Will Smith returns to rap with “Based on a True Story”, a work that oscillates between the need for affirmation and the desire for reconciliation.
After years of incursions in cinema and most patinated mainstream, the Fresh Prince embraces the microphone with a renewed narrative awareness, an operation that is placed in that limbo between the return to the origins and the attempt to rewrite its history.
The album is divided into 14 tracks in which Smith modulates its flow on clean and stratified productions, far from the roughness of the Boom Bap which consecrated it, but capable of suggesting an unexpected sound maturity. Among the collaborations stand out the nostalgic touch of Dj Jazzy Jeff, the soul intensity of Jac Ross, the versatility of Teyana Taylor, but also the Latin reminiscences of India Martinez and Marcin or the choral liturgy of the Sunday Service that is intertwined with Friday and Smith.
The opening, int. Barbershop – Daysuggests a dialogue between Smith, Jazzy Jeff and the comic B Simone who, between self-criticism and irony, faces the post-Oscar public scrutiny. “Will Smith is canceled” is the phrase that introduces the song, but overcome the banality of the expedient, the piece offers interesting ideas, between self -celebration and awareness of its controversial status.
Yet, in addition to these moments, the album struggles to maintain consistency and incisiveness. There are songs that mention a deeper inner exploration, such as Beautiful Scars with Big Sean e You can make it With the Sunday Service Choir, but Smith seems unable to go beyond the surface.
His reflections are lost in aphorisms and lyrics that sound more aftermath than viscerals: “Life strikes you, you must collect” on Make it Look Easyor “harder the fall, higher you can fly” on You can make it. Phrases that betray a certain communicative rigidity.
The album looks more like a public rehabilitation exercise than a true artistic manifesto. The intention to exorcise the past is evident, but the result is a set of pieces that they rarely really hit. The possibility of a sincere and superstructure -free story remains largely unexpressed, buried under smooth beat and rhymes that sound more conciliatory than disruptive.
Smith is still a solid rapper, but “Based on a True Story” is not the dazzling return that the title suggests.
