What ho fans!
Will Smith here! Bicka bicka bow bow bow and so on! You know, I’m often asked what my ‘ride’ is these days. You leave my wife out of it, I sometimes quip! No, but seriously, what am I driving these days? Well, as you may remember, on my 1998 smash hit, Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It, I rapped that I had an ‘850iS if you need a lift’. What you might not realise is that, 16 years later, I still have that car! ! In fact, I drive it almost every day, professional and personal commitments permitting! That’s right, I’m no longer ‘the Man in Black’ but I am ‘the man in a Calypso Red 8-series with tan leather interior’. Bicka bow bow bump bump!
The truth is, I’ve had my dear old BMW for so long simply because I just can’t find a suitable replacement! Of course, keeping such a complex and technologically advanced car in tip-top condition isn’t easy but a good independent specialist is worth his weight in gold! That’s why I must give a mention, a ‘shout out’ if you will, to Brad at Hollywood German who always makes sure the old girl is running as sweetly as the day she was made! He really does know his way around all products from the blue-and-white propeller. Indeed, my 2005 hit song Switch was inspired by seeing him replacing a faulty transmission mode selector on a 1997 540i! Of course, Brad isn’t cheap. Many’s the time I’ve been on a movie set thinking, it’s a darned good job I’m being paid millions of dollars for this picture because I fear the old Calypso coupe is going to need a new cat-back exhaust! Unh, unh, unh, unh!
I’m afraid I do have a couple of confessions regarding my BMW and its immortalisation in song. First of all, although I referred to it as an ‘850iS’ there was no such model, something the chaps at the LA E31 Owners’ Club have never let me forget! Of course, I should have said ‘850Ci’ but I was damned if I could get the correct badging to scan in the song! Secondly, you may recall the next line of the track says ‘Who’s the kid in the drop / Who else? Will Smith’. Well you won’t need me to tell you that’s just artistic licence as BMW never made a drop-top version of the 8-series, more’s the pity. What’s interesting is that BMW did build prototypes of such a variant, an example of which remains in storage at their Munich headquarters, but they never put it into production! I’ve written about this extensively on my 8-series blog, Gettin’ 850 Wit’ It. Which, I should add, actually covers all 8-series variants including the V8-engined 840 models! At the risk of sounding immodest, it’s a ‘must read’ for all 8-series fans! Mama-uh, mama-uh!
Anyway, I must be off now. I’m popping to the shops to buy some ‘sneakers’. How will I be getting there? As if you need to ask!
All the best,
Will Smith
Due to an error, this column was written by the wrong Will Smith
