Will Smith review, Based on a True Story: Not the mask-off moment we were hoping for

In the run-up to the release of his first album in two decades, Will Smith revealed the advice he received from the Bo-Echelons or Hip-Hop. He spoke to the radio station Sirius XM and explained that Jay-Z told him to “be faithful to your story”, while Kendrick Lamar said, “Just say you’ve always been afraid to say”.

Healthy advice. At his heights as a rapper, Smith was not exactly the hardest man in the room. Instead, his skill lies in his windy playfulness, his catch, even his family friendliness (famous that he did not swear in his music). Smith, accompanied by his exuberant production of pop-song sampling, often from his fellow native DJ Jazzy Jeff, helped Smith commercialize hip-hop and even win the first Grammy for the best rap performance.

There is also a lot of material to extract. In his early stage playing career, Smith was worshiped as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, decades later, impressed with an academy award-winning performance in King Richard, about the father of the Williams sisters. But his victory in 2022 Oscars would be reported instead of slapping Chris Rock over a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head, in front of a stunned Hollywood audience and viewers around the world. Smith quickly became persona non grata in the entertainment industry, while his unconventional marriage remained the butt of endless jokes.

So Based on a true story arrive with possibility… Could it be a raw and cathartic mask moment of the man who was once one of America’s most precious (and bankable) artists?

Unfortunately not. With lyrics like “Who the F *** Will Smith thinks he is?” About the strange hatown Electronica of the opening lane “Int. Barbershop – Day”, it’s clear that it’s not about to be another Great Willie -style, and could offer a look behind the persona. The implementation of the introduction of a black hood shop, jazzy Jeff and sketch committee B Simone joins Smith in a back and forth about all the investigation, gossip and turmoil that Smith has endured.

Once you get over the groan-inducing opening phrase “Will Smith has been canceled” there is enough To enjoy in the one -time self -reducing and incredible mocking, cartoon. He addresses his monumental work rate, his family life, the Oscars, echo of the rumors and discussions about racism and respectability politics in the industry that was in the discourse in 2022 (” I heard he won the Oscar, but he had to give it back ‘ /’ and you know that they did so, because he was black).

But from then on, the album loses clarity-he calls trauma (there’s a very beautiful cut with Teyana Taylor to get through difficult times), but Smith doesn’t really look comfortable with self-interrogation outside of Aphorism. There is a passage of faith and spirituality, with different “sermons” about overcoming internal adversity and slightly over-processed, adjacent gospel interruptions, all of which profess Smith’s commitment, not only in God, but also in Himself. “I believe in me as it is religion, but I am the only one who converts with the congregation / conversations, the scripture is in the verse,” he offers “beautiful scars”, with a delivery that is eventually surpassed by the Gaster Big Sean.

Smith is still a solid rapper, but it all feels more positive than Jay and Kendrick were encouraging. Of course, there are interesting cracks by the veneer that implies that he was on the point. He says the whole world against him on “bullet for”, and throws the slightly tense suggestion that you can never see if he is bleeding on “make it look easy”. But elsewhere on the same lane, he Opt for vague, clipped platitude about failure and salvation (“Life casts bumps, you must roll with it”). This is the kind of half -baked, wheat line that arises through the album: ‘The harder the fall, the higher you’ on ‘you can make it’; ‘You don’t have to be perfect to earn love’ on a closing track, ‘The Reverend (Waa person)’.

Based on a true story is part of a trio of albums that Smith plans to drop this year; This “season” is titled “Rave in the Wasland”. The cut of the same title is preceded by an intermediate time in which the ‘Reverend’ requests us to find joy and energy to face our internal darkness (the second season, by the way, will be called ‘The Gift of Madness’).

It seems fair to Smith to extract over the past few years and unpack his perceived abuse by the press as well as the public. It’s just a shame that he was chosen to do so with quasi-inspiring songs that don’t beat. It was an opportunity for unparalleled rapping and daring experimentation that still exists within the jumping freedom of Smith’s once playful musical universe. Unfortunately, Based on a true story Is it just not.