Actor and rapper Will Smith has experienced a couple of eerie coincidences regarding famous figures’ deaths, leaving him wondering whether he might be a jinx. Recently, Smith sat down with Justin Richmond on the Broken Record podcast to talk about his return to music and his upcoming album.
Toward the end of the conversation, Richmond was curious to know whether a story he heard about him was true. “Is it true that you met Notorious B.I.G., like for the first time…” Richmond asked, and Smith nodded, saying, “the night he got killed.” Smith went on to say that he doesn’t even want to talk about it, as he feels “it’s like a terrible jinx,” but he briefly explained that he met the rapper just four hours before he was killed.
On March 8, 1997, Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie (born Christopher Wallace), attended a Soul Train Awards after-party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A. that was attended by more than 2,000 people. With the overcrowding, the fire department shut down the party at about 12:30am on March 9. Biggie left the venue with his crew in a Chevrolet Suburban and while stopped at a traffic light, a Chevy Impala pulled up beside them. The window rolled down and a man pulled out a pistol and fired several shots, hitting Biggie four times.
The 24-year-old rapper was immediately rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he underwent emergency surgery, but the gunshot wounds proved fatal. He was pronounced dead at 1:15am and to this day, his murder remains unsolved. Theories surrounding Biggie’s death suggest it was a consequence of the East Coast vs. West Coast feud, possibly retaliation for Tupac Shakur’s murder just six months prior. Smith said that the rapper’s death brought him to tears, adding, “It was stupid and just centered on hip-hop, like for rapping. That one hurt me. It scared me too.”
Not only did Smith meet Biggie just hours before his fatal shooting, but he also revealed that he spoke to Prince a mere eight hours before the iconic artist’s untimely death in 2016. According to Smith, he was on the phone with Prince, who was pitching the idea of a potential business venture — an entertainment company — that they could launch with Jay-Z. “He had talked to Jay and he wanted to do it. And we talked that night, and in the morning, he was gone,” Smith shared.
On April 21, 2016, Prince was discovered unresponsive inside the elevator at his home and recording studio in Paisley Park, Minnesota. Paramedics were called, but by the time they arrived, they determined that the singer was already deceased. Later reports indicate that he had passed away at least six hours before his body was discovered, and autopsy reports showed that he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. He was 57 years old.
It’s easy to see how Smith would think he’s an unwitting harbinger of tragedy, seeing how he spoke to two icons right before their deaths. “I don’t know what that says about me… don’t call me, don’t call me,” he jokingly said. Smith is scheduled to release his new album titled Based on a True Story in March – his first since 2005’s Lost and Found.
