oneirophrenia | Big Willy Style

The new Will Smith record, Lost and Found, is really freakin' good. His "solo" stuff has been pretty hit-and-miss since Big Willy Style with its best-known single "Gettin' Jiggy With It," but Will Smith is always at his best when writing humorous party jams--and the new album has a number of them: "Party Starter," obviously, and the current single "Switch," which has the most bootyshakin' beat I've heard on the radio since Outkast's "Hey Ya!" was playing every half hour on the hour. But what really makes the new album great are the more serious songs. "Mr. Holy Roller" is a surprisingly thoughtful and often vicious attack on hypocritical bible-thumpers who get an ounce of religion and start bashing people over the head with it while real Christians go about their lives properly. Honestly, writing a song like this is a really bold statement in the current political climate, and I never thought that Will Smith could pull it off, but goddamnit, he sure as hell does. The man's got skills, and he hasn't made a one-dimensional parody of himself like most rappers do these days. Seriously, if you dig oldskool hiphop and intelligent rhymes, this album's got 'em.