Men in Black (song)
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| “Men in Black” | |||||
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| Single by Will Smith featuring Coko of SWV from the album Big Willie Style and Men in Black soundtrack |
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| Released | August 4, 1997 | ||||
| Genre | Pop rap | ||||
| Length | 3:48 | ||||
| Label | Columbia Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Will Smith, Patrice Rushen, Terry McFadden, Fred Washington | ||||
| Producer | Poke and Tone | ||||
| Will Smith singles chronology | |||||
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| DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince: Greatest Hits track listing | |||||
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The song "Men in Black" was recorded by rapper and actor Will Smith (also featuring singer Coko from double diamond selling group SWV) for the movie Men in Black, in which he also starred. The song plays during the movie's closing credits. Will Smith raps about how the MiBs "Walk in shadow, move in silence" and play the role of "first, last and only line of defence, against the worst scum of the universe." The song won Smith a Grammy in 1997 for Best Rap Solo Performance.
"Men In Black" features a sample of and a re-sung chorus from "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. In a twist, the line "I want you to remember" is changed to "They won't let you remember", in reference to memory-erasing devices used in the Men in Black movie.
Aside from appearing on the movie's soundtrack, the song also appears on Will Smith's Columbia Records album Big Willie Style and reached #1 on charts in the UK, Australia and Germany. The song didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single in the US; at the time, only songs that were commercially released as singles were eligible. It also reached #2 in the United World Chart. The music video for the song also appears on the DVD The Will Smith Collection. It was also included in the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999. It was also covered by Forever the Sickest Kids for the compilation album Punk Goes Crunk.
[edit] Music Video
Robert Caruso directed the video. The video starts with lights going on and Tommy Lee Jones explains who they are and Will comes in saying: "And dressed in black." It basically takes place in their headquarters with the agents experimenting with alien technology. It soon has him surrounded by MIB agents while an alien comes in and screams at Will. Will Smith then leads the agents and the alien to do the "Electric Slide."
After dancing along with the agents, he goes after the alien who turns out to be the two female agents who were with him at the beginning of the video leave in the same vehicle. Disappointed, he puts on his glasses and shows his memory erasing device to the camera and says: "Sorry."
| Preceded by "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans |
UK Singles Chart Number 1 single August 10, 1997 for 4 weeks |
Succeeded by "The Drugs Don't Work" by The Verve |
