The Thing about Will

[JumpinJack AJ]

Dr. Dre is also a sell out tho.' I like alot of his music...but he's phoney. U don't go around for 2 years saying gangsta rap is wack and that it's dead, talk about making music without all the cussing, and then after your compilation album drops...go back 2 the gangsta style...which also returned him 2 a higher level of fame. On top of that, he then started being the musical force behind alot of 2day's most poisoning artists.

Beastie Boys do whatever they want, when they want. And they also have their following supporting them. When Dre tried 2 change the game, his wanna-be gangsta fans ignored him...then embraced him when he did it again.

[bigted]

I'm sure if Dave Chapelle called Will and asked him to perform for the movie then he would and btw I gotta agree with AJ, basically Dr. Dre is just riding the commercial bandwagon, he don't care about making music from the heart anymore, he's just in it for the $$$$, basically most of the fans he has left now don't know nothing about when he was at the peak of his music career, he just lives off the G Unit teenyboppers, hopefully when they fall off soons he actually comes to his senses or just give it up, that's the one thing that people respect about Will 'cause he don't "follow everybody when it's time to rap" just to get a hit and "when every rapper's done tellin' you to jump he gives you what you really want"

Edited March 30, 2006 by bigted

[dkny2kx]

I'm sure if Dave Chapelle called Will and asked him to perform for the movie then he would and btw I gotta agree with AJ, basically Dr. Dre is just riding the commercial bandwagon, he don't care about making music from the heart anymore, he's just in it for the $$$$, basically most of the fans he has left now don't know nothing about when he was at the peak of his music career, he just lives off the G Unit teenyboppers, hopefully when they fall off soons he actually comes to his senses or just give it up, that's the one thing that people respect about Will 'cause he don't "follow everybody when it's time to rap" just to get a hit and "when every rapper's done tellin' you to jump he gives you what you really want"

Thats the point though, students become doctors for the money or because they are passionate about saving people.

Rappers/Singers get into the industry to either spread their message and/or to make lots of money.

I think many of you have forgotton what music is all about. It's about having a good time and listening to things that sound good. I'm not dissing Wills Music, cause his stuff isnt promoted a lot. However, you can't diss whack rappers who've sold out, because they've come from the streets with no money, and once they have a taste of it, who cares if your rapping is watered down to cater to the masses. Music is about having fun and if all a song has is Boom Bump Boom (Base Effects)... Then so be it.

All I want is for Will Smith to be recognized as an Actor and a Rapper in the history books.

And unless Will Smith Does something monumental with RAP/HipHop, in a Hip Hop Generation, I don't his image of a Rapper will remain.

Will Smith's reputation in hip hop like slick rick, rakim and others previously mentioned was more prevalent to the hip hop community back when Hip Hop wasn't popular. Now in a generation when every type of person is familiar with hip hop, Will Smith's rep is not as prevalent.

...2bcontinued

[Schnazz]

I think many of you have forgotton what music is all about. It's about having a good time and listening to things that sound good....

Some times, but music can also be about a lot of other things, such as spreading information and influencing people.

[bigted]

I'm sure if Dave Chapelle called Will and asked him to perform for the movie then he would and btw I gotta agree with AJ, basically Dr. Dre is just riding the commercial bandwagon, he don't care about making music from the heart anymore, he's just in it for the $$$$, basically most of the fans he has left now don't know nothing about when he was at the peak of his music career, he just lives off the G Unit teenyboppers, hopefully when they fall off soons he actually comes to his senses or just give it up, that's the one thing that people respect about Will 'cause he don't "follow everybody when it's time to rap" just to get a hit and "when every rapper's done tellin' you to jump he gives you what you really want"

Thats the point though, students become doctors for the money or because they are passionate about saving people.

Rappers/Singers get into the industry to either spread their message and/or to make lots of money.

I think many of you have forgotton what music is all about. It's about having a good time and listening to things that sound good. I'm not dissing Wills Music, cause his stuff isnt promoted a lot. However, you can't diss whack rappers who've sold out, because they've come from the streets with no money, and once they have a taste of it, who cares if your rapping is watered down to cater to the masses. Music is about having fun and if all a song has is Boom Bump Boom (Base Effects)... Then so be it.

