In retrospect, the point at which
Will Smith
went too far was with 1999's
"Freakin' It,"
on which, over samples from
"Love Hangover"
and
"Rapper's Delight,"
he boasted of his movie earnings, defended himself against charges of being a "soft" rapper, and criticized his peers. It was hard to dispute any of his arguments (though the citation of the American Music Awards as an example of his superiority seemed a bit of a stretch), but the song also emphasized -- in the wrong way, as far as fans were concerned -- how far
Smith
had come from Philadelphia, and it flopped. After that, his movies and records had to struggle more for attention. All careers go through peaks and troughs, however, and this collection of
's musical high points makes the case for his popularity, dating back to the late-'80s days of
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
, whose work is licensed from
Jive Records
for one-third of the tracks here. Not all of the early duo's hits are included, but the signature ones, particularly the breakout
"Parents Just Don't Understand,"
are. In a sense, this is
at his most appealing, using
rap
to create
novelty
records that reveal the comic sense that later would light up movie screens. He remains engaging through solo hits like
"Men in Black"
"Getting' Jiggy Wit It,"
even if he already seems to be starting to believe his press clips. By this point, the musical career has become an appendage of the movie career, and movie stardom begins to inform the
raps
, culminating in the defensiveness of
"Freakin' It."
Along the way, however, there is some clever writing, always put across by
's expansive personality, which enabled him to swim against the current of contemporary
, at least for a time. ~ William Ruhlmann