Will Smith holds up a street sign during a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
(Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — In West Philadelphia, where he was born and raised, now there’s a street called Will Smith Way.
Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders honored the Oscar and Grammy winner on Wednesday, renaming a street next to Smith’s old high school.
Will Smith with mother Caroline Bright attends a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
(Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
“Philly, I love you. I am yours. You are mine,” Smith said at a ceremony along a section of 59th Street that now bears his name.
He reminisced about learning the values of hard work and education from his mother and father before hitting it big as an actor and rapper.
“Nobody gets an easy ride,” he said. “That was one of the things these streets of Philadelphia taught me: that there’s nothing wrong with a hard day’s work.”
Among those who came out to see him was a former teacher who was the first to call him “Prince Charming” — a nickname he changed up a bit for the 1990s TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” in which Smith played a teenager from Philadelphia who goes to live with relatives in Los Angeles.
“The name The Fresh Prince’ was coined in that building,” Smith said, pointing back at Overbrook High School. “I added the ‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang.”
At right is Julian L. Graham, principal, Overbrook High School, presenting actor and rapper Will Smith with a school jacket during a ceremony to name a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
(Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
Smith will release his fifth studio album “Based on a True Story” on Friday. It’s his first music project in two decades since “Lost and Found.”
He won Grammys for “Summertime,” “Men In Black,” “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” He’s also starred in the movies “Bad Boys,” “Men in Black” and “King Richard.”
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