*Official* Lost and Found Review Post

[WesSyde]

Two questions about this albume

Why would will wanna make songs like "get Back" "Lean Back" and Drop It Like It's Hard"? Those are horrible songs. Did He say this as a joke?

Why Is half of the songs so depressing?

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to expand on what Jim is saying, he's sayin he wish he would've thought of those hits, not because they're that good, but so he could be as popular and have like a real mainstream single that every1 is hyped about. he's just basically sayin he wishes he could have the recognition those guys get for their songs, but i dont think he wishes he woulda made them.

[Hero1]

he's saying he wish he amde those songs because those songs were huge on black radio..but they wont play Will... and whats so depressing about lost and found? :hmm:

[MaxFly]

Two questions about this albume

Why would will wanna make songs like "get Back" "Lean Back" and Drop It Like It's Hard"? Those are horrible songs. Did He say this as a joke?

Why Is half of the songs so depressing?

←

to expand on what Jim is saying, he's sayin he wish he would've thought of those hits, not because they're that good, but so he could be as popular and have like a real mainstream single that every1 is hyped about. he's just basically sayin he wishes he could have the recognition those guys get for their songs, but i dont think he wishes he woulda made them.

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Agreed... I don't think he exactly wishes he made those songs or thought up those topics, but rather, I think he's really just trying to express that he wishes his music would be as readily accepted as these other songs have been. I've always taken "I Wish I Made That" to have a bit of sarcasm in the hook. "(Summa-summertime) Seems like all I've got." If you listen to the inflection in his voice as he rhymes the hook... you can hear it.

[D-Money]

he's saying he wish he amde those songs because those songs were huge on black radio..but they wont play Will... and whats so depressing about lost and found?  :hmm:

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The Obsessed fan the 9-11th(which I understand) the Could u love me song and Scary Story they are all kind of non postive. But I like them anyway

[WesSyde]

he's saying he wish he amde those songs because those songs were huge on black radio..but they wont play Will... and whats so depressing about lost and found?  :hmm:

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The Obsessed fan the 9-11th(which I understand) the Could u love me song and Scary Story they are all kind of non postive. But I like them anyway

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Could U Love Me is not a nonpositive song, it's one of those "if" songs. Loretta is a nonpositive song, but the BEST form of rap is story tellin, so i cant find anything wrong with that. ditto that for Scary Story.

[D-Money]

Oh. I didn't know I'm sorry bro I gotta go

[MaxFly]

I think people have to realize that life isn't just good times and happiness. Will has always tried to accentuate the positives in his life with feel good music because there's enough negativity involed in hip hop. But I give him props for taking the time to acknowledge the negatives and the things that aren't so flowery in his surroundings. What's most important is that the music has a message or tells a story to get a point across, which should ultimately be the goal of all forms of music. So when I hear a song like Loretta or Miss Holy Roller... I don't take it as depressing. I listen to the message, and if Will has something good to say or something I agree with, I'll take it in and enjoy.

[Hero1]

WILL SMITH

Lost and Found

4 stars

I must say, despite my fondness for underground hip hop, I’ve always respected Will Smith’s music. “C’mon, he’s good at what he does.” However, (I know you saw that however coming) the opening track, which samples the Spiderman Theme, is annoying at best but don’t hit the stop button just yet. The first single Switch is classic Will, and a highlight on the LP. Why? Because he’s doing what he does best – making us dance. Remember Gettin Jiggy With It? Miami? Gold? From here on in, the LP gets very interesting and we see Will venture into territory he hasn’t dared walk in the past. On Mr. Nice Guy he raps, ‘People be messin’ with me/ testin’ me, f..kin’ with me/ I wanna send a message to ‘em/ teach ‘em a lesson quickly.’ This backlash is directed at people such as Eminem and radio hosts who have attacked Will for being “soft”. He even calls out the rest of the hip hop community on the title track saying, ‘Truck with rims? Check. Throwback jersey? Check. Champagne bottles? Check. Lots of models? DAMN! That’s the list for 90% of y’all videos and songs. Am I wrong?’ And it doesn’t stop there as September 11 gets a mention, War in the name of God – you name it. Will is back, and this time he’s not just dancing, he’s educating.

