In West Philadelphia, born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days. Chillin\u2019 out, maxin\u2019, relaxin\u2019 all cool and, of course, shootin\u2019 some b-ball outside of the school\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026We know these words by heart and when you hear this little intro, you know you are setting yourself up for 30 minutes of good laughs.<\/p>\n
Well, I am sure some of you know all there is to know about the Fresh Prince, but for those of you who don\u2019t, take a look at 29 facts about \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air\u201d that I bet you did not know.<\/p>\n
Before the hit TV Show, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith was a superstar in his own right. He was in the rap group DJ Jazzy Fresh & The Fresh Prince. They won the first ever rap Grammy award and they also sold millions of records. Will made a lot of money during his rap career, but being young and foolish, he ended up owing the IRS almost $3 million.<\/p>\n
With the rise of gangsta rap taking over in the 90s, Will\u2019s bubblegum type of rap was no longer proving to be a hit with the fans. That is when producer Quincy Jones reached out and asked him to star in a sitcom for the TV network NBC.<\/p>\n
At first Will rejected the idea of starring in his own TV sitcom. He was afraid that people would view him as a major sellout and that it would be the nail in the coffin of his floundering music career. There was a big positive in doing this TV show and that was it paid really well. If the sitcom was a success, his paycheck would go up over the coming seasons. With Will owning the IRS so much money, he quickly changed his mind about not doing it and signed on what would become “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.<\/p>\n
Because Will Smith owed the IRS over $2.8 million in back taxes, the IRS was determined to get what they were owed. Even though he was making a lot of money from the TV show, In an interview with 60 minutes, Smith stated that \u201cFor the first three years of \u2018The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air\u2019 the IRS took 70 percent of every check and after the third year I got back to zero. It\u2019s terrible to have that kind of success and have to quietly be broke.\u201d<\/p>\n