The Hilarious Reason Will Smith Almost Never Swears In His Raps

Will Smith revealed on The Late With Seth Meyers that when he was 12, his grandmother had a big influence on his music. Read on below.

Will Smith is a jack of all trades. He acts, he raps, he used to do his own stunts.

During an appearance on Tuesday's Late Night with Seth Meyers, the 51-year-old star dished on what it was like to return to Bad Boys 17 years after the last installment, as well as the early years of his career when he was coming up as a young rapper.

One thing that set Smith's music apart from other hip-hop stars of the time was his rare use of curse words. Seth Meyers wanted to know why that was.

As the host asked, "One thing you did that was fearless but maybe didn't look that way to people, I first knew you as a hip-hop artist and at a time when this was not what a lot of people were doing, your lyrics were very clean. That choice was a bigger choice than I think it probably looked to people."

As it turns out, it was some familial guilt that motivated the decision to keep his lyrics clean.

As Smith explained, "I was 12 years old and I started rapping. So, I had my rap book, and I was writing my stuff and I had all my little curse words in my rap book. And my grandmother found my rap book."

"And she just turned—she never said nothing," he continued. "Turned to the back page and she said, 'Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you're as smart as we think you are. Love, Gigi.' I read that, and I was like, 'F*@k.'"

The star also revealed he tried to do his own stunts for Bad Boys 3.

As he shared, "When I started, I was like, 'Bad Boys 3, we're going right back. I'm doing my stunts. I'm going to get it. I don't need no stuntman, I'll do it. And three days in, I was like, 'Ay, where's my stuntman?'"

The star admitted that while he wanted to try to be as fearless as his younger self, his body just can't heal the way it used to. And he admitted he did some crazy things when he was in his 20s and trying to make it big.

As Meyers asked the legend, "Do you ever think about advice you would give 25-year-old Will Smith?"

As Smith responded, "You know, I've thought about that. And I think I wouldn't give myself advice, I would probably ask myself for advice. When I was 25-years-old, I was so ambitious, and I was so driven and I was fearless."

"And as I've gotten older," the Aladdin star continued, "I've started getting a little bit more fearful, and I would ask myself, I was like, 'Why are you so crazy? Why do you think you can do so much?' There's such a power to naiveté. It's like once you know, you can't unknow."

It looks like Smith got a lot of wisdom from his grandma.

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