"Men in Black" is a song by American rapper and actorWill Smith from the1997 film of the same name, in which he also played the lead role. The song was released byColumbia Records on June 3, 1997, as the lead single from both thesoundtrack and Smith's first solo album,Big Willie Style (1997), and it was Smith's debut solo single following his work withDJ Jazzy Jeff. The accompanying music video was directed byRobert Caruso, featuring Smith dancing with an alien.
"Men in Black" features asample of, and a re-sung chorus from, "Forget Me Nots" byPatrice Rushen. The line "To help you to remember" is changed to "They won't let you remember", in reference to the memory-erasing "neuralyzer" devices used in theMen in Black film.[citation needed]
Aside from appearing on the movie's soundtrack, "Men in Black" also appears on Smith'sColumbia Records albumBig Willie Style. "Men in Black" topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, "Men in Black" became Smith's second chart-topping song after "Boom! Shake the Room" in 1993, Smith's first solo chart-topping song, and Smith's first chart-topping song released under his real name. "Men in Black" did not chart on theBillboard Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single in the United States; at the time, only songs that were commercially released as singles were eligible, but it did top the airplay chart. The music video for the song also appears on the DVDThe Will Smith Collection. It was also included in the albumAll Time Greatest Movie Songs, released bySony in 1999. It was also featured after the end credits of the VHS release of "Men in Black". It was also covered byForever the Sickest Kids for the compilation albumPunk Goes Crunk & byAlvin and the Chipmunks for the albumThe A-Files: Alien Songs. An instrumental and short version of the song plays over the closing credits inMen in Black: The Series.
Larry Flick fromBillboard wrote, "Remember when Will Smith was better known as a rapper? That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Well, he returns to music in excellent form on this lighthearted theme song from the soundtrack to hisnew movie of the same name. Smith has never been a hardcore lyricist, but he also never been anything less than clever, charming, and shrewdly aware of what the masses will dig. There's no doubt that this jam, which nicks its hook fromPatrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots", will be an outta-da-box smasheroo."[1] In 2017,Billboard ranked "Men in Black" number 100 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997".[2] Pan-European magazineMusic & Media said that Smith builds his raps on the song by Rushen "in an instantly appealing way."[3] A reviewer fromMusic Week gave it three out of five, noting that "Smith raps some rather stodgysci-fi stuff over Patrice Rushen's 'Forget Me Nots' riff. It will be huge, like the film. And the video is a hoot."[4] Kirstin Watson fromSmash Hits gave "Men in Black" a top score of five out of five, saying it "is so cool it'll have you reaching for your black shades pronto. The video features weird alien things dancing along in the chorus line and the formerFresh Prince looking as hot as ever. It's totally rap-tastic and a surefire top three hit!"[5]
Robert Caruso directed the music video for the song. It starts with a dark hallway lighting up.Tommy Lee Jones enters from around the corner and begins to explain in a voiceover the purpose of the Men in Black.Will Smith enters with the line: "And we dress in black." There is then a cut to what appears to be an alleyway, a steel box which looks a bit like a commercial refrigerator in the middle. The surface begins to deform and show a glowing light from within. The video then cuts to several scenes of Agents experimenting on alien organisms and technology, with Smith rapping into further detail of the operations of the Men in Black. It soon has him surrounded by MIB agents in a warehouse. In the middle of the dance routine, an alien (Mikey from the film) comes in and screams at Smith. Smith then leads the agents and the alien to do a modifiedElectric Slide, where the alien slips out in the middle.
After dancing along with the agents, he goes after the alien. The same glowing light from the beginning of the video is then seen in the drivers seat of an SUV with the two female Agents who were with Smith in the vehicle; they speed off just as Smith reaches it. Disappointed, he puts on his sunglasses and takes out aNeuralyzer, pointing it at the camera.
Two versions of the video were made alternating the flash. In one version of the video, the flash takes the viewer back to the empty hallway from the opening scene, effectively erasing the video's contents entirely as if ensuring the viewer doesn't remember what they saw in the video, while in the other, the flash produces a white screen. Just before the flash in both, Smith says, somewhat regretfully, "Sorry".
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
