“Yep, Jaden’s wack, I knew it”: Jaden Smith’s Regret in His Rap Career After Unforgettable Justin Bieber Collab
Jaden Smith was not happy with his dressing and rap lines in a music video, despite making his debut as a recording artist with Justin Bieber.
Image by Joe Bielawa, licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsJaden Smith had a successful career as a child artist. He ventured into acting, rapping, skateboarding, and even business ventures during this time. After his success in Jackie Chan’s The Karate Kid film, he appeared in several music videos. In the music video of Pumped Up Kicks (Like Me), it wasn’t just his rapping skills on display but also his skateboarding skills.
Jaden Smith in a still from The Karate Kid | Credits: Columbia Pictures
However, Smith is not particularly happy as he regretted his rap a couple of years later. He shared that it didn’t come out the way he wanted it to be. Interestingly, by this time in his career, Smith had already made his high-profile collaboration alongside Justin Bieber.
Jaden Smith Regretted His Rap and Dressing In One Music Video
Jaden Smith in The Get Down | Credits: Sony Pictures TV
Jaden Smith made his debut alongside his father Will Smith in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. He also made a name for himself in the music industry, releasing three studio albums. However, Smith has one regret in his rap career, when it particularly comes to his music video Pumped Up Kicks (Like Me).
During a 2013 interview with Nylon magazine, Smith opened up about his passion for skating. Smith’s clothing line, MSFTSrep, targeted the skaters predominantly among his audience at the time. He showed off his skateboarding skills in his music video but was not happy about it entirely.
Smith shared that Mike Vargas’ 2012 music video was perhaps the greatest and worst thing he did for his rap career. Smith regretted his choice of dressing as well as the rap lines in the song. He downplayed his appeal among the skating audience, sharing that they would have probably hated his rap. Jaden Smith shared with Nylon Magazine:
It was probably one of the greatest things I did for my rap career, and one of the worst. I wasn’t dressing like I wanted to be dressing at the time, even though I was dressing myself. The raps weren’t how I wanted the raps to be. All the skater kids were like, ‘Oh snap, Jaden’s rapping, lemme check it out,’ and that video gave them a reason to go, ‘Yep, Jaden’s wack, I knew it.’
Smith also opened up about the paparazzi scrutiny of his life during this time. He was hanging around a bunch of celebrities like Justin Bieber, Moises Arias, Sophia Richie, and Kylie Jenner. He was even rumored to be dating Jenner at the time. He also shared how the paparazzi wrote stories about Bieber sneaking him into a nightclub when he was still underage.
Jaden Smith’s Justin Bieber Collaboration Gave Him The Necessary Rap Career Breakthrough
Justin Bieber in the music video of Boyfriend | Credits: Island/RBMG/Schoolboy
Jaden Smith’s first appearance as a recording artist was in Justin Bieber‘s 2010 single Never Say Never. It was released as part of The Karate Kid‘s accompanying soundtrack. It was also the title track of Bieber’s concert film, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Smith later collaborated with Bieber on Fairytale in 2012.
In 2020, they collaborated on a new single Falling for You in Smith’s new LP CTV3: Cool Tape Vol. 3. Recently, they also reunited at the Coachella event. Since performing with Bieber for the first time, Smith released multiple mix tapes including CTV2. He signed with Roc Nation and Interscope in 2017 and released his debut album Syre. He also released Erys in 2019 before CTV3 in 2020.
He was nominated for a Grammy in 2022 thanks to Bieber’s album Justice, which had him as a featured artist.