All I want is for Will Smith to be recognized as an Actor and a Rapper in the history books.

And unless Will Smith Does something monumental with RAP/HipHop, in a Hip Hop Generation, I don't his image of a Rapper will remain.

Will Smith's reputation in hip hop like slick rick, rakim and others previously mentioned was more prevalent to the hip hop community back when Hip Hop wasn't popular. Now in a generation when every type of person is familiar with hip hop, Will Smith's rep is not as prevalent.

...2bcontinued

Will don't need to do anything more groundbreakin' for hip-hop at this point, if winning the 1st ever rap grammy that helped solidify hip-hop/rap as a legit music genre, help rap artists get legit movie roles, and selling 30 million albums in 20 years ain't groundbreaking then I guess Michael Jordan needs to make a comeback to the NBA since winning 6 championships and MVPs ain't groundbreakin' enough, lol, do your research youngeon and you'll see that Will's done many GROUNDBREAKIN' things for hip-hop that none of these rappers today will ever accomplish, Will's legacy is set and he's respected by anyone who respects the history of hip-hop, the problem with hip-hop is that a lot of the young peeps don't respect the history and think that hip-hop is only about pimpin' and hot beats and they don't respect the artists who make music with substance, especially the ones who opened doors so all these cats could eat now, but that's ok though Will don't need to change who he is just to please them 'cause he got enough people out there that respect him for the artist and person he is, it's a marthon, not a sprint, those who choose to change who they are just to sell more albums now won't be around to sell anything many years from now while Will's gonna continually have a loyal fanbase as long as he's living and continues to entertain us and btw he proves that you could still have heart and make millions at the same time since he's one of the richest men in the world, making much more than those rappers that change their image, like DMC said about him: "Nice guys like him could finish first", I look at Will as an inspiration

Edited March 31, 2006 by bigted

[dkny2kx]

I'm sure if Dave Chapelle called Will and asked him to perform for the movie then he would and btw I gotta agree with AJ, basically Dr. Dre is just riding the commercial bandwagon, he don't care about making music from the heart anymore, he's just in it for the $$$$, basically most of the fans he has left now don't know nothing about when he was at the peak of his music career, he just lives off the G Unit teenyboppers, hopefully when they fall off soons he actually comes to his senses or just give it up, that's the one thing that people respect about Will 'cause he don't "follow everybody when it's time to rap" just to get a hit and "when every rapper's done tellin' you to jump he gives you what you really want"

Thats the point though, students become doctors for the money or because they are passionate about saving people.

Rappers/Singers get into the industry to either spread their message and/or to make lots of money.

I think many of you have forgotton what music is all about. It's about having a good time and listening to things that sound good. I'm not dissing Wills Music, cause his stuff isnt promoted a lot. However, you can't diss whack rappers who've sold out, because they've come from the streets with no money, and once they have a taste of it, who cares if your rapping is watered down to cater to the masses. Music is about having fun and if all a song has is Boom Bump Boom (Base Effects)... Then so be it.

All I want is for Will Smith to be recognized as an Actor and a Rapper in the history books.

And unless Will Smith Does something monumental with RAP/HipHop, in a Hip Hop Generation, I don't his image of a Rapper will remain.

Will Smith's reputation in hip hop like slick rick, rakim and others previously mentioned was more prevalent to the hip hop community back when Hip Hop wasn't popular. Now in a generation when every type of person is familiar with hip hop, Will Smith's rep is not as prevalent.

...2bcontinued

Will don't need to do anything more groundbreakin' for hip-hop at this point, if winning the 1st ever rap grammy that helped solidify hip-hop/rap as a legit music genre, help rap artists get legit movie roles, and selling 30 million albums in 20 years ain't groundbreaking then I guess Michael Jordan needs to make a comeback to the NBA since winning 6 championships and MVPs ain't groundbreakin' enough, lol, do your research youngeon and you'll see that Will's done many GROUNDBREAKIN' things for hip-hop that none of these rappers today will ever accomplish, Will's legacy is set and he's respected by anyone who respects the history of hip-hop, the problem with hip-hop is that a lot of the young peeps don't respect the history and think that hip-hop is only about pimpin' and hot beats and they don't respect the artists who make music with substance, especially the ones who opened doors so all these cats could eat now, but that's ok though Will don't need to change who he is just to please them 'cause he got enough people out there that respect him for the artist and person he is, it's a marthon, not a sprint, those who choose to change who they are just to sell more albums now won't be around to sell anything many years from now while Will's gonna continually have a loyal fanbase as long as he's living and continues to entertain us and btw he proves that you could still have heart and make millions at the same time since he's one of the richest men in the world, making much more than those rappers that change their image, like DMC said about him: "Nice guys like him could finish first", I look at Will as an inspiration

