Schnazz Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 Ok, I'm gonna get a lot of hate on this, but I'm starting to think that the numbers that Will's been doing are about right, here's why. Big Willie Style - 12 Mil - I don't care who's playing it, that's a ton of sales. Willennium - 2 Mil? - A big drop off from BWS, but still respectable. Keep in mind that this was released with, and heavily tied into, Wild Wild West, which wasn't exactly a successful venture. Also, this was the era when Napster was going strong, so 2 mil is still doing well. Born To Reign - 225k - The worst album Will's put out, so you expect it to do a lot worse than his other albums. Also, peer-to-peer is at it's all time high at this time, which doesn't help. Finally, look at the singles that where released - Nod Your Head, the movie/song tie in is played out (much like that phrase), especially by Will, and 1000 kisses, a good song, but not exactly the type of song that would attract hip-hop-heads to the disc. Why would any stations play either of those songs? Lost And Found - 660k - Good numbers again, but not great. P2P is still alive and kicking, but on a down trend. Considering the state of sales, probably on par with Willennium. But look at the singles put out, Switch - a club track designed for drunken dancing and some play on the top-40, and Party Starter - released WAY to late, another club track. I would say that the lack of sales isn't based on Will-Hate, but based on 1 - less than his best music, 2 - explosion of piracy, and 3 - horrible selection of singles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cristigolo Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 i feel ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Hero1 Posted December 29, 2005 Admin Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 the singles chosen their release and the timing has a lot to do with the sales definitely.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 (edited) "Big Willie Style"-It was the perfect time for Will to make a comeback, his movies made him a household and a whole stream of fans were checking for this album, everything Will released was a huge hit, he could do no wrong at this time "Willenium"-A lil' bit more ol' school style that a lot of the younger fans who bought "Big Willie Style" weren't feelin' when they checked out this album 'cause they don't like ol' school hip-hop, plus when they found out that Will was dissin' rappers who curse they weren't feelin' that 'cause their new favorite rapper was Eminem that turned them off from Will ever since Eminem said "f*** Will Smith", the stupid teens got brainwashed into Em's gimmick, plus the downloading era had to do with it, "Freakin' It" put the nail in the coffin, maybe ol' school JJFP fans would've supported though if "So Fresh" was released instead, they resisted it 'cause they thought it was another new school commercial rap album like "Big Willie Style" based from the singles released "Born To Reign"-Will's worst album, but hey if 50 Cent, Eminem, Nelly and most rappers today like Mike Jones could sell millions with filler albums, it could've gone platinum at least if he released "How Da Beat Goes" and "Block Party" which were his best songs on an album with filler "Lost and Found"-"Switch" was a huge hit but I hardly saw the video on TV, this album sold from word of mouth basically, a lot of people actually bought this for the album not the singles, if the right singles like "Tell Me Why" and "Lost and Found" was released it would've done much better since a lot of people who bought the album like those songs and I know a lot of people would like those songs too who've resisted Will 'cause they'd see that Will is more than just a club rapper, there's a lot of downloading still, everyone's sales are down -Now the reason why people think Will's a better actor than a rapper is 'cause of the singles that record labels have chosen to release that make it look like he just does club songs, while people see him do serious roles in films, but if they bought his albums they'd see that he does serious songs too so in reality people're ignorant of Will as an mc 'cause of what Columbia has done and Interscope is doing right now, some people know, but the mainstream thought of Will being a better actor than rapper lives on based on the singles released, now if "Tell Me Why" never comes out, Will should release everything himself from now on, he needs to take more control of his career 'cause record labels are ruining his image. Hating on Will is a huge factor, let's be real, lol, kids hate him 'cause he ain't hard enough, a lot of ol' school fans think he sold out on his JJFP style and is just trying to do what other pop rappers do just to make money, these people resisted "Willenium" and "Lost and Found" though probably, they probably have 'Big