Will Smith, or the Fresh Prince as he was known in the 80's and 90's, is known for his ridiculous music videos, such as "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble". The music video for Fresh Prince's "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" lives up to this reputation. It is a song about Will Smith trying to fight Mike Tyson. The whole song is fiction, but its a story about the events leading up to the fight and then the fight itself. The video isn't meant to be deep, philosophical or anything remotely similar to those ideas. This music video was made to entertain, promote Mike Tyson, and, in a small way, teach a lesson about ego.

            This video isn’t made specifically to promote Mike Tyson however it obviously does promote this famous boxer from the time. Quotes such as “Jeff, nobody can beat Mike Tyson” make this quite clear. One of the intents of this music video is to teach a lesson about ego. This lesson is easily found, so easy in fact, that this ease adds to the childishness of the lesson. Will Smith tries to tell his listeners that ego can get a person into serious trouble. In the song, his ego makes him fight the best boxer in the world at that time, nicknamed Iron Mike Tyson. The result of this stupid decision is shown at the end of the video when a very beat up Will Smith is talking about how stupid he was.

                The lesson that ego can cause trouble is very definitely a part of this music video however it isn’t at all the main reason behind the video. The main reason behind this music video is simply to entertain. Will Smith or “Fresh Prince” does this in a few ways. The first is by making fun of himself left and right. The very opening scene does this very well, it shows Smith making a fool of himself, stumbling around looking up at the sky, then falling down and lying on the ground. Another time he is at a press conference and Smith exaggerates about all the training he’s been doing in preparation for the fight. The things he says are so outlandishly crazy, they are meant only to make Smith appear silly or buffoonish. He says such things as “I run 10,000 miles every morning” and “I can throw a volkswagon a whole half block…and 4 million sit ups...in a minute”. These are impossible and serve only to make this video enjoyable for the viewer.