Ted, i get what your saying, Will Smith is a HipHop pioneer... Even if most teens today don't appreciate him as a rapper, in the same way 10-15 years ago. You're point of Michael Jordan is flawed, because when someone says who's the greatest in HipHop, they won't be saying Will Smith.

The point I am trying to make is that compared to rakim, LL, Slick Rick, DougEFresh etc. Will Smith still has potential to gain a mass audience with his style. He can't do this by himself. No artist in history has made it big without collaboration. Will Smith is already big, but he has plateau'd. I really think he needs project bigger than Lost and Found that can solidify him as a Hip Hop God.

Like in his song Lost and Found "when ya'll talking about rap you can start sayin my name"

This just reiterrates my point on What He himself wants. And pluggin ur stuff through the media with something fresh is what he needs to get this.

Tell me, anyone here... would you want your history texts to say that in the mid-late 90's hip hop started and then was made into a musical success by talents such as 50 Cent, and Eminem

or would you want them to say the same thing except: Talents such as 50 Cent and Eminem floureshed for awhile, but then Hiphop went back to the basics and talents from Will Smith, Common and Nas reemerged

[bigted]

Hip-hop started in the late '70s not the late '90s, you can't start talkin' about the history of hip-hop by talking about Eminem, you ain't a true hip-hop fan if you don't know the history, there were 20 years of rappers who paved a path for him that deserve the recognition for what they did, we should be giving props to cats like Kurtis Blow like we give to Jackie Robinson 'cause he was a true pioneer, and you're right my theory is flawed comparing Will to Michael Jordan 'cause the music industry doesn't respect the legends of the game the way the NBA respects it's pioneers and hall of famers, it's like in the NBA the great players get positions in the front office after their career's over and their jersey's raised to the rafters but the great rappers don't get no position in the rap game after they fall from the spotlight, the label drops them and that's it, Michael Jordan didn't win MVP in his last year he played but he still got honored the game he retired, it's just like Will didn't win a Grammy on his last album but if he announced his retirement now MTV wouldn't do a tribute show for him or anything like that, the problem with the game like I said earlier is that the pioneers are not honored the way they should be, btw speaking of films what happened to Kool Moe Dee's "There's A God On The Mic" that was based on the book that he wrote?

I think Will's supposed to be in that film since he's featured in the book, that needs to come out and blow up so all the pioneers could get their due, and btw 50 Cent and Eminem ain't gonna stay on top forever either, the industry'll shove them off to the side one day too, karma'll catch up to them, one day things are gonna get better, it can't get worse, and I think Will has a chance to be around for many more years to come as long as he wants to but it should be at this point just doing it for the love of the game, at this point in his career he should be able to relax and enjoy his success and have a new generation of talented rappers carry the game, he shouldn't have to have pressure to save the game since he's given so much to it already, ultimately though if there's no attention to the pioneers of hip-hop I think that it'll eventually die out like disco, hip-hop needs organization, and the problem starts at the top with the record labels, they don't sign the most lyrically gifted rappers anymore, the part of the solution would be to put give the legendary rappers who don't make albums anymore like Kurtis Blow a position at the record labels where they could get a job to help sign the best talented artists as possible like they do in the NBA when they give the great players who retired a front office or coaching job to help the new generation of players, there's probably millions of people out there with more skill to make better songs than "Laffy Taffy" but they won't get signed if they don't rap the generic thug life image, that's why Kel Spencer don't have a record deal yet while 50 Cent's selling 5 million, if they freestyle battled each other on MTV Kel would rip 50 badly and the world would see it but the industry don't want that to happen though, and getting back to the basketball anology that'd be like if the teams didn't sign the best players and just took scrubs off the street and put them in the games, but that's the way the music industry is now, they just look for the next 2Pac and Biggie clone even if they don't have 1/10 of the talent they had but it's all about image and fashion rather than skill so they'll give that person a record deal while the cat who could freestyle for days can't get signed 'cause he don't rap about guns or hoes in any of his rhymes, I bet if I made a demo tape rapping about peace and another demo tape about how much guns I had and sent it to a record company I bet you that if the record label called me back they'd say they were more impressed with the demo that I rapped about guns on

