Colombian tunes inspire Will Smith to get jiggy wit it on new world tour

After rapping in Spanglish and recording a single with Colombian band Bomba Estereo, Will Smith says he’s ready to head back out on tour.

The former Fresh Prince said this week on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show that he’s “pretty certain” he’ll go on a “full world tour” next summer with longtime buddy, Jazzy Jeff.

“I’m terrified” Smith joked.

Smith hasn’t released an original song in 10 years. But he told Lowe he’s been getting back into music recently, and has already recorded 30 songs in his private studio. “I’m pretty much popping in the studio every day and looking for artists to collaborate with,” Smith said.

Apparently, one of of his favorite bands now is Colombian group Bomba Estereo, which fuses hip-hop, electronica and pop with Caribbean rhythms.

Last Friday the band released a remix of its party anthem Fiesta featuring Smith rapping along in Spanglish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20&v=Aw_Rq—yRVY

In a “behinds the scenes” clip released this week by Bomba Estereo, Smith said that he learned about the group while hanging out with Marc Anthony in the Colombian city of Ibague.

Smith said he started to follow the band after listening to their hit song Fuego, and became convinced he wanted to collaborate with them after hearing the original version of Fiesta.

Smith’s manager knew people at Bomba Estereo’s record company, and the rest is history. Here’s the full clip.

Manuel Rueda is a correspondent for Fusion, covering Mexico and South America. He travels from donkey festivals, to salsa clubs to steamy places with cartel activity.