Willie Style' in their collection, kids introduced to Will from 'Men In Black' and ol' school JJFP fans probably wanted to see what Will had in store and they saw it was too new school for them, as much as kids hate on 'Big Willie Style', that album got them into hip-hop, and older fans jumped off the bandwagon at the wrong time 'cause they missed out on the JJFP produced 'Willenium' with that ol' school flava they would've loved, double platinum was good but if the ol' school JJFP fans supported it more, it could've sold 5 million easily, "Lost and Found" could be doing bigger numbers than 50 Cent right now too, fans sold out on Will .... Maybe the best thing for Will to do to win over his ol' school fans again is just go back and do storytellin' songs again, ol' school fans hate on him 'cause they think he's sounding too current even though he was still spittin' dope rhymes, they put themselves in a box and don't wanna open up to today's flava, that's why LL's last album didn't do "Mama Said Knock You Out/Mr. Smith" numbers either 'cause LL was coming too current, ol' school LL fans want another "Mama Said Knock You Out/Mr. Smith", and for Will the ol' school JJFP fans want another "Homebase/He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper"..... Edited December 29, 2005 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trey Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 (edited) "Big Willie Style"-It was the perfect time for Will to make a comeback, his movies made him a household and a whole stream of fans were checking for this album, everything Will released was a huge hit, he could do no wrong at this time "Willenium"-A lil' bit more ol' school style that a lot of the younger fans who bought "Big Willie Style" weren't feelin' when they checked out this album 'cause they don't like ol' school hip-hop, plus when they found out that Will was dissin' rappers who curse they weren't feelin' that 'cause their new favorite rapper was Eminem that turned them off from Will ever since Eminem said "f*** Will Smith", the stupid teens got brainwashed into Em's gimmick, plus the downloading era had to do with it, "Freakin' It" put the nail in the coffin, maybe ol' school JJFP fans would've supported though if "So Fresh" was released instead, they resisted it 'cause they thought it was another new school commercial rap album like "Big Willie Style" based from the singles released "Born To Reign"-Will's worst album, but hey if 50 Cent, Eminem, Nelly and most rappers today like Mike Jones could sell millions with filler albums, it could've gone platinum at least if he released "How Da Beat Goes" and "Block Party" which were his best songs on an album with filler "Lost and Found"-"Switch" was a huge hit but I hardly saw the video on TV, this album sold from word of mouth basically, a lot of people actually bought this for the album not the singles, if the right singles like "Tell Me Why" and "Lost and Found" was released it would've done much better since a lot of people who bought the album like those songs and I know a lot of people would like those songs too who've resisted Will 'cause they'd see that Will is more than just a club rapper, there's a lot of downloading still, everyone's sales are down -Now the reason why people think Will's a better actor than a rapper is 'cause of the singles that record labels have chosen to release that make it look like he just does club songs, while people see him do serious roles in films, but if they bought his albums they'd see that he does serious songs too so in reality people're ignorant of Will as an mc 'cause of what Columbia has done and Interscope is doing right now, some people know, but the mainstream thought of Will being a better actor than rapper lives on based on the singles released, now if "Tell Me Why" never comes out, Will should release everything himself from now on, he needs to take more control of his career 'cause record labels are ruining his image. Hating on Will is a huge factor, let's be real, lol, kids hate him 'cause he ain't hard enough, a lot of ol' school fans think he sold out on his JJFP style and is just trying to do what other pop rappers do just to make money, these people resisted "Willenium" and "Lost and Found" though probably, they probably have 'Big Willie Style' in their collection, kids introduced to Will from 'Men In Black' and ol' school JJFP fans probably wanted to see what Will had in store and they saw it was too new school for them, as much as kids hate on 'Big Willie Style', that album got them into hip-hop, and older fans jumped off the bandwagon at the wrong time 'cause they missed out on the JJFP produced 'Willenium' with that ol' school flava they would've loved, double platinum was good but if the ol' school JJFP fans supported it more, it could've sold 5 million easily, "Lost and Found" could be doing