celebrating jaden’s inner beauty on his 21st birthday

If Jaden Smith is not in the news for his music, then it’s for his attempts to save our world. And sometimes he blesses our feeds for both reasons, at the same time. Smith is one of pop culture’s most active and compassionate stars, whose constant efforts should be celebrated. So early into his career, he’s already become a blueprint of sorts for celebrities who want to make a difference.

Anyone who pays close attention to Jaden knows about his environmental work. In between recording songs like “Icon”, or his latest album ERYS, he runs a company called JUST Water. Co-founded by Smith and clean-water activist Drew Fitzgerald, JUST Water brings ethically sourced water in a paper based, CO2-footprint-reducing carton bottle. More than this, as we reported a few months ago, JUST Water partnered with a church in Flint, Michigan “to develop and deploy newly designed water-filtering system that can be used locally rather than centrally” to help end the water crisis in Flint.

Jaden understands his responsibility as someone with a platform and access to power resources and power. He does not work alone, learning from groups who already do the work he is passionate about. Whether its collaboration in his music (his sister Willow, Tyler The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Kid Cudi, and Trinidad James are all on his new album) or collaborations with activist groups like Black Millennials For Flint, Jaden see’s the power in numbers.

Today happens to be Jaden’s 21st birthday, and I woke up to the news of Jaden’s latest venture. He’s launched a pop-up food truck on Los Angeles’ historic Skid Row, to provide one of America’s largest homeless populations with access to free and healthy food (the yt house could never). According to Smith, this is the first of many pop ups for the “I Love You Restaurant,” a movement meant to give people what they deserve: healthy meals for free.

Anyone who listens to Jaden’s music knows he’s eclectic. ERYS crosses numerous genres, with softer songs (the moody “P” or the optimistic “Summertime in Paris”) in between a punk banger (“Fire Dept”) or songs you know you’ll dance to at the club (“Got It”). Jaden’s ways of giving are just as diverse and the list long like his 20 song deluxe record. Just last week he helped friend and fellow activist Shia LaBeouf with an appearance at Slauson Rec. Theater Company, to raise money for students to have access to theater programs regardless of financial background or professional experience. This was not the first time Jaden supported Shia, having done so with his He Will Not Divide Us movement born in response to the Tr*mp Era. Jaden continues to do more than his share in bettering the world and teaching others to do the same.

Happy Birthday Jaden, you really deserve to celebrate who you are.