The way hip-hop is promoted now you hear more about who's dissing who, who got shot, or who got the most money or girls rather than who got the most skills on the mic, hip-hop is like hip-pop now, 50 Cent is like Britney Spears, they make the headlines but there's many artists better than them, the way I see it going 50 Cent'll be remembered for the death of hip-hop if s*** doesn't get together soon enough, the record labels are exploiting and destroying the image of hip-hop and I think that people will get tired of it sooner or later if they don't put more energy into promoting the creative artists, Will could put Common, Nas, and Kel Spencer all on his compilation album but if Interscope don't promote it as much as 50 Cent then it won't make much of an impact, what I mean by that is that the radio and video stations can't resist playing it and we need more than one single to be released in 9 months Interscope, it seems that the record labels and viacom have the ball on their court controlling who's on top more than the artists do, they ban certain artists from getting airplay 'cause they ain't thug enough while years ago it was the opposite where gangsta rap didn't get played when they were concerned about image but since gangsta rap starting making more money they decided to profit off of it and forgot about image

Edited March 31, 2006 by bigted

[dkny2kx]

Hip-hop started in the late '70s not the late '90s, you can't start talkin' about the history of hip-hop by talking about Eminem, you ain't a true hip-hop fan if you don't know the history, there were 20 years of rappers who paved a path for him that deserve the recognition for what they did, we should be giving props to cats like Kurtis Blow like we give to Jackie Robinson 'cause he was a true pioneer, and you're right my theory is flawed comparing Will to Michael Jordan 'cause the music industry doesn't respect the legends of the game the way the NBA respects it's pioneers and hall of famers, it's like in the NBA the great players get positions in the front office after their career's over and their jersey's raised to the rafters but the great rappers don't get no position in the rap game after they fall from the spotlight, the label drops them and that's it, Michael Jordan didn't win MVP in his last year he played but he still got honored the game he retired, it's just like Will didn't win a Grammy on his last album but if he announced his retirement now MTV wouldn't do a tribute show for him or anything like that, the problem with the game like I said earlier is that the pioneers are not honored the way they should be, btw speaking of films what happened to Kool Moe Dee's "There's A God On The Mic" that was based on the book that he wrote?

I think Will's supposed to be in that film since he's featured in the book, that needs to come out and blow up so all the pioneers could get their due, and btw 50 Cent and Eminem ain't gonna stay on top forever either, the industry'll shove them off to the side one day too, karma'll catch up to them, one day things are gonna get better, it can't get worse, and I think Will has a chance to be around for many more years to come as long as he wants to but it should be at this point just doing it for the love of the game, at this point in his career he should be able to relax and enjoy his success and have a new generation of talented rappers carry the game, he shouldn't have to have pressure to save the game since he's given so much to it already, ultimately though if there's no attention to the pioneers of hip-hop I think that it'll eventually die out like disco, hip-hop needs organization, and the problem starts at the top with the record labels, they don't sign the most lyrically gifted rappers anymore, the part of the solution would be to put give the legendary rappers who don't make albums anymore like Kurtis Blow a position at the record labels where they could get a job to help sign the best talented artists as possible like they do in the NBA when they give the great players who retired a front office or coaching job to help the new generation of players, there's probably millions of people out there with more skill to make better songs than "Laffy Taffy" but they won't get signed if they don't rap the generic thug life image, that's why Kel Spencer don't have a record deal yet while 50 Cent's selling 5 million, if they freestyle battled each other on MTV Kel would rip 50 badly and the world would see it but the industry don't want that to happen though, and getting back to the basketball anology that'd be like if the teams didn't sign the best players and just took scrubs off the street and put them in the games, but that's the way the music industry is now, they just look for the next 2Pac and Biggie clone even if they don't have 1/10 of the talent they had but it's all about image and fashion rather than skill so they'll give that person a record deal while the cat who could freestyle for days can't get signed 'cause he don't rap about guns or hoes in any of his rhymes, I bet if I made a demo tape rapping about peace and another demo tape about how much guns I had and sent it to a record company I bet you that if the record label called me back they'd say they were more impressed with the demo that I rapped about guns on

