Editor’s Note: “Boston Thriving” is an ongoing series from Vanyaland highlighting and honoring the national and global success of Boston- and New England-based bands and artists.
Will Smith doesn’t normally have issues creating content that, erm, slaps. But when the actor/hip-hop magnate dropped a dud of a single last month called “Pretty Girls,” it was Michael Christmas who put some pep back in the Fresh Prince’s flow.
If you happened to hear about “Pretty Girls” before this very moment, it’s probably because you witnessed someone lambasting the ill-fated OBanga collab on X, labeling it a prank, a “simp anthem,” and most creatively, an H&M commercial. Two days after the song’s release, the Boston rapper chimed in to flag the song’s awkward pacing as its main flaw.
“This is just a tempo issue,” Christmas posted on X. “Speed it up to 1.25 or slow it down to .75 and watch, much more fire song.” As of print time, that same tweet has over 11,000 reposts, 186,000 likes, and 38 million views. Apparently, one of those views must have been Smith himself, because an EP of “Pretty Girls” remixes dropped last week (July 1), prominently featuring a sped-up remix from Christmas.
In fact, Smith not only shared a video compiling positive reactions to Christmas’ suggestion, using it as the EP’s main promo — he also used that same remix to soundtrack a “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” fan video, which he captioned “Still thinking about Will & Lisa 🥺.”
“I MADE A SONG WITH WILL SMITH (SORT OF),” Christmas posted on X as a follow-up to his original comment.
The irony is, the “Pretty Girls” remix isn’t even his best work from last week. On Independence Day, Christmas shared his Two Slices EP, a pairing of the new tunes “Just Do It” and “Violated.”
We’ve never been so stoked to celebrate Christmas in July. Grab all the new goodies below.