How ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Changed Pop Culture using the 4C’s

Sing it with me y’all…

“In West Philadelphia born and raised…”

That line is permanently etched into the minds of almost 3 generations of people: X’ers, Millennials, and Gen Z.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air may be one of the most iconic television shows ever. And although it’s a 90s sitcom, it continues to inspire, so much so that it received the “reboot” treatment in the form of a drama (something we’ll talk about later).

These days nostalgia reigns king.

So, It’s only right that we talk about a show that inspired many, and drop a few gems for what it means marketing-wise in the process using the 4Cs: Culture, Consumer, Competition, and Category.

With that said, let’s head to Bel-Air for a bit.

THE ORIGIN STORY

It was the late eighties… Will Smith was enjoying a prosperous rap career and reveling in the success he and DJ Jazzy Jeff created with hits like “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

At the time, however, Will was headed toward an unforeseen issue, one that trips up many Americans: taxes.

Take a look at the clip below for the full story, but in short, Will ended up owing Uncle Sam a lot of Money.

He had burned through most of his music money when Benny Medina asked him if he’d be up for doing an NBC show produced by Quincy Jones. Will said yes, and though it was his first acting gig, he was clearly born for the role.

The rest is history.

Now that we know the origins of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, we can talk about the impact, starting with:

THE CULTURE

In another SNOBHOP piece about how Air Jordans became the greatest shoe of all time I mentioned that Will Smith was big part of the 90’s fandom around sneakers.

The thing is, Will’s style was (and continues to be) a huge part of the Fresh Prince’s lore, having worn a few iterations of iconic Jordans like the Grape 5’s, and other classic Nike’s too. Because of that, when a generation of X’ers and Millennials got together on Forums and sneaker conferences to talk sneakers naturally the conversations around their inspiration to collect sneakers trails back to a Golden era of Black culture in media, and that would mean they were inspired by the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

As DJ Jazzy Jeff chronicles in the above clip, they were tuned in on sneaker culture even before the internet was mainstream. With the old episodes of Fresh Prince in rotation and sneaker culture being so heavily embedded with nostalgia, The Fresh Prince Plays an integral role in where that culture is today.

On top of that, the characters became templates for other aspirations AND they continue to inspire.

Everybody wanted money like Uncle Phil & Aunt Viv

Everybody wanted a House that big

Every girl wanted a life like Hillary’s

Every guy wanted to be the Fresh Prince .

This type of mark on culture doesn’t come easily. It’s not low-hanging fruit that can happen with any show — in fact, it only happens when you stumble upon unique cultural contradictions, the type of contradiction that creates…

CULTURAL TENSION

The Fresh Prince is iconic because it really hit on a few interesting cultural tensions. At the time, most depictions of Black families on television were blue-collar families who found happiness while barely making ends meet. With the exception of the Cosby show there hadn’t been a show that displayed an upper-class Black family or what that could entail.

IT WAS THE ULTIMATE CULTURAL CONTRADICTION

Will’s character was from West Philly & Uncle Phil was affluent. It begs the question of what happens when someone quite literally goes from the hood to hollywood, and it’s intriguing for all parties involved.

Throughout the show, they tackled many issues including, racism, and classism, to abandonment in a way other shows couldn’t. As a result, it left an indelible mark on OG viewers. The moment that probably hit the hardest for most Fresh Prince fans is when Will meets his father

Disclaimer: If you don’t want to cry on this beautiful Friday morning, then DO NOT WATCH THIS CLIP.

Over time, OG Fresh Prince fans passed their love of the show down to the next generation of consumers. Moments like the one above hit home with them too.

THE CONSUMER

That was J. Cole’s opening line on what’s arguably his most successful song “No Role Modelz” and it’s become the chant of a generation.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air made a crazy impact on its viewers – so much so that musicians often reference its characters in song lyrics (like the J. Cole one above), mixtape covers.

Consumers loved the Fresh Prince so much that nostalgia has kept a strong grip on the series even 30 years later. That grip is so strong that it even lead to a capsule collection of Fresh Prince gear in 2019 where Will Smith himself donned pieces of gear including one resembling his famous “inside-out” Bel-Air Academy jacket.

BEL-AIR ATHLETICS

THE COMPETITION

IT REVIVED THE SITCOM IN THE 90s

To be blunt, The Fresh Prince brought NBC back from the brink. At the time the sitcom was a format that was dying out according to sources. However, the Fresh Prince was part of an era of television shows that brought the genre back into focus.

AND IT REMINDED COMPETITORS OF THE POWER OF NOSTALGIA

When cable networks & streaming platforms realized that there were was still demand for the Fresh Prince from tv viewers, Netflix immediately scooped up the streaming rights in 2016. Since then, it’s been a few different platforms and now has a home on HBO Max.

Knowing the power of The Fresh Prince, HBO and Westbrook Media (Will Smith’s production arm) even made did a reunion special which answered all of fans lingering questions including the most controversial one: What happened to the original Aunt Viv, Janet Hubert?

THE CATEGORY

IT HELPED SPARK THE “REBOOT” CONVERSATIONS

In 2017 a mysterious trailer took Twitter by storm.

It wasn’t “official” though. It was fan’s recreation of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as a drama, and it was DOPE. So Dope that it went viral and caught the attention of Will Smith who soon promised that a reboot was in works. I’d highly encourage you to check out the trailer that started the hype below:

The show came to fruition 2 years later and what made it even better is that Will & Co. used the same creator of the fan rendition of Bel-Air to help in the creation of the reboot. The result? You can see it below, and on peacock.

Though I can’t necessarily prove it (yet) I think that Bel-Air led the pack on reboot conversations and seeing how massive the success of the combo of: reruns, reunion special, and dramatization has worked, I can imagine that other franchises are studying the blueprint and looking for a way to replicate its success.

BUT, WHAT NOW?

I mean… Fresh Prince is just as relevant as ever, of course.

Reruns air faithfully on tv, and the revamped 1 hour drama is rumored to have a season 2 in the works as we speak.

If Nostalgia for the 90’s has taught us anything, it’s that shows like the Fresh Prince will continue to have some level of impact on future generations if not directly, then indirectly.

If you see Will, tell ‘em I said what up. I need in on that Bel-Air reboot too.

Peace.