The way hip-hop is promoted now you hear more about who's dissing who, who got shot, or who got the most money or girls rather than who got the most skills on the mic, hip-hop is like hip-pop now, 50 Cent is like Britney Spears, they make the headlines but there's many artists better than them, the way I see it going 50 Cent'll be remembered for the death of hip-hop if s*** doesn't get together soon enough, the record labels are exploiting and destroying the image of hip-hop and I think that people will get tired of it sooner or later if they don't put more energy into promoting the creative artists, Will could put Common, Nas, and Kel Spencer all on his compilation album but if Interscope don't promote it as much as 50 Cent then it won't make much of an impact, what I mean by that is that the radio and video stations can't resist playing it and we need more than one single to be released in 9 months Interscope, it seems that the record labels and viacom have the ball on their court controlling who's on top more than the artists do, they ban certain artists from getting airplay 'cause they ain't thug enough while years ago it was the opposite where gangsta rap didn't get played when they were concerned about image but since gangsta rap starting making more money they decided to profit off of it and forgot about image

and another thing... didnt Will Smith have a hit Song Called block Party...

Will Smith needs to use his movie connections to make a legit hiphop moivie with legends of hip hop

[bigted]

Dave Chappelle's soundtrack probably won't even sell 100,000 copies total, it's not it's really that groundbreaking unfortunately, it only sold 30,000 copies in 2 weeks of release, it's not like that groundbreaking to the masses, just some dedicated rap fans are checking it out which is unfortuate 'cause I think it's a hot concept put together but it's not that much of a diversion to all the crap out now that's polluting the airwaves, I think Will should release Kool Moe Dee's "There's A God On The Mic" movie through Overbrook when it comes out, that'd help get some exposure, I know him and Kool Moe Dee are tight so maybe that could be possible, and btw people recognise Eminem, 50 Cent, and all these rappers today that cross over from rapping to movies have success doing it 'cause Will Smith paved the way for them and like I said earlier those who are true fans of hip-hop respect Will for what he's done even if they don't listen to his music everyday 'cause if you're a fan of something you gotta resepct the history of it, I may not listen to every legend of hip-hop myself either but that don't mean I don't respect what they've done for hip-hop to be so successful today, and btw Will could get some love from contempory hip-hop fans since was involved in producing this new movie coming out for TI and Big Boi about the Atlanta hip-hop scene, I think Will probably might have that in mind to have more hip-hop oriented projects on the big screen and that could expand his hip-hop audience further

Edited April 1, 2006 by bigted

[E - Style-Greesy - E]

Is that he doesn't contribute to Hip-Hop overall. It's one thing for critics to say he can't rap because he doesn't rap like everyone else but when critics say he doesn't make rapping one of his top priority, i tend to agree... "referring to him not parcipating in Dave Chapelle's Block Party" (which is a movie too)

Here is a prime example of a collection of Hip Hops CURRENT best, and Will is no where to be seen.

And unless this collab album of Will Smith Hits stores within 2 years... I don't know how WIll will be taken seriously by the buyers of Hip Hop Music.

Participation in others efforts is the number one thing that can sustain a reputation as Music Commited.

Heres the Url to the review stating : "Dave Chapelle's Block Party

Chapelle gathers some of the greatest in hip-hop for an album like no other."

ie. Will Smith is absent...

Block Party Review

Ok, the thing with Dave Chappelle is just unimportant I think, it's **** but beside that I agree u! Just check the other topic in this forum (named ''My Thoughts'') 2 see what's meant here by the post and what I mean by agreeing 2 it. Will really doesn't make so much music and so many tracks anymore, he's turning an actor, not a musician...

PS: Doesn't mean I don't like Will anymore but I'm very disappointed... =(

Edited April 2, 2006 by E - Style-Greesy - E