Will Smith returns with first album in 20 years

[inndaskKy]

Just finished

Album is all over the place sonically, its like Will wanted to be inspirational/aspirational with the gospel tinge but didn’t dig deep enough, then wanted to be the playful Fresh Prince of old but didn’t commit fully to inhabiting the persona, then wanted to boast about his success but doesn’t want to come off arrogant so its just random bragging.

His flow is still on point and his mic presence is as charismatic as ever but this album doesn’t know what it wants to be because, as much as he raps about having found himself, Will as an MC in 2025 doesn’t know WHO he wants to be. Are you confessing your sins and making amends? Are you partying all over the globe? Are you going to Church and therapy to be a better person? The best rappers can take all of these clashing flaws and philosophies make great art out of the hypocrisy of the human existence. But unfortunately what Will does here is just throw a mess of a mind-state into a blender and serve it to the audience without proper context. The sequencing is bizarre, the skits fall flat, and the actual production ranges from half-assed to “good”. The album feels like a thrown together greatest hits album with NO hits.

Will has said there are two more albums supposedly on the way. Lets hope this first offering is just a warm up and not indicative of what Will is capable of musically in this generation, because if it is we’re better off being nueralized by Tommy Lee Jones than attempting to get Jiggy with this shyt.

Good review, haven't listened to the album but I think I get just what you mean. It actually sounds like Will did succeed in translating his personality to the record then because I feel like this is exactly who he's been for the last two decades. He doesn't really know who he is and has little insight into himself but desperately wants to understand himself and be the most interesting man in the world liked by everyone with the highest level of proven success. I feel bad for him because he seems to be proof that success doesn't equal fulfillment or happiness.

 

[Da King]

Some of the tracks are just awful, terrible production


The problem is no one is trying to really listen to him rap anymore, and he’s only putting this album out to rehab his Hollywood career. Everything about this is forced

 

[BuckFilly]

nikka no. I’ll stream his kids in 2025 not him. He must be bored

 

[Westbama Heartthrob]

shyt sounds fukking gay

fukk will smith

Aint you the same dude that was in that thread talking about you love poppers?

You the last mf that can use gay as an insult

 

[R=G]

Hell nah

 

[LadyJ2]

Ugh let me go ahead and listen so I can talk shyt

 

[Novembruh]

Will the worst musician in his family now tbh.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

Will Smith is cussing on records? Bro 2025 is something

 

[Capitol]

The album feels like a thrown together greatest hits album with NO hits.

 

[Da King]

Will the worst musician in his family now tbh.

Sadly

 

[King Sun]

DJ Jazzy Jeff is right there production wise and you decide to go with this

 

[steadyrighteous]

DJ Jazzy Jeff is right there production wise and you decide to go with this

To be fair, Jeff has often used ghost or co-producers (post Fresh Prince & Jazz Jeff era), so I wouldn't say linking up with Jeff would be the answer

For example, I really loved Jeff's Magnificent album, and I still love a lot of it, but it was only with time and my own taste expanding that I understood most of it was Kev Brown and Oddisee, so he was clearly coasting off of the Low Budget sound at that time.

So unless Jeff was digging into his bag of young'ns (like the people who used to go to his PLAYLIST Retreat), I wouldn't say Jeff is the answer.

 

[King Sun]

To be fair, Jeff has often used ghost or co-producers (post Fresh Prince & Jazz Jeff era), so I wouldn't say linking up with Jeff would be the answer

For example, I really loved Jeff's Magnificent album, and I still love a lot of it, but it was only with time and my own taste expanding that I understood most of it was Kev Brown and Oddisee, so he was clearly coasting off of the Low Budget sound at that time.

So unless Jeff was digging into his bag of young'ns (like the people who used to go to his PLAYLIST Retreat), I wouldn't say Jeff is the answer.

what? I never knew this

 

[steadyrighteous]

what? I never knew this

https://www.discogs.com/release/313488-DJ-Jazzy-Jeff-The-Magnificent

I wasn't familiar with Low Budget at the time, I was young and just getting out of mainstream rap, but that Jeff album was a part of shaping my current taste.

Then as I got up on Oddisee and Kev and that crew, I went back and thought "cool, Jeff gave them a look and a feature"

Only when I dug into the credits and re-listened being familiar with Kev and Oddisee, I understood "oooooh, this is just a mostly Kev Brown/Low Budget album" or Jeff coasting off their style.

 

[Zero]

Aint you the same dude that was in that thread talking about you love poppers?

You the last mf that can use gay as an insult

Poppers and weird shex?!?!