Is now the time for Will to return to music?

[Hero1]

Will has finally achieved his Oscar which he strived to get for 25 years. He's achieved all he wanted in movies. Is now the time for him to return to rap and put out another album? He would have a lot of things to say I'm sure.

[Lerkot]

2 hours ago, Hero1 said:

Will has finally achieved his Oscar which he strived to get for 25 years. He's achieved all he wanted in movies. Is now the time for him to return to rap and put out another album? He would have a lot of things to say I'm sure.

I dunno, maybe he should go into something slightly calmer... Watercolor painting maybe?

[fan 4ever]

2 hours ago, Lerkot said:

I dunno, maybe he should go into something slightly calmer... Watercolor painting maybe?

I've been saying for years that he should win an Oscar just to get it out of his system and return to music. I really hoped he would win one for King Richard. After what happened I doubt he is going to do some new music. I really think he will lay low for a bit. 

[analogue]

I'd love him to return to music, but I think he needs to work on his mental health first. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by analogue

[DefCEM]

1 hour ago, analogue said:

I'd love him to return to music, but I think he needs to work on mental health first. 

Agreed. This incident has probably damaged his reputation permanently. I don’t think he‘ll be respected as an artist as he used to be.
Stripping away the Oscar and never invite him again would be the only logical consequence in my opinion. He disgraced and disrespected the whole legacy of that show.

I’d be OK if he released a new oldskool kinda track here and there for nostalgic reasons, but I can’t really get into „Will Smith“ as that person became somebody I don’t like anymore.

Edited March 29, 2022 by DefCEM

[Lerkot]

1 hour ago, DefCEM said:

Agreed. This incident has probably damaged his reputation permanently. I don’t think he‘ll be respected as an artist as he used to be.
Stripping away the Oscar and never invite him again would be the only logical consequence in my opinion. He disgraced and disrespected the whole legacy of that show.

I’d be OK if he released a new oldskool kinda track here and there for nostalgic reasons, but I can’t really get into „Will Smith“ as that person became somebody I don’t like anymore.

Disgraced and disrespected... I mean the Academy Award people are obviously furious with him in public but in reality they love it. No one watches the Academy Awards these days, main reason being that it is dull as dishwater. There's nothing to disrespect really... and it will all be forgotten in a year or two. People are making a meal out of this minute of fury; I'm fairly sure Chris and Will shook hands and moved on not long after the show. The whole thing is shrug worthy really. Was a heated moment, bit of a dumb slap, no one got injured, life goes on.

As for reputation... do you think a bad reputation or bad behaviour stops any artist from being popular? That has never been the case.  What on earth indicates that doing dumb stuff would make you any less respected as an artist? The Travis Scott bloke watched his fans died, shrugged and... what happened? Probably sold more of his ****e music than ever before. And dont get me started on that Kanye bloke.

I also find the whole "no he shouldnt be doing music, he should be taking care of his mental health". Why are those opposites if he loves music? What is he going to do in order to feel better - stare into a wall? Not sure it is particularly efficient. He should do what he loves, whatever that is.

[JumpinJack AJ]

I think it would be the right decision, if he has it in him.  He has seemed distant from music for awhile. 

He got the Oscar.  Whoopi confirmed that it won't be taken away from him.  He's put himself in a position where some people are justifiably unhappy with him, so more "Will Smith the actor" is not what we need right now. I think laying the cut and reconnecting with music is ideal. Reintroduce himself doing something that isn't aligning himself with the movie industry. Reintroduce himself with what many of us were introduced to him through. 

The thing is, nobody REALLY wants to hear modern Will Smith. They want to hear classic Fresh Prince.  I like the songs his done over the past 10-15 years to various degrees, but they mostly involved him accommodating new styles and compromising for modern times.  I don't think most people want that.  They want classic Hip-Hop. They want story telling. The want jokes.  They want positive energy.  If he get do that, I think he'll be golden. 

That being said, it's hard to have the old school mind state of doing a full album and expecting comparable success.  During the Lost + Found era, Hip-Hop still had influence from the 80's and 90's.  That's long gone and never celebrated by the masses.  He needs to make an album for the grown and sexy crowd and not worry about the mass appeal.  He needs his support system back. Obviously, that's DJ Jazzy Jeff, and possibly some of his legendary peers. 

So yeah, put that Oscar on the shelf, and let music be that therapy. Spent a couple month in Philly. Reset.  Remind people of your greatness. 

 

p.s. DefCEM, I'm surprised how you're taking this.  How set in stone your new opinion is.  Will had a bad moment.  It was an isolated incident.  He gave a tactless warning slap to someone who's joke was at the expense of his wife. He didn't beat some helpless person up.  This isn't an ongoing thing that shows a true character flaw.  If we were all judged by our worst moment and mistakes, we'd all be pretty terrible people. Many of us worse than what Will is being criticized for at the moment.

[DefCEM]

For me it’s not particularly only about this incident, but his overall weird behavior in the past 4-5 years.

I always liked him for the image of Will Smith he projected. To be positive and conscious about the message he puts out there. @Lerkot and that’s why I think it‘ll ruin his „I am Will Smith and everybody is my friend“ image. He will kinda end like Mel Gibson (who was also at the show), probably not as bad as his position, but he will always be remembered for this.