(Interscope/Universal)

Boltz Sez: Finders keepers!

http://www.ozonline.com.au/buzz/dancenet.htm

[fan 4ever]

That's a good review! Thanx!

[J-o-e]

Thanks for this Tim!!!

[Jonny 5]

sweet review!

[Hero1]

WILL SMITH: "Lost and Found"

By Fred Shuster

Staff Writer

3 stars out of four

WILL SMITH: "Lost and Found"

(Interscope)

As a top-grossing actor, this all-around nice guy doesn't have to make records. But on his entertaining ninth album, refreshingly designed for an all-ages audience, the affable "Men in Black" star still gets a kick from hip-hop. Laced with useful dance-oriented beats, memorable choruses and just-right cameos from Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg, "Lost and Found" is the kind of non-moronic rap product that's become endangered - good, clean, old-school fun. Best moments include the irresistible party anthem "Switch" and "If You Can't Dance," a fond tip of the backward cap to the golden DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince era. Elsewhere, on the amusing "Mr. Niceguy," Smith slams a well-known Big Apple broadcast gossip who "better leave me alone, before I buy your radio station and send you home." With $20 mil a picture, it's not an idle threat.

http://u.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,...2804126,00.html

Lost and Found

****

I was rather dreading sitting through the generic beats and fatherhood ballads of the ‘serious actor’ Will we’ve grown to wince at over the years. But I’m as keen on him now as I was before Jazzy Jeff’s Summertime was buried by gangsta rap. The fresh prince’s fun, refined, unhostile rhymes are fresher than ever and O.Banga’s beats are consistently hot. Unfortunately there’re a couple of naff tracks but there is a Bush bashing track, and a cameo from R’n’B one hitter Robin Thicke. It’s not harsh enough for the street, but brilliantly wholesome 13 year-old girl hip hop – PAORA

http://www.tearaway.co.nz/Article.aspx?PostingID=4517

Lost and Found

Story by: David Paul

Story date: Thursday, April 14, 2005

Will Smith has always been an innovator; with DJ Jazzy Jeff they were one of the first ever presented with a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. The Fresh Prince was an actor/rapper long before Samuel L. Jackson needed to add credibility to movies staring rappers turned actors.

If you're looking for songs about bitches, blunts and 24 inch rims, look elsewhere. Lost and Found, Smith's most recent release leaves much to be desired in that arena. Will Smith is as angry or, at least as angry as a self-proclaimed "Nice Guy" can be. Do you remember that episode of Fresh Prince where Carlton goes to the hood and becomes all Gangsta-like? On first listen Lost and Found plays just like that. With a harder than usual sound, Big Will expresses his displeasure for the current rap scene, how great his movies are, how much he is paid for them and how he wishes he told the girls to drop it likes it's hot.

Lost and Found is not mind-blowing or innovative. This is Smith doing what he does best since day one--showcasing his ability as a rapper and a lyricist, especially on the opening track, "Here He Comes." It's not just because it is sung to the tune of the Spiderman theme, but also boasts an appearance of DJ Jazzy Jeff, who produces the track. The ubiquitous Snoop Dogg also makes an appearance, discussing the virtues of self-restraint, which, like the Carlton dance, works on so many levels.

http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/a/story/5661

Will Smith debuts 'gritty' release

By EMILY BINGHAM

The State News

There comes a point in every musician's career when he or she faces a crucial decision: Should I try something new? Some artists are continuously reinventing their music and their images with great success. Other artists - say, Will Smith, perhaps - seem to have a more difficult time pulling this off.

Smith's latest release, "Lost and Found," which hits store shelves today, is a great example of the type of gamble artists take when they try new sounds. The only problem is that the disc is the perfect model for when gambling might not have been the best idea.

Who is Will Smith, anyway? As a larger-than-life artist, this guy is more than just a rapper and actor. He's a household name, and a pop culture icon of our times. He's our Fresh Prince, the studly movie hero, the goofy rapper. The guy who helped us all get jiggy with it and celebrate Miami.

