VIsqo

Another great interview:

He always gets bad album reviews, people just love to hate! 

Legendswillneverdie.com
https://legendswillneverdie.com/2025/03/28/will-smith-based-on-a-true-story-review/
The art desk
https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/album-will-smith-based-true-story?amp
Ratingsgamemusic.com
https://ratingsgamemusic.com/2025/03/28/will-smith-based-on-a-true-story-album-review/

Yeah Will doesn’t tend to get good reviews for either film or music so it doesn’t make much difference to me.
What’s most important is that the fans are enjoying it and on the most part we are. I’m sure it matters more to Will what we think.
i was going to make a joke about reviewers knowing nothing because it’ll be some 40 year old white person, but that’s actually describing me now haha. 

Yeah, I have no interest in reading any reviews unless someone who likes Will's music is like "this is a good read."  I couldn't care less about someone's opinion.  What I think is interesting, is if you go to YouTube or something where you're actually listening to the music, it's virtually all positive.  However, if you go to social media, there's a lot of hate. I think that speaks volumes. 

Man it’s been 20 years but I was looking to find your review of the album. For real. Very much aligned with your thoughts. The cursing is my biggest issue - some ordering too of songs but I’m coming around to it as a total piece (rather than the sum of its parts).

I'd be repeating pretty much what everyone has already said here but the album is awesome. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the swearing but that's not a deal breaker for me.  Hearing the F bomb on a Will Smith album feels weird to me. 
I'll need more time with the album and I may be jumping the gun here but this might be in his top 3 best albums. 

Man, I am absolutely loving this album!!!! I love the barbershop, absolutely mesmerized by it.  Rave in the wasteland has got me, hard.  I love the sermons, his style on those are outstanding.  I’m loving all the different styles he’s rapping in, his flow is fantastic.  The hard times disco rap vibes so smooth, love it.  His message resonated with me in a major way, more than anything since code red.  Love the guitar on First Love.  The fresh feel of Make it Look Easy.  This is feeling very much like my favorite solo album, and second favorite after Code Red.   This album is way better than I was expecting.  So much better.  Fire, just absolutely fire. Beginning to end.

Been listening to it all day. Some of the songs that I didn't like much the first time are growing on me. I like the different styles and I like that he tried new things.

One thing I find funny about the reverand interludes is Will doing an old man voice when he is old now  On the Reverand in And in this Corner it was much more of a shift in his voice!

There's lyric videos for all the songs that don't have a music video...
 

I agree. The writing adds to the image. 

Man, the day has come. For Lost & Found, I want to Walmart to get the CD at midnight.  I wish I had that kind of experience this time, but I had to settle for buying it/downloading it at midnight.  I bought the regular version and the edited version. I drove around earlier today blasting the music on a super sunny 65 degree day. It was heaven.
1. Int. Barbershop - Day - I love this sound. More of this.  I like the banter on this track and that Will specifically voices the characters who are critical of him. The back and for with Jeff is so welcomed. It brings the energy of the JJ+FP albums. B. Simone is a welcome addition to them. 
2. You Lookin' For Me - Man, this is the Fresh Prince I love to hear. Especially those opening lines that borrow from Slick Rick. I love the lyrics and subject matter. The choir on the backup vocals sweeten up the kinda dark-sounding beat. 
3. The Reverend (Rave Sermon) - I'll say this about all of the interludes. I like the encouragement and the gems he shares. It makes me wonder if they would be better coming from Will straight, instead of through the reverend character. With albums, I tend to get tired of interludes after the first few listens. 
4. Rave In The Wasteland - Man, i love this beat and the energy. The subject matter is good, too. 
5. Bulletproof - I like the energy and lyrics on this one, too, but I think the production is leaning average.  Jac Ross has a great voice for this. 
6. Hard Times (Smile) - Man, I love this one I must say, I slept on Teyana, but this song makes me want to check out her music.  The slick, classic Hip-Hop meets R&B sound is my favorite. I like FP's relaxed flow and vocal presence. I'm so into this beat and the smoothed out chorus that I haven't really unpacked the lyrics yet.  
7. Beautiful Scars - I love the production on this. I like the changes in his flow throughout it. Admittedly, I'm not a Big Sean fan. I always though his voice and presence was weak and his lyrics un relatable. I like him a little more on this compared to anything else I've every heard him on. I would have preferred to hear someone else on the track who is more on Will's level.  No offense, to Omar, but I don't the auto tune chorus. I'd put someone like Usher on the chorus to upgrade it. 
8. Tantrum - I'm not saying it's bad, but this is my least favorite song. It's just kind of repetitive.  The beat is about as standard as you can get.  Will holds it down. I'm not crazy about Joyner's voice.  Why is Will kicking Joyner Lucas' butt on his own sound? 
9. First Love - I like the artistic move with this one. I don't think it gets enough credit.  However, I think it definitely takes down the pace of the album. I feel like it would serve better as a single or as a song oen one of the collaborating artists' albums.
10. Make It Look Easy - This is a really nice one. I love the sound and vibe. Like "Hard Times (Smile)", I think FP is the most comfortable on this sound. I guarantee this will be pumping through my car speakers all summer long. 
11. The Reverent (YCMI) - I nice message to lead into "You Can Make It".
12. You Can Make It - This is a highlight. Heck, it crossed over to be a hit on gospel charts. Will is emotionally raw on the song. Fridayy complements it well and hearing Sunday Service literally gives me goose bumps.  If this is the only real hit off the album, that's good enough. 
13. Work of Art - The beat is modern, but dope.  The lyrics sum up this era for Will. Jaden's feature is authentic and not forced. I know nothing about Russ, but his makes a mark on this. 
14. The Reverend (WOA Sermon) A nice send off for the album.
Overall I'm really happy with this album. I think it was weird that we heard so many singles off it before we got the whole thing. It made the listening experience kind of weird compared to having only heard a song or two. I feel like the songs that weren't released as singles are the glue of the album. Most of them are my favorites. 
I think my critiques are the sequence of songs. I feel like "Work of Art" should have been one of the first songs and that "You Can Make It" should have been the last song. I think the sound and production is kind of all over the place, which prevents it from feeling a completely cohesive album. I feel like I'll listen to some of these songs A LOT and some I'll only listen to when I'm in the mood to hear them. I haven't felt that about his previous albums.
I gotta be honest, Will cussin' in his songs still sits with me funny. I'm sure 99% of the time I'll be listening to the edited version of the album.
I really hope this album gets some shine.  It's a reminder that the Fresh Prince is a legit emcee and musician. This is good music....good Hip-Hop.

