thePrince

This is a solid album. Bulletproof is an absolute banger. Tantrum, too. I also really like Rave, Scars, Hard Times, and You Can Make It... The intro is mildly amusing, but for me, it’s a track to experience as part of the full album rather than something I’d play on its own. That said—unlike most on this forum—I actually like First Love. Overall, I’m really enjoying this more aggressive, direct evolution of WS's music… and I’m about to cue up Bulletproof again! For me this is WS’s best release since Willennium. It's obviously very different, but it reflects well where he is in life—just as that album did. It's grown up and gritty.

I've always loved his more forceful verses (I'm Comin', Born to Reign), so it's great to see him embracing this. This series of albums backed up with a world tour is news that I didn't see coming. What amazes me most, though, is logging in after all these years to see such familiar usernames reappearing on these threads - people I remember from when I first began visiting this community in 2001. A lot has changed since then, yet this place still feels much the same. Fantastic. It's great to see the likes of fan 4ever (and that his interests are still "hip-hop, tennis, and my girl"), now where are 3cookies, enjoy_summertime, and the rest of the BBS crew!

I agree. What a sad, sad man.

Nah, just sounds like he wants to monetise the situation by selling his story.

There have also been some “I got in one little fight..” FP memes kicking around the internet today!

Well, if nothing else, it’s brought us all back together again! I remember when I first joined the board over 20 years ago, Ali was being released. On the old Sony willsmith.net BBS there was a lot of hype amongst the Willennium-era fans that the role could land Will Smith his first Oscar. Of course it wasn’t to be, and nor were various future film roles that seemed sometimes almost deliberately chosen by WS to try and achieve his desired yet elusive Oscar success. In the end I (and probably most of you) got a bit bored of that endless pursuit. The irony, then, is that something that WS has worked fairly relentlessly for over 20 years or more to obtain - and which he should now be able to consider one of the greatest achievements of his life - will now forever be tainted in his mind and ours by the Chris Rock debacle. And he had his mother and other friends/family watching the whole spectacle from home as he came to pieces before them in the most public of environments. I don’t entirely know what I feel about the incident - I don’t necessarily disrespect it, but it’s confusing to process, which leads me to wonder if there’s not some sort of recent undercurrent between the two that we are unaware of. What is clear though are the following points. Chris was completely wrong to make these insensitive remarks about WS’s wife and her health, and he should never have made them before the world on that stage. WS’s temper flashed and I’ll bet he didn’t entirely know what he’d done until after he did it. Perhaps his ability to handle such situations is changing with age. He is entirely right to stand up for her, but he is entirely wrong to do it in the manner that he did. I’m sad for him because what should have been one of the true high points of his career will now forever be connected to an ugly low. He will have to live with that. It’s one thing to defend your family, but he should left the public swinging behind in the Ali days, 20 years ago. And Jaden’s “And that’s how we do it” Twitter remark isn’t exactly a good look for the family either.

I'm genuinely slightly tickled that a thread I started in 2004 is still going! Oh, and I'm listening to Da Rebirth's Behind Enemy Lies. Actually true. It's really good dude!

This sounds entertaining! My first post here in seven years, and I just happened to stop by and see this. I may well be abroad with work, but if not I'll see if I can't make it for old times sake.

2Pac + Outlawz - "Hell 4 a Hustler" Still I Rise (1999) This song is dope y'all. Sick hook.

Wow I can't believe this thread is still going strong. Crazy that something I started more than 6 years ago is still seeing several posts per day! The Coup - "Underdogs" (Steal This Album, 1998). This album has been seriously slept on!

This campaign reminds me a little of the petition Summertime/Explosive started in 2000/2001 (hard to believe that was a decade ago) to ask for one last FPOBA episode... except I would hope that this campaign will enjoy a little more success. It's unfortunate that the official WS BBS is off-line at the moment, because I think this is something that the kids over there would really grasp on to. The main difficulty you face is that WS isn't in the public eye at the moment, and there isn't any hype surrounding him. When he puts out another movie there'll be a new captive audience, but I wouldn't expect anything significant to happen to the campaign numbers until then. I suppose the main priority right now is to not let this fade away in the meantime?

Thanks for the replies. The honest answer to your question Julie is simply that life got in the way. I remember not long after the millennium, in my first year or two in the original WS community, I could never understand why online friends kept disappearing. I guess in this environment people are always going to come and go as circumstances dictate, though it's still crazy to be reading posts written today by a bunch of names I don't recognise. I suppose one generation of online fans has been replaced by another. Nevertheless, it's really great to see a couple of familiar cats still holding it down after all these years. At risk of going wildly off-topic, I recently stumbled across an internet time-warp circa 2002 that I'm sure one or two of you are familiar with, and thought the likes of AJ and fan4ever might get a kick out of seeing it again: Will Smith Fan's Domain Message Board.

Ha ha AJ that's pretty funny seeing those events come up into the mix again after all these years. I remember all that junk happening, it went down at the beginning of 2002.. remember when HarryN 'proposed' to willsgirl/love2will, and 3cookies was going to go to the wedding? Ha ha. I can't remember what really happened other than that, though do remember that willsgirl was hitting on me and Wes before someone found out that 'willsgirl' should actually have been 'willsguy'. Ha ha. Edit: I almost forgot to comment on the recording news! Be interested to see what comes out of it. And hello, by the way. It's been a while.

Awesome! Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince back up in our face! Been waiting a long time for this!

Hey guys, Just thought I'd drop a message to see how y'all are doing. Good to see some of the old cats still holdin' it down. I stayed up late last night, sitting alone in the darkness watching as the flames in the fireplace died down to embers. The embers of 2007 closes the door on a lot of chapters - the memories of some of which I am grateful to leave behind, but others I leave with regret. We have much to be thankful for, however. Here's looking forward to more of those good times in 2008. Peace, Prince