But it's not so clear who Will Smith is on "Lost and Found." The jiggy sound is replaced with gritty, edgy music and lyrics. Smith sure ain't playing Mr. Nice Guy anymore - just tune into the song by that name, where he responds to Eminem calling out Will's squeaky clean image on Em's single "The Real Slim Shady."

"I'm a nice guy, why ya'll harassing me?" Smith retorts in his song, repeating the key line: "Sometimes ya'll mistake nice for soft."

You're right, Big Will, and you're anything but soft on this album. You've come a long way (nearly a dozen albums!) since you first found fame with DJ Jazzy Jeff, but one would think you'd have cemented your style by now.

Instead, your new rough-and-tough attitude sounds more like a front than the real deal. It's unoriginal and completely not believable.

Take "Here He Comes," which opens the album with a sad attempt at establishing the tough-guy mindset. It's nothing more than a knockoff of a superhero cartoon theme song and it doesn't do the job Will probably wanted it to do. The disappointing club anthem "Party Starter" follows, and "I Wish I Made That/Swagga" fails to impress by directly lifting from Terror Squad's "Lean Back" and Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot."

Not surprisingly, the most successful songs on the record are those on which Smith loses the attitude. "Switch," the album's first single, is a bouncy number sure to pack dance floors, and Snoop's slick guest spot on "Pump Ya Brakes" makes for a sexy, chill little track. Mary J. Blige sits in on "Tell Me Why," lending some great vocals to a meditation on life's harsh realities, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Pity that the song comes a bit late and probably lost some of its intended impact during the interim.

Unfortunately, the bad songs on "Lost and Found" outnumber the good ones. Smith definitely chose the right title for his album, because he seems to have lost his direction. Now all he needs to do is figure out the "found" part - by finding himself.

http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=29301

Will Smith's new release gets Lost

Posted Fri May 6, 14:03:16 PDT 2005

By Chris Lewis of the Campanile

From the first few echoes of Lost and Found, it becomes clear what has become of Will Smith's career as a musician: nothing.

The man who started off his music career as the Fresh Prince is at it again, this time without his sidekick Jazzy Jeff, but with an entourage of mainstream hip-hop and rap artists including Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Robin Thicke. Unfortunately for Smith, this group of superstars only makes his album more pathetic, as Lost and Found becomes the worst artistic decision of Will Smith's career since Wild Wild West, and by far the most arrogant.

It's become obvious over the years that Will Smith loves himself, through such works as Willenium and Big Willy Style. It is Lost and Found, however, that takes the cake as far as arrogance goes.

In the first track, "Here He Comes," Smith takes an intricate balance of horns, string instruments and vocal noises as an intro, then breaks into the ever-familiar Spider-Man theme song. The only difference is the lyrics, as the chorus now reads: "Here he comes/He can rock/He can break-dance and he can bop/He can rap/He can act and if it comes down to it he can scratch/Hey there/Here comes that Will again/And every time he touch the mic/He closes his eyes and he hopes to shine/Then like a stream of light/They cheer his name/They be like 'Ahhhh.'"

The rest of the album just goes down from there, especially his recent radio hit, "Switch."

In this song, Smith tries to do what Los Del Rio did with "La Macarena" and what Fat Joe did with "Lean Back": create his own dance move.

The unfortunate thing for Smith (and listeners) is that "The Switch" won't be able to catch on as well as either of them.

In "Mr. Nice Guy," Smith eludes to different points in his career, including his recent movie Hitch, as well as his ongoing feud with fellow-rapper Eminem.

Again, his arrogance shows when the chorus simply repeats "He's a nice guy," however the song itself is all but nice to Eminem. "People dissing Will sat on a wall/People dissing Will had a great fall/All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put their careers back together again." Smith also takes shots at white people in this song, making his "nice guy" image only grow weaker and weaker. "Will's a nice guy/Why he's so nice I'd let him date my daughter like he was a white guy."