I think there’s no dignity in humiliating yourself on the red table and using all this public attention to prostitute your deepest and most intimate thoughts and feelings. And all that to make money at the end of the day.
 

Personally I think, that he’s totally lost, both in terms of his ambitions as an artist and as a human being. All those stunts and kicks he needed, putting other people he loves in danger, talking quite some esoterical nonsense, etc 

i just can’t overlook all that anymore. The Fresh Prince is gone and that’s it. 

[Hero1]

I think I kind of agree with both @DefCEM and @JumpinJack AJ on this. One, I think it could be some excellent therapy for Will to go into the studio and get his thoughts out. I do also agree, and maybe you haven't been following it closely enough but this isn't an isolated incident from Will - he's lost his discipline - have a look at Will's fitness TV show where he basically quit, read the last couple of chapters of Will's book, I definitely think he is on some kind of spiral and that is what ended in the slap. So @Lerkot

 as an isolated incident maybe it isn't a big deal but if you step back and look at the big picture Will has gone from an extremely disciplined person to someone who looks like he is crying out for help and confused.

[fan 4ever]

I read his book and I think he’s growing as a man. He’s letting go of that military discipline because maybe he just wants to be himself. Maybe he was sick of living like that and he realized that he was putting up an act, both on and off screen. If you ask me he’s searching for his true self. He said it in his apology: I am a work in progress.  

I’ve been thinking about the incident for some time now and In all honesty, who are we to judge the guy really? He bitchslapped a guy because he was talking **** about his wife. I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do or that violence is the answer, but I guess some of us wouldn’t let that **** fly if they were talking about someone we loved. Sure, he did it on one of the biggest stages in the world. It got blown up by every media outlet in the world. It’s a bad example for kids and teens. Plus what makes it even worse is that everyone on social media gets the chance to give their opinion about it. Including us. We all have different opinions. We are all life long supporters of Will and we never ever thought he would be capable of doing something like this. That’s why our reactions are the way they are. But he apologized for it. And I can live with that. I hope he will talk about it on camera soon to put a stop to it and move on.

I can see why people are losing respect for him and I totally understand if they put him in a different perspective. I’ll keep supporting him, listening to his music, watch his movies and shows. We all evolve and change. Will is doing the same. And I’m glad he is.

I don’t see him doing music right away but it would be a great way to find himself. So I agree with @JumpinJack AJthat people might not want to see Will the actor, they want the Fresh Prince on the mic. It could be a great way for him to express himself. Who knows!

Edited March 29, 2022 by fan 4ever

[bigted]

damn do any of y'all watch dj jazzy jeff's magnificent lunch breaks and saturday block parties he has online?? it ain't just a "will smith forum"! ain't it also a dj jazzy jeff and fresh prince forum???  the best way for will to express himself is to do some online shows with dj jazzy jeff right on location, take it to the essence fresh prince, jjfp forever!!

[VIsqo]

I follow Jazzy Jeff all the time on Instagram. He has really kept busy online since the pandemic started and I've been loving every second of it.

And yes, I think the next step should be music related. 

[Lerkot]

4 hours ago, Hero1 said:

I think I kind of agree with both @DefCEM and @JumpinJack AJ on this. One, I think it could be some excellent therapy for Will to go into the studio and get his thoughts out. I do also agree, and maybe you haven't been following it closely enough but this isn't an isolated incident from Will - he's lost his discipline - have a look at Will's fitness TV show where he basically quit, read the last couple of chapters of Will's book, I definitely think he is on some kind of spiral and that is what ended in the slap. So @Lerkot

 as an isolated incident maybe it isn't a big deal but if you step back and look at the big picture Will has gone from an extremely disciplined person to someone who looks like he is crying out for help and confused.

Is the truth that simple though?

I bet that he, like everyone, has always had his demons and struggles, we really just never got to see it.

To me he behaves like pretty much any 50+ bloke who came late to the Internet/social media party: oversharing, publicly expressing things that soon were percieved as weird... I remember the first years after 2008 when Facebook really became popular: people talking openly about their love issues, people posting all kinds of ugly pictures from parties and whatnot, but after a year or two or three the vast majority of us learned - as a society and as individuals - the cost of this openness. I think Will missed out on that whole thing and is now learning it the painful way... along with obscene numbers of other late-to-the-party oldies who are posting all kinds of embarrasing **** everywhere.

[bigted]

maybe jjfp should make a song called "mr. nice guy 2022" and have jada sing the hook haha

[DevilsJim89]

I've kinda given up hope on music at this point. I'm sick of the half-ass attempts over the last few years with these weirdo songs. He does a song with DJ Khaled a few years ago and it's for the kids? I mean c'mon. Get Lit was another weird song. The best thing he did was that freestyle video on Youtube but of course that was like 1-2 minutes long and never released as a song. Oh and that Joyner remix that he jumped on. Will has such a team around him when it comes to video production and getting quick ad money off of Youtube clicks that I wish the same energy was there for music. 

I agree with AJ - nobody wants to hear new Will Smith with modern music production. If he's gonna return to music - he's gotta actually write and rap bars. Don't do it for record sales or awards - rap because it's who you really are (as opposed to being an actor and pretending to be a character) and you have plenty to say.