*Official* Lost and Found Review Post

[Schnazz]

“Scary Story” – Smith wants to tell his story Eminem-style—it goes awry.

"Eminem-style" ? Riiight... I guess Will must have ripped it from him when Em was like 12 years old. If it's any style other then classic JJ/FP, I would say it has a very Slick Rick feel to it. (Children's Story) Of course, I these reviewers probably never even heard of Slick Rick.

[MaxFly]

Slick Rick? Who is Slick Rick? Run DMC? Who's that... Lol, this is how kids are coming up these days. It's common and widespread.

But 50... 50's cool, everyone knows who he is. He got shot 9 times and that's an endearing quality. :nono:

Edited April 3, 2005 by MaxFly

[*mimi*]

I have to agree with Tim.

I sense a bit of hypocricy here... and I know I'm not the only one. When Will Smith makes party tracks, Gettin Jiggy Wit It or Miami for instance, the reviewers say that his music isn't relevant, that it's too light and fluffy and that it's not hip hop... that he's been out of the black community too long... that his subject matter is just superficial and lacks any real depth and all it's good for is for a party or the club, and even then they wouldn't dance to it. So now he takes time to really dig into his soul, "the most revealing writing" he's ever done, and puts out music where he releases what he feels, where he's spitting truth on a variety of subject, and yet there are still a few party/feel good tracks. But now they want to say he's trying to acting street, that he's trying to be hard, that he isn't sincere and that he's bitter. Am I the only one who sees the glaring hypocrisy here? And no, for the reviewers who think his subject matter is one sided, it's really not. He does address the state of rap music on a few tracks, Lost and Found, I Wish I Made That, and the last verse of Party Starter, but it's needed, and it's needed sorely, and anyone who thinks that he puts too much of a focus on this really doesn't understand the disaray hip hop is in right now. I advice you to turn on your tv and watch BET for and hour. Incidentally, how many reviewers are saying that 50 talks about guns and sex in his music too much, cause it's on almost every track, and most times, that's all the track is about. I don't hear writers crying over rappers talking about Jacob the Jewelers on every other song. Look, bottom line, the man had something to say, he said it, and a lot of people are enjoying hearing him say it, but for those who want people to be boxed into a certain musical format, to only address certain subjects, you're taking the rapper at face value and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

great post. That's exactly what I was thinkin. Critics are never satisfied. It's the same with Will's movie. They just can't get over their hate for the man. The important thing though is ppl who listen to rap are responding well to it. Critics are usually 50 yr old men who live in their mom's basement, having no dates on Friday type ppl anyways.

[MaxFly]

And really, I think some reviewers criticize for the sake of criticizing. I've read things concerning his lyrics being banal and unimaginative... simplistic even.

The big question should I run the mind a vittle

Food for thought or dumb the rhyme a little

But Will “if you come to high that’ll alienate folks & they won’t buy it"

I want to know how many people have used the word vittle in their lyrics and connected it so well to the message that was being communicated.

Edited April 4, 2005 by MaxFly

[Typhoon20]

http://journals.aol.com/mp3smo/news/entries/1442

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Subject: Lost & Found

Time: 2:22:00 AM EST

Author: mp3smo

Mood: Chillin'

Music: Will Smith "Lost & Found"

DJ Mo's Review of Will Smith: "Lost & Found" album

When I went to cop the new Will Smith "Lost & Found", I expected another quality album. When I put it into my CD player, I was blown away, because it was indeed another quality album from the former Fresh Prince!

The best track on there is "Tell Me Why" featuring Mary J. Blige. It is mainly about the stories & tragedies that we as future parents (and current parents) have to tell our kids to pass on from generation to generation. Didn't expect Will Smith to make a track like this. I hope this will be the next hit that radio will start to play. It is one of the featured songs on the sticker.

As for the lead single, "Switch" I personally didn't think it was all that hyped up to be. It's nice & danceable, though. Something fun, which is what the usual masses want. Reminds me of Outkast's "Land Of A Million Drums". There are 2 additional "Switch" remixes, so it was like an extra bonus CD single packaged within the album. The unlisted remix is a reggae version, which I already heard enough of on mainstream urban radio.

I really thought "Party Starter" & "If U Can't Dance (Slide)" was hotter for club play, but to each their own. I also liked the intro "Here He Comes". That was a keen start to set the pace of the album. And "Pump Ya Brakes" featuring Snoop Dogg was also a nice one. Who would of thought Will Smith & Snoop Dogg would get together for a track, let alone flow with each other well with scratches by none other than his fellow DJ, Jazzy Jeff. However, it would have been a lot more fun with a track where Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince going back to the old school.

A song for those more leaned toward the underground hiphop is "Lost & Found". If this good track gets any radio play, I would be surprised at corporates. It is an excellent track for those getting sick of the same style of music on the radio & in the clubs.

Last, but not least, is "Mr. Niceguy". This is the track where he attacks some people who dissed him. Eminem is one of the targets. It's really a defensive track rather than a diss track. He doesn't take offensive, because he's "Mr. Niceguy". He simply just puts this security system & uses his success in fame and money to block away the enemies he mentions.

Overall, this album was more than I expected it to be. Will Smith does come harder like the ads & news says. He also comes smarter. There's a whole lot packed into this 60-minute album. If you are looking for some quality material (and an album for the whole family), support Will Smith & buy this CD!

Production: 4/5

Mics: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

DJ Mo certified "DOPE"!

Written by mp3smo

[Jazzy Julie]

thats what i like to see, finally some1 with some sence!!

