In the latest episode of Fire in the Booth, Will Smith steps into the freestyle arena hosted by Charlie Sloth and wastes no time diving into the tension still lingering from that Oscars moment. “If you talking crazy out your face up on the stage and disrespect me on the stage, expect me on the stage,” he spits. The line doesn’t name names, but it doesn’t need to. Fans instantly connected the bar to that now-infamous moment at the 2022 Academy Awards, when Smith walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock in response to a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head, a sensitive topic linked to her alopecia diagnosis.

For some, it was a shocking display of impulsive violence from someone long seen as one of Hollywood’s most composed and charismatic stars. For others, it was an act of misplaced chivalry, wrong in execution. The incident sparked endless debates around toxic masculinity, celebrity accountability, the boundaries of comedy, and how Black men are expected to perform in public, especially in spaces like the Oscars, where representation is already a loaded subject.

Photo Source: Myung Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images via BuzzFeed Smith doesn’t stop there. A few bars later in the freestyle, he adds, “Jokers dish it out, cry foul when it’s time to take it / City full of real ones, wasn’t raised to fake it.” Again, no direct mention of Rock, but the implication hangs heavy. And it’s not his first time hinting at the slap through music. Earlier this year, on his album Based On a True Story, he addressed the fallout more directly in the track “You Lookin’ For Me?” with lines like: “Took a lot, I’m back on top, y’all gon’ have to get acclimated / Won’t stop, my s–t’s still hot even though I won’t get nominated / Personal life with my wife, mind your business, it’s complicated.”

The album’s opener, “Int. Barbershop – Day,” goes even deeper. Framed as a series of conversations inside a barbershop, a space that, culturally, functions as both a sounding board and safe zone, the track features a collage of voices unpacking Smith’s career and public fallout. “Him and Jada both crazy, girl, what you talkin’ bout? You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth,” one voice says, echoing the exact words that sparked the incident.

Smith was banned from attending the Oscars for ten years and later resigned from the Academy. While he did issue a public apology to Rock, the two haven’t reconciled publicly. Rock, for his part, addressed the slap on his own terms in his Netflix special Selective Outrage, turning pain into punchlines and reclaiming the narrative through comedy, the very medium that got him in trouble to begin with.

Now, with this freestyle and the rollout of Based On a True Story, Smith seems intent on steering the conversation back into his own hands. Whether the public sees this as growth, provocation, or just damage control disguised as art is still up for debate.