<p id=”par-1_58″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/will-smith/”>Will Smith</a> was once known for being a rapper, which he initially found much <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/will-smith-says-it-was-easier-to-be-a-rapper-than-an-actor-because-of-1-big-reason.html/”>easier than being an actor</a>. After Smith’s acting career took off, it soon seemed to eclipse the accomplishments he made in music. However, fans like his <em>Fresh Prince of Bel-Air </em>co-star Tatyana Ali felt her on-screen cousin’s contributions to music shouldn’t have been underestimated.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-what-tatyana-ali-felt-about-will-smith-as-an-artist”>What Tatyana Ali felt about Will Smith as an artist</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/tatyana-ali-will-smith.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Tatyana Ali posing alongside Will Smith.” class=”wp-image-3793020″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Will Smith and Tatyana Ali | Gary Null / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_60″>Although some considered Smith a pioneer in the music industry, the rapper received a lot of criticism for his particular style of rap. His clean image at the time was the exact antithesis of his contemporaries’ more violent music. Speaking with David Letterman on <em>Our Next Guest Needs No Introduction</em>, Smith admitted that the criticism eventually got under his skin.</p>
<p id=”par-3_50″>“That was really our major distinguishing quality at the time,” he said. “It was comedy, it was punchlines, it was fun. We stood out in a really good way. We sort of had our own lane … it was always that I was soft. I hated that, being called soft.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_43″>Ali, who became a music artist herself, was one of many fans who felt Smith’s work deserved more respect. The opinion that Smith’s lighthearted style hurt his reputation as a rapper reminded Ali of the challenges she faced in her own singing career.</p>
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<p id=”par-5_94″>“I have this conversation a lot and it’s about art, especially music,” she once said in an interview with <em><a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UFC5P59bo&ab_channel=djvlad”>Vlad TV</a></em>. “People called him corny because he didn’t curse. He had songs like ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand.’ He was really positive, middle-class, talking about his own experiences. I think that’s the real interesting thing where it’s like, and I’ve found this too in music being a young artist myself, everyone was always trying to push. ‘You need to show more this. You need to be more like this. You need to be more edgy.’”</p>
<p id=”par-6_21″>But she reminded that Smith’s nonconfrontational approach to hip hop was what earned him one of the highest accolades in music.</p>
<p id=”par-7_31″>“At the end of the day, just like you said, who won <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/will-smith-4-grammy-awards.html/”>the first [Rap] Grammy</a>? Yes. It’s okay to be positive and be successful. I think that’s cool,” she said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-how-will-smith-got-tatyana-ali-into-music”>How Will Smith got Tatyana Ali into music</h2>
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<p id=”par-8_70″>Ali embarked on a music career of her own after her first stint as a sitcom star. She released her album <em>Kiss the Sky </em>in 1998, which Smith helped produce. Although she doesn’t seem as invested in a music career as she used to be, she still has fond memories of her life as a singer. It all started when <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/martin-lawrence-refused-bad-boys-will-smith.html/”>the <em>Bad Boys </em>star</a> caught Ali singing on the show.</p>
<p id=”par-9_90″>“When I sang on Fresh Prince, which they wrote into the show after I sang at a karaoke wrap party. They were like, ‘Oh, you can sing? We should write this in,’” she said. “After they did that, Will asked me, he was like, ‘Would you ever think about singing for real and recording?’ So I signed to his production company. After <em>Fresh Prince</em>, during the end, we started recording. A couple of years after, that’s when I started to put out music. That’s when we also did music together.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_16″>Ali further confided that her favorite part about being a pop star might’ve been the traveling.</p>
<p id=”par-11_51″>“The thing that I loved most about it was performing,” she added. “I got to see the world. I toured all over the country with N’Sync which was like every little girl’s dream at the time. Then I toured around Europe with Backstreet Boys and Monica and 98°. It was incredible.”</p>