Will Smith now has a permanent mark in his hometown as West Philadelphia names a street in his honor, calling it “Will Smith Way.”
The celebration took place on Wednesday (March 26) with the Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders renaming a section of 59th Street, right next to the Oscar and Grammy winner’s alma mater, Overbrook High School.
“Philly, I love you. I am yours. You are mine,” a visibly moved Smith told the crowd.
The actor/rapper reminisced about the lessons he learned from his parents growing up, emphasizing the value of hard work and education.
“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 for the celebration was his former teacher, the first to call him “Prince Charming” — a nickname he would later use for his 1990s TV hit 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,” the Bad Boys star reminisced, pointing back at Overbrook High School. “I added the ‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang.”
In addition to this momentous honor, Smith is set to release his fifth studio album Based on a True Story on Friday. It’s his first music project since Lost and Found in 2005.
