Will Smith Steps Aside, Lets Pitbull Handle ‘Men in Black 3′ Theme Song

Will Smith has handled the theme songs for the past two 'Men in Black' movies, but that's all changing on 'Men in Black 3.' Smith has passed the torch to Pitbull, who will release his slice of 'MiB' history far in advance of the new movie itself.

According to Billboard, the rap superstar will issue 'Back in Time' to radio stations and as a digital single on Monday (March 26th) -- a full two months before 'Men in Black 3' arrives on May 25th.

Pitbull said in a statement, "It's an incredible honor to be a part of such an amazing franchise as 'Men in Black' and I have so much respect for Will Smith, especially with our similar musical backgrounds."

The film's director, Barry Sonnenfeld, chimed in, saying, "My 19-year-old daughter turned me on to Pitbull. I'm thrilled that he wrote such a great song for our movie that totally gets it." (Somehow we can't quite picture Sonnenfeld rocking out to Pitbull, but whatever.)

The song's title refers to the movie's plot, in which Smith's Agent J must travel back in time, where he meets up with a younger version of Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), played by Josh Brolin.

Hopefully the recording of Pitbull's song went more smoothly than the filming of the movie itself, which was hampered by script rewrites and production shutdowns.

Here's a brief trip down memory lane with the video for Smith's original 'MiB' theme, which topped Billboard's radio airplay chart for four weeks in the summer of 1997: