GutterPutter

Outside of Will Smith’s humongous success as an actor comes his start as a rapper during the Golden Age of Hip Hop. He once performed as the Fresh Prince in a duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff which saw several big commercial hits during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. It was in 1990 when a Herculean break with the TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air pushed Smith out of being a music artist in favour of being on screen. Following more than 30 years’ worth of performing which saw him starring in several films like Men in Black or The Pursuit of Happyness, he virtually sits on top of Hollywood. Feelings around him aren’t exactly the most positive however be it his son Jaden’s eccentricities, his altercation with Chris Rock in the 2022 Academy Awards (even if it’s slightly justified in defense of his wife), or the fact that he starred in Dreamworks’ foul pile of trash that is Shark Tale. 

Enter Based on a True Story – Smith’s first album in 20 years which was supposedly his most personal as well. It was thematically about showing resilience against all odds based on his interview with BFA Collective. And while it might be exciting to hear about a major comeback after a long hiatus, the sight of the peak contrasts with the hellhole that brims below. It was clear throughout the album that Smith’s intent was more of a vent where he sought to show that he’s a family man, that he’s one of the biggest celebrities in the world, that he has made it and more. Too bad that at the start with ‘Int. Barbershop Day’ (points for it being styled like a screenplay) was the role of it being to flex for Smith. Getting cancelled? Starring in one of Disney’s foppish live-action remakes? Giving away your Oscar? Goodness forbid, “he can fit your whole house in his pool”. 

It’s basically taramount to a temper tantrum. Several songs are about him showing off as much of his materialistic successes as possible as if to compensate for his inner hollowness. ‘You Lookin’ For Me?’ has him rap about hanging out with “the sheikhs and with the Saudis” before bragging about being “on [his] grind for a very long time”. Given that Saudi Arabia was long accused of violating human rights to the point where it’s impossible to talk about oil revenues without it being remembered as “blood money”, he’s unintentionally inspiring a wave of left-wing emcees to jeer for tearing celebrityhood apart. Not that I mind it to be honest. To back that point up, he namedrops the Canon and Nikon camera brand in ‘BEAUTIFUL SCARS’ and attempted to depict himself as human by naming as many trinary-opposing ideas as possible in ‘WORK OF ART’ (with Jaden). It is style without substance, but even the style itself has no substance.

This in turn would bring into mind the rudimentary rapping prowess of Smith. Based on a True Story has neither the melody that could be found in emo rap, nor the gritty wits of the Wu Tang Clan, nor the literariness of Nas or Little Simz. His entire skill set in the genre rests entirely within pop rap with little steps taken to scaffold it since the 1980s. ‘Rave in the Wasteland’ has only basic rhymes (like “revelation” and “elevation”, or “the moment” and “atonement”. Even more offensive is the contrast between the attempt to make it a party-themed bop compared to the lyrical euphemism of the “church” with its sinners in the wasteland. This would have been played in another Jonestown. ‘Bulletproof’ also has a lot of comments on religious topics like the afterlife as does ‘FIRST LOVE’. The figures of speech are not only bad, but they feel weird and I don’t mean that in a light-hearted kind of way.

In fact, you have three related skits called ‘The Reverend’ that each have their own version. ‘Rave Sermon’ is completely fucking awful with how it presumably tries to inspire love, hope, and understanding through raving. Try and picture that in your head without laughing because you’ll be forgiven for wishing that it’s about a veteran stoner trying to out-cool Snoopy Doggy Dogg. ‘YCMI Sermon’ tries to encourage empathy which would have been hippy-ishly passable had it not been for the fact that Smith spends much of the album gorging himself with all his extravaganzas. It’s like watching Macbeth where our hero becomes king and says out loud that power is bad. ‘WOA Interlude’ ends the album with an affirmation that “you are a work of art” which, and I’m stretching it for a bit, intimidating because of how influential Smith’s slap is to meme culture. He made art through violence.

It is with great displeasure for me to say that some of the worst bits happen to be Smith’s attempt to modernise himself for the current trends. By that, the beats and the featured guests happen to be a slop for those who are hoping for a more high-profile treat. ‘Hard Times (Smile)’ seemingly tries to imitate the success of ‘Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It’ as a club banger, but the mixing of the instrumentals makes the keyboard moot and the the bassline soot. Whatever groove you are hoping to find is almost non-existent. ‘Make It Look Easy’ adopts the Reggaetron beat with its riddim, yet it feels kitschy. It has that post-colonial sense of appropriation where it could well be ripped out of a basic outline and implanted into the song without further sophistications added to it aside from the sampled “break-its”.

As for the features themselves, they are widespread with a clear named appearance in nine out of 14 tracks in total. The miracle is that they happen to add little, if at all, to Based on a True Story. ‘You Can Make It’ is one notable example with Francis ‘Fridayy’ Leblanc on the chorus and Ye’s (yes, that Ye) Sunday Service Choir as the backing vocals. The song itself should have this sense of inspiration behind it, but the autotune proves itself to be too excessive and the choir wholly melodramatic. It’s a Tommy Wiseau musical in full display. 

Then you have ‘TANTRUM’ with Joyner Lucas which is an attempt at a battle rap. Yes, it’s an attempt. Smith tries to get into his bad-boy type of persona only to deliver some of the wackest disses one could broadly think of like “[sugarcoating] this stuff with bubblegum”. Lucas, on the other hand, has never grown since his online breakout. He still proclaims himself to be irreplicable, the son of God, a few cheesy bars here and there. He is definitely unique and not at all like hundreds of Eminem-inspired rappers who made a wowzer once and then sank back after a few years’ worth of fame. Smith should’ve taken Hitta J3 in to be honest.

If the album is indeed Based on a True Story, then what a depressing tale that must have been in real life. Taken as a character study, Will Smith has nothing but wealth and his family as solely marketable toys. As a fable, it is to Jay-Z’s 4:44 what Philosophy of the World is to Trout Mask Replica. It feels like a Mr. Beast project, a sociological analysis of the moral erosion that comes from capital accumulation. I don’t know if it’s possible to recommend this album even to Will Smith fans. They are better off rewatching 2016’s Suicide Squad or even bopping along with that annoying whelp that is ‘Boom! Shake the Room”. It would have been a perfect satire had the feelings not been wholly genuine.

0.3/5