Grammy Awards
Why Will Smith wasn’t at the Grammy Awards
The actor was set to be part of the star-studded 50th anniversary of hip-hop performance, but what caused him to drop out?
The 65th Grammy Awards celebrated 50 years of hip-hop, with countless big names taking the stage at the Crypto.com Arena. One name notably missing was Will Smith.
The 54-year-old was set to take the stage alongside long-time collaborator Jazzy Jeff, with the duo’s 1991 hit ‘Summertime’ now considered a classic hip-hop song.
However, just when it looked as though Smith would make his musical comeback at the Grammys, he had to drop out.
Why Will Smith missed the Grammy Awards
Questlove, who produced the 10-minute long performance, told Variety that Smith had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with his new movie, ‘Bad Boys 4′.
“I’ll give the spoiler alert away. Will Smith was a part of the festivities tonight, but they started shooting ‘Bad Boys 4′ this week,” said Questlove.
“There were a lot of preliminary shots that he had to do, so we had to lose Will.”
Although Smith wasn’t able to attend, the tribute saw hip-hop artists from various generations join in the festivities.
Black Thought kicked things off, followed by Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five performed The Message, followed by Run DMC, LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Salt N Pepa, Eric B, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Clipping, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Method Man, Big Boi from Outkast, Busta Rhymes, The Lox, Missy Elliot, Nelly, Too Short, Swizz Beatz, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert and GloRilla.
Smith and ‘Bad Boys 4′
Smith and Martin Lawrence will reunite for the fourth film in the franchise, with Sony Pictures confirming that the untitled sequel is in early pre-production.
The script will be written by Chris Bremner, who also wrote the screenplay for 2020′s ‘Bad Boys for Life’. The movie saw Smith and Lawrence reprise their roles as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett 25 years after the first ‘Bad Boys’ film was released.
Smith announced ‘Bad Boys 4′ in an Instagram video with franchise co-star Martin Lawrence earlier in the week.
In the video, Smith heads to Martin’s house with his camera in order to capture the moment.
‘Shake Ya Tailfeather’, which is from the ‘Bad Boys II’ soundtrack begins to play, before Smith arrives at Martin’s door, where they announce the fourth instalment of the franchise.
“It’s about time!” Martin said with Will adding: “Bad boys for life baby. For life.”