Will Smith's first record made him a high school star

Will Smith had the time of his life during his final month at high school after his friends heard his first record on the radio.

In an appearance in the first episode of new Apple Music series Carpool Karaoke Will revealed he was a child prodigy as a rapper and wrote his first rhyme at the age of 12.

He penned Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble, his first hit as part of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh aged just 16, and the song gained radio airplay while he was an 18-year-old pupil at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Overbrook High School.

"The first one that got released I was 16, Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," he told James. "I had a record on the radio for the last 30 days as a senior...You cannot beat... your friends at high school knowing... you already have a hit record on the radio."

James then joked Will would have been named person "most likely to have already succeeded" in his school yearbook.

Although the song failed to chart on its original 1986 release, in 1988 it reached number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 rundown after executives at Jive Records reissued the single due to the hip-hop duo's rising popularity.

During their drive for the new show, which is based on a popular segment from The Late Late Show with James Corden, the pair were joined by a marching band for a rendition of Will's 1998 hit Gettin' Jiggy Wit It.

The rapper turned actor also discussed a possible future project with James, saying he's spoken to former president Barack Obama about playing him in a biopic.

"I talked to Barack about it," Will explained. "He said that I had the ears for the role."

James and Will joked that the actor could drop in one of his famous catchphrases, "Oh, hell no" into the movie, possibly in a scene in The White House situation room where presidents oversee important military operations.

Will is reuniting with his old friend and collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff for two concert dates in Europe later this month (Aug17).