
These are the trite things most men say when attempting to express love, some version of “I’d die for you.” But the lines that follow truly capture the urgency of wanting to shield someone from a world you can’t control. He claims he’s willing to give his life for his son’s safety, which would make damaging his reputation for his wife’s honor seem like a comparatively small price. The opening lines immediately establish the lengths Smith might go to protect his family. The song begins with a recollection of the night Trey was born. Written for his son Will Smith III, otherwise known as Trey, these lyrics find the rapper-turned-actor at his most anxious, animated by a sense of responsibility that likely makes him both an excellent and exhausting parent. The first verse of “Just the Two of Us” features the clearest example of Smith showing love through protection. ‘Cause I knew I loved you more than life itself Touched your head gently, felt my heart melt That night I don’t think one wink I sleptĪs I slipped out my bed, to your crib I crept Got you home safe, placed you in your bassinette People drivin’ all fast, got me kinda upset

Took a hour just to get the car seat in right I knew I’d meet death ‘fore I’d let you meet harmĪlthough questions arose in my mind, would I be man enough?Īgainst wrong, choose right and be standin’ up? That record, like his acceptance speech and even the passages in his book recounting his regret over not protecting his mother from his abusive father, contains an underlying fear of the world that sometimes manifests in hyper-vigilant love.įrom the first time the doctor placed you in my arms
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He also barely mentioned his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who in the past has dismissed at least one of his grand gestures of love as a “ disgusting display of ego ,” as reported by GQ and Wesley Lowery.īut in evoking the image of his onscreen daughters and framing protection as something he’s not only been called to do in moments like Sunday night but throughout his entire life, Smith’s imperfect speech felt like the closing of a full circle that began a quarter-century ago with a song dedicated to his first-born son.
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In the six minutes he spoke with his trophy in hand, he never explained how appearing in a movie with other actors constitutes protection. Of course, there are issues one could take with this part of Smith’s statement.

I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.” “I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena.


“Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis,” he said of the actress who played Richard Williams’ wife, Oracene Price. In his Oscars speech, Smith went on to explain his life’s work as a protector. Twenty-five years after the song’s release and less than a week removed from the 53-year-old’s misty-eyed sermon, certain lyrics from “Just The Two Of Us” now hold a different weight, particularly the ones in which he vows to protect his boy from harm. Marlon Wayans Speaks On Oscars Slap: "It Was Like Watching Two Brothers Fight"Ī rework of Bill Withers’ song of the same name, “Just the Two of Us” subverts the romantic love described in the original and instead depicts the love Smith as a father has for his eldest son.
