Lou Anthony, The ‘New Fresh Prince’: How His Story Mirrors West Philly Legend

Philadelphia, Pa — A rapper/actor who went from “West Philadelphia, born and raised” to the hills of sunny California is a story that doesn’t describe just Hollywood icon Will Smith anymore.

Lou Anthony, a 28 year-old music artist, actor, and businessman, grew up along the same streets as the silver-screen legend two decades prior. His path took him an eerily similar route when he ended up on a February 2020 flight to Sacramento and never returned home.

“I was going for a wedding,” he said. “I have family there and one of my cousins was getting married so I flew out. I was supposed to be there for just a week.”

Plans changed when the threat of COVID-19 caused travel restrictions across the country and Californians were advised not to fly.

“I basically was stranded,” he said. “But I didn’t want to leave anyway so it didn’t bother me.”

Persuasion from his relatives convinced Anthony to stay as long as he wanted — three years and counting.

“I’m waking up to this big a**, beautiful a** house everyday,” he recollected. “And my auntie’s there, all her kids [my cousins] are there, and I’m straight out the hood of West Philly and I’m there,” he said laughingly. “And after some time I realized, ‘Wait, I feel like the Fresh Prince!’”

He also noted there was a “high entertainment value” living with so many family members, so much that it sometimes felt like an “actual sitcom.”

Anthony’s two most recent song releases, “Outside” (June 2022) and “Girls From The Bay” (March 2023) are odes to California based on his experiences there in the past three years.

For more on Lou Anthony and to stream his music/video releases, logon to www.LouAnthony.com.