
I was gonna ask you, Will, do you ever get
a point in terms of when you talk about like
always striving, striving and climbing and like build your team
and keeping them like always wanting to elevate. Do you
ever get to a point where you just realize, you
know what, I'm good? Like good ever happen in the
mind of Will Smith.

Speaker 6 (01:06:12):
I've looked at the first half of my life. I
think about it in terms of climbing and collecting, and
now the second half of my life is going to
be given away, right, It's going to be giving it back, right,
So it was, you know, all of the things that
I gathered through the you know, striving and.

Speaker 5 (01:06:36):
Climbing, and now my attention is on.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
Developing my heart and developing my mind through giving and relating.

Speaker 5 (01:06:51):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:06:51):
So part of the discovery for me is my true
happiness was never going to be achieved through collecting, and
I'm realizing that the deepest joy that I experience it
is through giving, right.

Speaker 5 (01:07:08):
And it was like, that's the the real.

Speaker 6 (01:07:10):
Magic of love is giving, and it's in helping, it's
in using what you are to assist someone else to
become what they were meant to become.

Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:07:29):
Do you think that's Do you think that's what's kept
you and Jada together for so long?

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
Is that that sounds like a foundational part of y'all? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:07:35):
Yeah, we are. We are full on climbers and seekers.

Speaker 6 (01:07:43):
We are developing our comprehension of what love is. And
like everybody wants love, but nobody knows what it actually is. Right,
So you want something, but you don't you don't know
what it is, right, And it's like the Marines always

(01:08:03):
there's a marine quote. Everybody wants to go to heaven,
but nobody die, right, and it's like there's a there's
a certain amount of self reconstruction that has to happen
in order to have any possibility at love.

Speaker 5 (01:08:21):
Your life has to be focused.

Speaker 11 (01:08:24):
On transforming and correcting the false beliefs, the flawed perceptions,
the poisonous ideas.

Speaker 5 (01:08:38):
In your mind. Your entire life has.

Speaker 6 (01:08:41):
To be centered on removing those things in order that
you can hold the love that you're asking for from
someone else.

Speaker 5 (01:08:53):
Gentlemen, it's not.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
As big man.

Speaker 4 (01:09:01):
Yeah that's big, that's big.

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
Let us. Yeah, that's for you. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
That's it right, Like literally I thought, like, you know, okay,
Jimmy Jam's episode was six hours, so no, but will
literally drop so much potent magic in this interview.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
And I really want to thank you for.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Giving us, uh letting us be the audience, not even
giving us this audience really.

Speaker 7 (01:09:31):
Man, seriously, man, and thank you to I mean, I
can't I have no idea what it would be like
to have spent you know, the last thirty five years
of my life is one of the most famous people
on the fucking planet, you know what I mean. So,
you know, just for you, we appreciate you just sharing,
just being so transparent about your journey, and you know,
you and Jada's like like everything, Like y'all have been

(01:09:53):
through shit that would have broke a whole bunch of
other people, but I understand that y'all live incredible lives,
and just for you to be so transparent about this man,
it's really inspiring.

Speaker 4 (01:10:03):
And we just thank you just for everything, bro, for real,
and thank.

Speaker 8 (01:10:05):
You for always coming back to Philly, because I tell
you doing those weekends he hasn't, but still when he
was doing them, you was always.

Speaker 9 (01:10:12):
There, always cleaning up the neighborhoods.

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
So thank you. Appreciate y'all, man, thank you, Thank you well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
On behalf of Layah Sugar, Steve Unpaid, Bill and Fonte
and myself Well Smith, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
This is Quest Love Supreme. We will see you on
the next ground.

Speaker 5 (01:10:30):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
Must Love Supreme is a production of Iheartened Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.