bigger numbers than 50 Cent right now too, fans sold out on Will .... Maybe the best thing for Will to do to win over his ol' school fans again is just go back and do storytellin' songs again, ol' school fans hate on him 'cause they think he's sounding too current even though he was still spittin' dope rhymes, they put themselves in a box and don't wanna open up to today's flava, that's why LL's last album didn't do "Mama Said Knock You Out/Mr. Smith" numbers either 'cause LL was coming too current, ol' school LL fans want another "Mama Said Knock You Out/Mr. Smith", and for Will the ol' school JJFP fans want another "Homebase/He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper"..... :word: Big Willie Style is defiantly my favorite Will Smith abulm.I like Willenium's Afro Angel,my favorite song.The thing I like about Willenium is that it has great "Old School" songs. The reason on WS.com to buy Lost & Found is becuase of Switch.I'm not saying it's a stupid song,I like the beat and everything,it's just not my kind of song.Tell Me Why is a great,deep song and I'm glad he's making it his next single.If Party Starter came out sooner it would have been better for it,and Lost & Found would have sold more copies.Born To Regin is probably my least favorite abulm,'cause it doesn't have really anygood songs,besides 1000 Kisses and that's about it.Oh yeah,and Black Suits Comin'(Nod Ya Head) was good. Edited December 30, 2005 by Trey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thommey Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 i dont know why people dislike born to reign. 1000 kisses black suits comin how da beat goes block party give me tonite i gotta go home maybe 7 of 13 (without counting the remix of black suits comin) are real dope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 (edited) Yeah I'd say there's about 7 good tracks on there, I'd replace "Maybe" with "Born To Reign" though personally as a good song, people hate on "Nod Ya Head" but I personally like that one better that the original "MIB" song, that song grew old on me but I still like "Nod Ya Head", I wouldn't say it's "Summertime" great but it was a good song(nothin' would be on here of course), there's like 6-8 fillers on there though that other albums didn't really have, you actually gotta skip like every other track when you play this album, I mean you cut it down to like 6-8 track album and it would've been much better, he shoulda did it like Rev. Run or waiting another year before dropping this album :kekeke: It'd been much better just to release "Black Suits Comin'" on "MIB II" soundtrack and then drop "Born To Reign" late 2002/early 2003 when he actually had more time to work on it and find a way to get Tra-Knox to not be on all the songs... Edited December 29, 2005 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Julie Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 I'd expect b2r to have a done a little better in sales, but i'd expect lost and found to have done so much better. Saying that, we're not quite finished with this album yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted December 29, 2005 Report Share Posted December 29, 2005 (edited) "Born To Reign" deserved to do good enough for him to not get dropped from Columbia, that's why we had to wait longer for "Lost and Found", Will had to shop around for a label to release it on, now I think "Willenium" should've been the highest selling album of late '99/2000, it really was the best album hip-hop at the time, I think it deserved to outsell Eminem, Nelly, and Dr. Dre, 5 years later I'm saying the same thing except I think he should be outselling Eminem , Mike Jones, and 50 Cent, instead of Eminem, Nelly, and Dre.... :thumbdown: Edited December 29, 2005 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 (edited) The downloading era's a lot worse now than it was 5 years ago 'cause I think Britney Spears, NSync, Eminem, and Nelly all sold 10 million albums then, nobody's doing that now, Mariah and 50 didn't even get to 5 million as the highest selling artists, maybe people are getting bored from music, going gold now with "Lost and Found" is like selling 2 million with "Willenium" 5 years ago btw, I was one of those kids who got into Will from that "MIB"/"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" hype since I was 12 years old at the time, I remember a lot of kids I knew in middle school was feelin' "Big Willie Style", then I remember when I got to high school around when "Willenium" came out 2 years later I noticed less kids saying that they liked "Willenium", a lot of them talking about how great Eminem is though, lol, needless to say they fell off the bandwagon, I never did luckily, lol... Edited December 30, 2005 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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