So far from the older ones Tantrum and Beautiful scars are my favorite. From the new ones Bulletproof and surprisingly, Make it look easy, are the ones I'm enjoying the most. The Rave on the wasteland one is growing on me but is so weird to hear Will rapping on it like that. Hard times and first love I'm not feeling too much.

Been listening to it all day. Some of the songs that I didn't like much the first time are growing on me. I like the different styles and I like that he tried new things.

Been listening to it all day. Some of the songs that I didn't like much the first time are growing on me. I like the different styles and I like that he tried new things.

That's amazing that they named a street after him. 

I am so happy with this album, it’s exceeded my expectations, been playing it all day.
 
The barbershop intro is the perfect start, that stuff needed to be said and it’s great to see Jeff on there. I’m enjoying “you looking for me”, it’s a middle of the road track for me.
”Rave in the wasteland” was a huge shock for me, seeing the title, it looked a little odd but when that beat started it was crazy. Sounds so different from anything he’s done, his flow is insane. Possibly my fave of the new, unreleased ones. 
 
Love “bulletproof” I think I heard it a while back when he did it live and I’ve been waiting to hear it properly. Definitely one of the better tracks of the album.
“Hard times” is great, I love RnB so the female vocalist sounds great to me. Only negative was Will wasn’t quite featured enough on it, but musically it’s beautiful.
Been playing “beautiful scars” lots the last few weeks, one of my top tracks of the album.
“Tantrum” has been out a while, I’ve seen most people love this one, I like it but it’s lower down on my list of tracks. Maybe I’ve overplayed it waiting on this album haha.
“First love” is my least favourite, the vocalist just isn’t my style and Wills flow just isn’t as good. I don’t dislike it so much but it’s just nowhere near as good as the rest of the album. Don’t know why they chose to release it.
Really like “make it look easy”, it’s grown on me a lot throughout the day. It’s almost like big Willie style vibes. Such a nice, chill, fun song.
I’ve always really liked “you can make it”. It came out when I was coming to the end of a tough couple of years, so it’s a special song to me.
I’ve always really enjoyed “work of art” too. Being the second song out made me realise we were gonna get some great music out of Will after 20 years.
Overall, love it. I think it’s perfect to come out with music like this after recent years. I’m ok with the swearing, he’s no longer got his squeaky clean image so he may as well haha. I’m hoping the next chapter/album has more fun, upbeat songs. But as the first one back, it’s just right.
 

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.

Thank you! Feels like I never left (save for a few Facebook logins when I couldn’t access this account it’s gotta be over a decade now).
I hope Jeff is more present in the next two albums he releases this year (crazy to say multiple albums, even just one from Will). There’s a real opportunity with the nostalgia love society has these days - even bad nostalgia wins. Now with will and Jeff’s talent, it’s a win - win. They could both commercially and critically really do something special with a cover to cover fresh Prince and Jazzy album.

Welcome back!! Barbershop definitely feels like Mike Tyson. Never thought we’d get another track like that. Will even brought back his old man voice!

Great to some of the old heads returning to the forum! 
Make It Look easy is also really catchy! 

His flow on Hard Times reminds me of his Born to Reign era. Like it a lot. But my favorite song is still Beautiful Scars. I hope he will have more tracks with Jeff on his next "Season"

Found a way to log back in to my original account and so fun to see everyone hyped. I have to say, I can’t stop playing the intro barbershop - straight up I think I can beat Mike Tyson vibes. Been giving the whole record a couple plays so far. Definitely have three or four favs and trying to get a handle on the rest.