"Men in Black"
Single by Will Smith featuring Coko of SWV
from the album Big Willie Style and Men in Black: The Album
B-side	Remix
Released	August 4, 1997
Genre	Pop rap, Funk
Length	3:48
Label	Columbia Records
Writer(s)	Will Smith, Patrice Rushen, Terry McFadden, Fred Washington
Producer	Poke and Tone
Will Smith singles chronology
"Boom! Shake the Room" (1993) "Men in Black" (1997) "Just Cruisin'" (1997)
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince: Greatest Hits track listing "Girls Ain't Nothin' but Trouble" (1) "'Men in Black" (2) "Summertime" (3) Will Smith: Greatest Hits track listing "1,000 Kisses" (7) "Men in Black" (8) "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" (9)

"Men in Black" is a song by Will Smith (featuring singer Coko from double diamond selling group SWV) from the movie Men in Black, in which he also starred. The song plays during the movie's closing credits. Will Smith raps about how the MiBs "Walk in shadow, move in silence" and play the role of "first, last and only line of defense, against the worst scum of the universe", while Coko adds her soulful soprano vocals in the background. The song won Smith a Grammy in 1998 for Best Rap Solo Performance.

[edit] Release and success

"Men In Black" features a sample of and a re-sung chorus from "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. In a twist, the line "I want you to remember" is changed to "They won't let you remember", in reference to memory-erasing devices used in the Men in Black movie.

Aside from appearing on the movie's soundtrack, the song also appears on Will Smith's Columbia Records album Big Willie Style and reached #1 on charts in the UK, Australia and Germany. The song didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single in the US; at the time, only songs that were commercially released as singles were eligible, but it did however top the airplay chart. The music video for the song also appears on the DVD The Will Smith Collection. It was also included in the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999. It was also featured after the end credits of the VHS release of "Men in Black". It was also covered by Forever the Sickest Kids for the compilation album Punk Goes Crunk & by Alvin and the Chipmunks for the album "The A-Files: Alien Songs".

[edit] Music video

Robert Caruso directed the video. The video 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 Will 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 comes in and screams at Will. Will Smith then leads the agents and the alien to do a modified Electric 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, the two female Agents who were with Will in the vehicle, which speeds off just as Will reaches it. Disappointed, he puts on his glasses and takes out a Neuralyzer, pointing it to the camera. Just before the flash, he says, somewhat regretfully, "Sorry".

[edit] Track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Men in Black".^[1]

[edit] Credits

• Patrice Rushen, Terry McFadden, Will Smith - writers, composers
• Coko - backing vocals
• Poke and Tone - drum programming, producer
• Commissioner Gordon, Tony Maserati - mixing
• John Shriver - recording

[edit] Charts and certifications

[edit] Charts

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Will Smith Singles Chart at Allmusic

[edit] Successions