Will Smith performs onstage at the 2024 BET Awards at Peacock Theater on June 30, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)
Will Smith recently stepped out of his rap retirement with his new single ‘You Can Make It.’ On Sunday (June 30), Smith performed the track for the first time, tapping Kirk Franklin to join him on the BET Awards stage.
Smith’s song was serving gospel-meets-motivational vibes with the performance of ‘You Can Make It.’ As the title suggests, the track is about pushing through adversity and overcoming hardships. It features Fridayy and the Sunday Service Choir, who also performed. Additionally, Will also tapped Kirk Franklin for his vocals in the fiery, soulful moment.
His stage set appeared a lil’ Ye-coded with the dark-colored, plainclothes costumes, fire placements, and large choir.
“The darker the hell you gotta endure, the brighter the heaven you get to enjoy/The harder the fall, the higher you soar/God opens a window when the devil closes the door/Believe me, they tried to bleed Will Smith/In the rearview, I see adversity was the gift,” Will Smith rapped. “To lift me higher gifts requires faith/So dry your eyes and then you’ll find the way/Out of the madness, out of the maze/And out of the saddest into the rays/The darkest of nights turns into day/And every storm runs out of rain, hold on.”
Watch the full performance below.
‘You Can Make It’ arrives over two after the actor caught heat for smacking Chris Rock on live television at the 2022 Oscars over a joke targeting his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. He went on to win his first career Oscar later that same night.
In the months following 2023, Will and Jada were caught in a viral storm after she revealed that they had separated in the late 2010s. Jada shared that and more in her tell-all memoir, Worthy.’ But Will has continued to publicly stand behind his wife and their partnership since then. So has the Mrs.
Despite the controversial moments, his subsequent temporary ban, and his apology for the Rock slap, Smith made a comeback in the public eye with the release of ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die.’ The fourth installment in the movie franchise has pulled in over $151 million at the domestic box office and over $293 million globally since its release on June 7, per ScreenRant.
Earlier this month, he opened up about finding happiness again after achieving all his major milestones in life. He explained how he now interrupts cultivating joy these days.
