--- title: Will Smith Raps Fresh Prince of Bel Air on Ellen DeGeneres Show: Video description: Watch Will Smith lead the audience of The Ellen Show in rapping the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme canonical: https://time.com/3722062/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-theme-song-ellen-degeneres-show/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-25T16:41:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:34.434Z og:title: Watch Will Smith Rap the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' Theme with Ellen's Audience og:description: He is promoting his upcoming film 'Focus' og:url: https://time.com/3722062/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-theme-song-ellen-degeneres-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Will Smith Rap the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' Theme with Ellen's Audience twitter:description: He is promoting his upcoming film 'Focus' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Will Smith Rap the _Fresh Prince of Bel-Air_ Theme on _Ellen_ > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0181f0c4-a16c-4348-92b4-c40aa8693d98&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The 14 Best Television Intros [Watch (HLS stream): The 14 Best Television Intros](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/43fbt7yd.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2014-07-10. The best 30 seconds on TV come before the feature. Here are the best opening credits television has to offer._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 25, 2015 4:41 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Feb 25, 2015 4:41 PM UTC Will Smith can’t stop rapping during his talk show appearances. After a [rousing performance](http://time.com/3714848/will-smith-david-letterman-gettin-jiggy-wit-it/) of “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” on _The Late Show with David Letterman_ last week, Smith brought the house down Tuesday during a commercial break for _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_ by rapping the theme to _The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air —_ the 90s sitcom that launched his career. The audience knew the lyrics by heart, so they did most of the rapping. He just danced in place. Earlier this month, he participated in a _Fresh Prince_ parody with Jimmy Fallon. The rapper and actor has been promoting his upcoming movie _Focus_, which hits theaters Feb. 27. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] You unlock this door with the key of imagination. [ MUSIC ] Space, the final frontier. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A- Team. [ MUSIC ] The Simpsons. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] Well, it's quite a story. The story of television. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3722062/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-theme-song-ellen-degeneres-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3722062/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-theme-song-ellen-degeneres-show/"},"headline":"Watch Will Smith Rap the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme on Ellen","datePublished":"2015-02-25T16:41:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:34.434Z","description":"He is promoting his upcoming film Focus","url":"https://time.com/3722062/will-smith-raps-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-theme-song-ellen-degeneres-show/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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