Inside Jaden Smith’s Psychedelic World of Innovation: Interview | Complex

Jaden is all about challenging the status quo and breaking the rules. 

In August, the 23-year-old innovator formerly known as Jaden Smith dropped CTV3, the final chapter of his Cool Tapes series, which delves into a psychedelic journey. He tells Complex that the project goes into a lane very few rappers have explored before. “I’ve never heard a mixtape that was alternative psychedelic rock,” he says. “I also wanted to take a big leap as a rapper, honestly, to go to the extreme ‘other place.’” 

Jaden is pushing boundaries in the philanthropic space, as well. Over the last year, he’s been working on launching a restaurant in Los Angeles that will give free food to the homeless community. He’s also working on ways to solve the water crisis in disenfranchised communities through his JUST Water company. And now, Jaden is looking to make another statement with his latest MSFTSrep collection, which just launched in London’s high-end department store Selfridges & Co on Sept. 22. 

Similar to his own interests and mission, Jaden says his MSFTS collection is representative of “the organized rebellion within the youth.” He explains, “This [collection really is for the lost souls and the kids that feel like they never fit in, or that people didn’t understand them, or that no one really wanted to hang out with them. MSFTS is a collective of individuals dedicated to raising the consciousness of humanity through art and science. That’s just a long way of saying that it’s the kids that got kicked out of the cool kids club. It’s all those kids that came together to change the world.” 

The launch of his MSFTS collection marks the beginning of a new chapter for Jaden. He reveals that he is taking a step away from music for the foreseeable future. “I’m probably not going to release any music for a while,” he says. Jaden isn’t clear on whether he’ll ever return to music, but with MSFTS and his other humanitarian efforts, he definitely has a lot on his plate. And at the core of all of his projects, Jaden says his mission is simply to “innovate.” He’s coming to terms with his place in music, too, hinting that people criticize his innovations before ultimately being influenced by them.

Jaden spoke to Complex about his psychedelic journeys, MSFTS, CTV3, changing the world, and more. The interview, lightly edited for clarity, is below.