1997 Will Smith: Men In Black

It's kind of easy to paint Will Smith as the clown prince of hip hop - not fair perhaps, but easy. Certainly, he provided a family friendly face for the genre that made it palatable to suburban living rooms where the likes of NWA would definitely not be welcome, but in saying that this song from the Men In Black soundtrack is less a genre tune per se than a pop song given a hip hop spray job. As much a part of the merchandising as the T Shirts, model aliens and video games, 'Men In Black' sells itself more as a teaser for the film and on the back of Smith's amiable persona than on the inherent quality of the song itself. Which, truth be told, is a mundane affair of functional stiffness that does all it needs to and no more, but at least the ramrod straight beat that Smith quickly speaks his rap lite rhymes of in-jokes over seems in as much of a hurry to get to the end of the song as I am, so no harm done.