DJ Khaled and Will Smith’s Aladdin track is family-friendly novelty rap

Will Smith and DJ Khaled offer up a passable version of “Friend Like Me.”

May 23, 2019

Disney, in its endless quest to cash in on all the intellectual property you adored as a child, is preparing to release a live-action remake of Aladdin this week. If you haven’t seen the trailers, it’s basically shaping up to be exactly what you’d expect: a slightly uncanny valley-style remake where nearly everything is CGI and everything else is creepy anyway. In its quest to make Aladdin culturally relevant, Disney is also releasing a bunch of reimagined versions of Aladdin classics like “A Whole New World” (which was redone by Zayn) and, now, “Friend Like Me” which has been given a makeover by DJ Khaled and Will Smith, who will play the genie in the upcoming film.

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As one might expect, this new version of “Friend Like Me” is perhaps the most toothless, family-friendly rap song one could ever hear; it basically just takes the overall themes of the original “Friend Like Me” and turns it into a school lunchtime rap track. It's not all bad; Will Smith sounds... better than I remember? Which bodes well, since it'll probably be played on daytime radio every day for the next, I dunno, three years? Listen to “Friend Like Me” above.

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DJ Khaled and Will Smith’s Aladdin track is family-friendly novelty rap