On Monday’s “Tonight Show,” Will Smith spit some bars from his hip-hop version of “Friend Like Me,” a key song in the upcoming live-action “Aladdin.”
Before getting down to it, Smith told Jimmy Fallon that he was extremely reluctant to accept the role.
“I got presented the idea to play the genie in ‘Aladdin,’ and the first [thought] is, ‘HELL no,’” Smith recalled on the NBC late-night series. “Robin Williams SMASHED that role.”
“I didn’t feel like I wanted to touch it,” he added.
“What did it for me, when I was messing with the music, there’s the song ‘Friend Like Me,’” Smith said. “So when I went in, I had them grab ‘Impeach the President’ by The Honeydrippers, and [the producer] used the drums.”
That was Questlove’s cue on the sticks and skins. Smith jumped in with the lyrics while Fallon clapped along.
Watch the video above.
We can’t say the flow doesn’t sound a bit like the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme song, but hey, whatever works. Listen to “Impeach the President” via the YouTube embed below.
Though it may resonate for many people today, the 1972 release was about President Richard Nixon. The Honeydrippers song has been sampled many, many times before, including for 2Pac’s “I Get Around” and Flo Rida’s “My House.”
It’s even been used in a Will Smith song, on 1988’s “As We Go.” Check that one out here: