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Jaden Smith Gets Real About Being A ‘Confused Teen’ On His New Song

Jaden rings in his 18th birthday with ‘LABOR V2’

Though he’s constantly spewing out wisdom like an ancient three-eyed raven, Jaden Smith has actually just turned 18. To ring in his big day on July 8, the current Nylon cover star and steadfast defender of skirts has dropped a new song that shows off his quirky wordplay over a jazzy arrangement.

“LABOR V2” opens with a nearly two-minute string instrumental before the repeated lyric “18, 18, 18, yeah” kicks things off. There’s no hook or chorus; just one long verse where Jaden raps with a strong sense of self: “Confused teen, and I might be / In between an innovator and a hype beast / And I know you don’t like me.” Along with name-checking Miley Cyrus and crowning himself the “Young Calabasas kingpin,” he also touches on racial discrimination, rapping, “And how many times am I telling them / Just because you see the melanin doesn’t mean that I’m a felon / I’m here to show you the intelligence.”

The nearly six-minute track wraps with a hypnotic, jazzy outro that’ll leave you hoping he follows through on that pledge to finish his album soon.

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