Will Smith channels his post-slap introspection into music

Will Smith could have let his infamous Oscar slap be his cinematic fade out with a career bruised, marriage dissected and reputation in a free fall.

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But instead of retreating, he turned inward for self-reflection. In the process, Smith rediscovered a long-neglected creative outlet in music, using the mic as a vessel to voice his thoughts after years of prioritizing his Hollywood dominance.

"I've taken the last couple of years to really do a deep dive on the parts of me that may or may not been in that level of certainty and asking those deep scary internal questions,' said Smith, an Oscar and Grammy winner, who will release his fifth studio album "Based on a True Story" on Friday. It's his first music project in two decades since "Lost and Found."

"It really is the result of my initial self-examination," he said. "Every song is about some part of myself that I discovered or wanted to explore, something I wanted to share. It's the most full musical offering that I've ever created."