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Will Smith gets a street named in the
Philadelphia neighborhood where he was born and raised
[March 27, 2025]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In West Philadelphia where he was born and raised,
now there’s a street called Will Smith Way.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders honored the Oscar
and Grammy winner on Wednesday, renaming a street next to Smith's old
high school.
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At right is Julian L. Graham, Principal Overbrook high school presents
actor and rapper Will Smith with school jacket during a ceremony to name
a street after him in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
(Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) |
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“Philly, I love you. I am yours. You are mine,” Smith said at a
ceremony along a section of 59th Street that now bears his name.
He reminisced about learning the values of hard work and
education from his mother and father before hitting it big as an
actor and rapper.
“Nobody gets an easy ride,” he said. “That was one of the things
these streets of Philadelphia taught me: that there's nothing
wrong with a hard day's work.”
Among those who came out to see him was a former teacher who was
the first to call him “Prince Charming” — a nickname he changed
up a bit for the 1990s TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” in
which Smith played a teenager from Philadelphia who goes to live
with relatives in Los Angeles.
“The name `The Fresh Prince' was coined in that building," Smith
said, pointing back at Overbrook High School. “I added the
‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang."
Smith will release his fifth studio album “Based on a True
Story” on Friday. It’s his first music project in two decades
since “Lost and Found.”
He won Grammys for “Summertime,” “Men In Black,” “Gettin’ Jiggy
Wit It” and “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” He's also starred
in the movies “Bad Boys,” “Men in Black” and “King Richard.”
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