<p id=”par-1_33″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/will-smith/”>Will Smith</a> starred in <em>The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air </em>for six years before the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-why-did-the-iconic-series-end.html/”>iconic show came to an end</a>. During that time, Smith helped inspire Queen Latifah’s own popular 90s television series.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-queen-latifah-felt-she-could-do-living-single-thanks-to-the-fresh-prince”>Queen Latifah felt she could do ‘Living Single’ thanks to ‘The Fresh Prince’</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Queen-Latifah-Will-Smith.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Queen Latifah posing at the 40th Annual People’s Choice Awards.” class=”wp-image-3757267″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Queen Latifah | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_87″>Smith’s stint in<em> The Fresh Prince</em> not only showed that the rapper could carry his own sitcom. Potentially, Smith also made other artists feel they could do the same. Queen Latifah would follow in his footsteps when she starred in her sitcom, <em>Living Single</em>, which enjoyed somewhat similar success. The ensemble sitcom lasted for five seasons, from 1993 to 1998, and showed Queen Latifah’s own promise as an actor. But she credited Smith for showing that there was another career path for her in the first place.</p>
<p id=”par-3_78″>“I’ve got to give Will [Smith] a shout out,” Queen Latifah said in an interview with <a href=”https://variety.com/2022/tv/features/queen-latifah-equalizer-season-3-4-denzel-washington-1235261672/”>Variety</a>. “It was because of Will that that <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/queen-latifah-living-single-cast-lose-weight-series.html/”>we did <em>Living Single</em></a>. As rappers, I toured with Will, and when Will got [<em>The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air</em>], we were like, ‘Oh, if Will could do a show, we could do a show.’ So that was where it all began, with us starting to beat the pavement to try to create a sitcom.”</p>
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<p id=”par-4_18″>Additionally, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/queen-latifahs-hip-hop-background-helped-the-equalizer.html/”><em>The Equalizer </em>star</a> felt the sitcom was a pivotal moment for the hip hop genre in general.</p>
<p id=”par-5_85″>“<em>Living Single</em> spoke to our generation,” she said. “It showed the hustle that we had, the desire to achieve and entrepreneurship. It showed hip-hop being validated, not as this passing fad, but an actual culture that involved many facets — not just the music, the graffiti, the breakdancing or the DJ-ing, but the fashion and the writing of magazines, films, and clubs and so many things that could be created. There was so much money that was being generated based off this thing called hip-hop.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-queen-latifah-felt-will-smith-changed-her-life”>Queen Latifah felt Will Smith changed her life</h2>
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<p id=”par-6_34″>Queen Latifah also shouted out Smith for giving the “U.N.I.T.Y” singer her first acting role, too. Despite her success in the rap industry, Queen Latifah always had aspirations to branch out into other fields.</p>
<p id=”par-7_52″>“There were too many facets to my being to be kind of nailed all into one place,” Latifah said in an interview on <a href=”https://soundcloud.com/backstage-in-the-envelope/queen-latifah”>In The Envelope</a>. “There were no blueprints for a lot of what I was doing. I mean, there were blueprints, but they applied to a different kind of car.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_23″>She was one of many musical guests who tested out her acting chops when she starred in the <em>Fresh Prince </em>episode “Walking Out.”</p>
<p id=”par-9_146″>“Coming to do <em>The Fresh Prince</em>, I had never even acted on anything on television ever. Thank God he had a dope director in Ellen Falcon at the time, who kind of showed me what to do, how to hit a mark, and here’s how you do this,” Queen Latifah told <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfc2brT9sZM”>People</a>. “And she later became our director on <em>Living Single</em>. So, she pretty much taught me how to act, because I was using instincts, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I was using whatever high school play skills I had.”<br><br>Afterward, Queen Latifah became a part of a class of rappers <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/will-smith-queen-latifah-agreed-rappers-actors.html/”>who successfully transitioned into acting</a>. Although she and Smith haven’t collaborated on a project since his <em>Fresh Prince </em>days, they’ve still kept in touch. Recently, however, it was announced that the pair will be teaming up again for a potential Queen Latifah biopic.</p>
<p id=”par-10_46″>“We’ve seen a lot of people tell our stories who weren’t there and really have no idea how much more involved these stories are. It’s important to see how it all happened from people who were actively in the room,” she revealed to <a href=”https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/style/queen-latifah-good-american-campaign-biopic-will-smith-1236043125/”>The Hollywood Reporter</a>.</p>