Boom! Shake the Room

Album: Code Red (1993)
Charted: 1 13
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • By 1993, gangsta rap was the big trend in hip-hop. This is a very PG song, with no guns or overt sex, but compared to the duo's previous hits ("Parents Just Don't Understand," "Summertime"), it's straight nasty, with Will Smith - still known as The Fresh Prince - getting bragadocious and telling some girl that he's going to turn her around and "work that booty." Aggressive stuff, and not real believable coming from the wholesome Smith. And while other rappers who turned suddenly Gangsta in the '90s (Kriss Kross, MC Hammer) saw their careers implode, Smith didn't need to keep rapping, since he had a solid acting career. This was the last single he released with DJ Jazzy Jeff, and four years later, when he resumed his rap career under his real name, he apparently learned his lesson, as he stopped posturing and focused his lyrical content on having fun and promoting his movies. Huge hits followed, including his first single "Men In Black" in 1997 and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" the next year.
  • This samples "Funky Worm," which was a #15 US hit released in 1972 by the Ohio Players. DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jeff Townes) is a very well respected DJ who created the tracks and worked the samples for the duo.
  • This is a rare rap song with some stuttering, which Smith uses to demonstrate how he conquers his fear to rule the microphone.

Comments: 1

  • Eric from Beaverton, OrIt says some of the lyrics of this song weren't very believable coming from Will Smith. I think his song "You Saw My Blinker" is worse, and seems too out of character for Will Smith.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.