"Pump Ya Brreaks" is by far the best song on the album, simply because Snoop Dogg makes an appearance in it. Smith's rhymes are fluid and go well with the obnoxious beat. Snoop adds a nice voice in the chorus of the song, but some might find this song somewhat offensive, as it makes dellusions to spousal abuse and things of graphic nature. Mary J. Blige guest-starred on the last track of the album, "Tell Me Why."

This song includes the wailing of Blige as a mellow guitar plays in the background. Blige ruins what would have been a good beat, and a better-than-usual rap from Smith, which is not saying much. This song is a tribute to the September 11 tragedy, which normally would have been acceptable, if it wasn't three years after it would have been cool to write a September 11 tribute.

Smith even curses for the first time in this song, and shows some rare emotion as he yells into the microphone asking why tragedies in the world are necessary. It's obvious to listeners that Will Smith has taken a new approach to his albums: a much angrier tone and content.

In this album, he makes fun of people in almost every track, curses and even yells at times, something Smith has never done before. His "good guy" image has finally been diminished, and perhaps he should return to the film industry. Maybe he should just grab a cheese-steak, root for the Phillies and retire in his Pennsylvania mansion. Hopefully, he'll start to realize what he lacks in his album, and will keep on getting jiggy with it.

http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=2987

Will Smith

Lost and Found

Interscope Records

"He can rap, he can act... here come Big Will again." That's right, Will Smith has a new CD. Unfortunately though, there's no single for either "Hitch" or "I, Robot." After a long hiatus from rap and a famous insult from Eminem, Smith is back with "Lost and Found."

Sadly, Jazzy Jeff only produces the first track on the album called "Here He Comes." The song is a parody of the Spider-Man theme that testifies to the multifaceted talent of Smith.

Spending half the album insisting his right to rap on defending his character, Smith asks, "Why should I try to sound like y'all?"

Well Will, probably because people don't laugh at "them" for rapping, and they usually don't have to argue their right.

But it's OK, he tells listeners in "I Wish I Made That" that David Letterman has his back, even though he doesn't listen to rap. Later in the song, Smith asks why everyone rates rappers like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg above him. Hmm Will, hmm.

In all seriousness, "Lost and Found" has some pretty legitimate beats, excluding Jazzy Jeff's contribution. There aren't nearly as many whistle tracks as his breakthrough album "Big Willie Style."

But Smith's lyrics are such an anomaly in the rap world that it's confusing as to how listeners should try and receive this album. It's weird to hear an honest testament to the Sept. 11 tragedy in a rap song, as Smith does in "Tell Me Why," featuring Mary J. Blige. The song feels more like an obligatory response than a heartfelt one, tacked on to show that he is Mr. Nice Guy.

If listeners can get past the fact that Smith made this record, there is a small possibility they may enjoy it. However, this is a most daunting task.

Andrew Payton

http://www.thetowerlight.com/vnews/display...1/4259c0577b6fd

Review by John Benson

On the back of Will Smith's latest disc LOST AND FOUND, the actor/rapper makes his stand with his "Ali" musculature and a sideways ball cap attempting to establish his streetwise credibility. However, his streets are Beverly Hills and his rapping is as vanilla as Pat Boone's rock singing. Still, Smith is a star who did get his start alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff. Smith's free flowing delivery style remains solid and his non-offensive edict means the 15-track album is family friendly. Perhaps the only downside is Smith's not so subtle posturing for hip-hop respect. Will, we know your past. Stick to your day job for your future and concentrate on winning an Oscar. That'll do more for hip-hop than LOST AND FOUND could ever do.

http://www.plan9music.com/?node=module&id=...0000081&id3=113

[fan 4ever]

Damn there are some harsh words in these reviews!

:mad: "brilliantly wholesome 13 year-old girl hip hop"

How the hell can he say that?

"From the first few echoes of Lost and Found, it becomes clear what has become of Will Smith's career as a musician: nothing. " :shakehead:

Man, looks like a lot of Will Smith haters are writing these reviews!

[bigted]

:word: A lot of these reviewers have an ignorance to quality music, they think that fake gang banging stories are real or at least they get paid off to believe that. :thumbsdown:

[MaxFly]

It's all good. Will is nearing gold in the US and Party Starter is coming out. Hate all you want.