[Hero1]

WILL SMITH, "Lost and Found" (Interscope) - You can eventually push even Mr. Nice Guy too far, and the famously mild Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has apparently had enough. "I Wish I Made That/Swagga," off Will Smith's fourth solo album, finally takes aim at the critics who have sneered that he's "too white." "Oh, wait, maybe I'll jack a truck/fulla cigarettes and guns and stuff ... then will I be black enough?" he demands. Hip-hop has been long overdue for such a Cosby moment, and good for Smith - who could have abandoned music for movies by now — for providing it.

The problem with the rest of "Lost and Found," Smith's first album for Interscope and an attempt to present a harder-edged Big Willie, is that it deliberately neglects his two strengths: familiar, recycled pop hooks and feel-good rhymes. He needed a Kanye West or Just Blaze to produce this comeback but got Timbaland instead; the harsh, sample-free boom-bap is ill-suited to Smith's breezy style, and his stabs at topicality (an attack on born-again Christians; the belated 9/11 song "Tell Me Why") sound forced. "Sometimes y'all mistake nice for soft," Smith warns Eminem and other haters on "Mr. Nice Guy." Ironically, on "Lost and Found," Smith often makes the same mistake. (Dan LeRoy, Hartford Courant)

[Hero1]

another 1 calling for recycled pop hooks and feel good rhymes.. some of these reviewers need to pull out rock the house and he's the dj.. will is just str8 spittin and he does the same on this album..its like these people have only heard big willie style and have no idea what wills capable of..its amazing the damage sony did to Will's music career!!! :chuks:

[djgj20]

Here's the Rolling Stone Review:

2 out of 4

Now that reality-show kids with less personality than most accountants are hitting the charts, you want to root for a good-natured celebrity like Will Smith to cook up some stupid-fun pop. On Lost and Found, he's got plenty of up-to-date beats from Timbaland and others, a Snoop cameo and lots of self-deprecating humor. Strangely, what he doesn't have is a commanding presence: His nice-guy-with-a-retrograde-flow shtick is fast running out of steam. Tracks like "Switch" might work in a club, but Smith is utterly unconvincing when he's paying homage to hip-hop icons ("I Wish I Made That/Swagga"), mourning 9/11 victims ("Tell Me Why") or dropping tepid disses ("Mr. Nice Guy"). The best you can say about Lost and Found is, there's no movie tie-in.

[Typhoon20]

Here's the Rolling Stone Review:

2 out of 4

Now that reality-show kids with less personality than most accountants are hitting the charts, you want to root for a good-natured celebrity like Will Smith to cook up some stupid-fun pop. On Lost and Found, he's got plenty of up-to-date beats from Timbaland and others, a Snoop cameo and lots of self-deprecating humor. Strangely, what he doesn't have is a commanding presence: His nice-guy-with-a-retrograde-flow shtick is fast running out of steam. Tracks like "Switch" might work in a club, but Smith is utterly unconvincing when he's paying homage to hip-hop icons ("I Wish I Made That/Swagga"), mourning 9/11 victims ("Tell Me Why") or dropping tepid disses ("Mr. Nice Guy"). The best you can say about Lost and Found is, there's no movie tie-in.

A**H*LES :ali:

This isn't a review men, it's simply a HATE, nothing else.

Maybe ALI needs to bust some of y'all reviewers up :ali:

[Hero1]

WAVE EM OFF! :drive:

[fan 4ever]

:werd: That rolling stone review SUCKS!!

[MaxFly]

Well, they're entitled to thier opinions, regardless of how idiotic and shortsighted those opinions may be.

[MaxFly]

Ever since he became a mega-box office star, Will Smith's been accused of losing his rap chops. But what the haters don't seem to understand is this: he's one of the few actors in the world who command $20 million a movie. And the only one who takes the time between filming to return to his roots, hip-hop, where he passionately speaks his mind. Unlike a number of better-selling rappers on the charts today, Smith is obviously not rhyming for dollars. He does hip-hop from the heart.

To that end, the Philly native's latest release, Lost and Found, is one of his stongest statements yet: a return to Smith's roots which sees him combine the party rap he made famous as the Fresh Prince, with songs that reflect truly mature, sometimes dark, subject matter. The track “Tell Me Why,” set on the evening of 9/11, features an emotional Smith, backed by a searing Mary J. Blige, as he addresses communicating the harsh side of human behavior to a child, in the vein of Jadakiss’ “Why.”

“Tell me why did James Byrd, Jr. have to be touched/ Tell me why did Martin and Malcolm depart from us/ tell me why did the sniper make that little boy shoot/ And why is human life always denied /Tell me why did Mandela have to live in a cage/ Tell me why did my brother Sterling die at that age. What am I supposed to say to my kids when they say ‘Why?’”

"Mr. Niceguy," sees Smith talk about how people, namely gansta-wanna-bes, mistake being a gentleman for being a chump. "Sometimes y'all mistake nice for soft," he quips on the track that witnesses him putting all the naysayers in their place. And on what could be seen as an answer cut to Kanye West's "Jesus Walks," "Ms. Holy Roller" Smith shines the spotlight on Christians (he himself is a Christian) who feel the need to force their religious views on others. "Switch," "If U Can't Dance (Slide)," and the Snoop Dogg collabo "Pump Ya Brakes," are just pure unadulterated party tracks that show the light side of the father of two who claimed "parents just don't understand" all those eons ago.

The mix of wisdom-filled joints, feel good, straight out party jams and old school flavor is what makes this set one of Smith's strongest since the days of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. With his latest release, not only does Smith prove you don't have to curse, or reference guns and hoes every other verse, he shows he's a grown-ass man who hasn't lost his passion for hip-hop.

[Lerkot]

The biggest swedish paper gave L&F 1 out of 5, the next largest gave it 1 out of 5 too...