"Men in Black" is a song by American rapper and actor Will Smith from the 1997 filmMen in Black, in which he also starred. The song was released on June 16, 1997 as the lead single from both the and Smith's debut solo album Big Willie Style, and was his first solo single following his work with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The song plays during the film's closing credits and samples "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen. It features Smith rapping 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 SWV singer Coko provides background vocals. "Men in Black" reached number one in several countries and won Smith a Grammy Award in 1998 for the Best Rap Solo Performance.
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 "To help 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, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland 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 albumAll 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 albumPunk Goes Crunk & by Alvin and the Chipmunks for the album '. An instrumental and short version of the song plays over the closing credits in '.
Music video
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 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, Will says, somewhat regretfully, "Sorry".
Track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Men in Black". ;Europe
