B-side Remix Genre Hip hop
R&B | Recorded 1997 Length 3:48 | |
Released June 16, 1997 (1997-06-16) Format CD single
CD maxi
12" maxi | ||
"Men in Black" is a song by Will Smith (featuring singer Coko from group SWV) from the movie Men in Black, in which he also starred. The song is Smith's first solo single, following his work with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The song plays during the movie's closing credits. Smith raps about how the Men in Black "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 and alto vocals in the background. The song won Smith a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Rap Solo Performance.
Contents
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 the memory-erasing "neuralyzer" devices used in the Men in Black movie.
Aside from appearing on the movie's soundtrack, the song also appears on Smith's Columbia Records album Big Willie Style and reached number one on charts in Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The song did not 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 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. An instrumental and short version of the song plays over the closing credits in Men in Black: The Series.
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 (Mikey from the film) 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 at the camera. 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. Just before the flash, he says, somewhat regretfully, "Sorry".
Track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Men in Black".