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Lost and Found

 
Album Review: Lost and Found
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Lost and Found

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  • Artist: Will Smith
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: March 29, 2005
  • Genre: Rap

Review

You can't help but respect Will Smith for continuing to make Will Smith albums -- street cred be damned -- and maintaining a semi-frequent release schedule, despite his more lucrative and demanding movie career. More than ever, despite all the hits he has racked up since the late '80s, it seems like Smith is an actor who happens to record every now and then, rather than a rapper who acts or even an actor/rapper. His previous album, 2002's Born to Reign, fell short of gold-level sales by some distance. That disappointment, combined with some blows he has taken from harder rappers and radio personalities, has made him a little bitter. This is one of the factors that makes Lost and Found the least party-oriented album Smith has made, despite a generous supply of the lighthearted, humorous songs you're accustomed to hearing from him. On "I Wish I Made That," he jokes about adopting more of a street persona in order to gain some respect ("Just ig'nant, attackin', actin' rough/I mean, then, will I be black enough?"), knowing full well that he'll always be thought of as, well, Will Smith. Smacks are dealt to a hypocritical (but not hypothetical) born-again Christian, as well as pretty much any larger than life MC riding high on the charts. "Tell Me Why" -- in the vein of Jadakiss' "Why," only far more dramatic, with Mary J. Blige on board to expected good effect -- is the most sobering song he has written, expressing how difficult it can be to explain the ugly aspects of the world to a child. Some of the playful songs are as joyously boisterous and willfully corny as anything in Smith's past, making Lost and Found an entertaining and thoughtful album for young kids and their parents to listen to and talk about. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Here He Comes (Lyrics) Will Smith Will Smith (2:19)
Party Starter (Lyrics) Will Smith, Jamal Jones Will Smith (4:09)
Switch (Lyrics) Kelly Holland, Will Smith Will Smith (3:16)
Mr. Niceguy Will Smith Will Smith (2:21)
Ms. Holy Roller (Lyrics) Dave Pensado, Will Smith Will Smith (3:39)
Lost & Found (Lyrics) Will Smith, D. Richard Lewis Will Smith (4:15)
Tell Me Why Will Smith Mary J. Blige, Will Smith (4:29)
I Wish I Made That/Swagga Will Smith Will Smith (4:16)
Pump Ya Brakes Will Smith Snoop Dogg, Will Smith (3:34)
If U Can't Dance (Slide) Will Smith Will Smith, Nicole Scherzinger (4:02)
Could U Love Me (Lyrics) Will Smith Will Smith (2:50)
Loretta Will Smith Will Smith (4:55)
Wave Em Off (Lyrics) Richard E. Grant, Will Smith Will Smith (3:30)
Scary Story (Lyrics) Will Smith, E.J. Gold Will Smith (3:39)
Switch [...R&B Remix] Kelly Holland, Will Smith Will Smith, Thicke (4:45)
[Untitled Hidden Track] Will Smith (3:50)

Credits

Troy Johnson (Bass), Troy Johnson (Guitar), Troy Johnson (Producer), Troy Johnson (Engineer), Troy Johnson (Vocal Producer), Troy Johnson (Instrumentation), Larry Gold (String Arrangements), Dave Pensado (Mixing), Robert Zuckerman (Photography), Raphael Saadiq (Guitar), Kelly Price (Vocals), James Lassiter (Management), Tye Tribbett & G.A. (Choir, Chorus), Bryan Golder (Engineer), Pastor Andrew Merritt (Vocals), Mike Hartnett (Bass), Mike Hartnett (Guitar), Drew FitzGerald (Packaging), G-One (Producer), G-One (Mixing), Kevin Estrada (Photography), Omarr Rambert (Producer), Omarr Rambert (Executive Producer), Omarr Rambert (Vocal Producer), DJ Twinz (Producer), Pete Novak (Engineer), Donnie Scantz (Keyboards), COP (Producer), Kevin "KD" Davis (Mixing), Dylan Margerum (Engineer), Crystal Streets (Stylist), Kwamé "K1Mil" (Producer), Polow da Don (Producer), James Mellow "Jay" Clarke (Bass), James Mellow "Jay" Clarke (Keyboards), Eleet Beats (Producer), Freshmen (Producer), Hotrunner "TL" (Producer), Jorge Maciel (Vocals), Miguel Melendez (Management), Jae Staxx (Producer)
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Wikipedia: Lost and Found (Will Smith album)
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
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Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)
Lost and Found
Studio album by Will Smith
Released March 29, 2005 (2005-03-29)
Recorded 2004-2005
Genre Hip hop
Length 60:27
Label Interscope Records
Producer COP, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Twinz, Eleet Beats, Freshmen, G-One, Hotrunner "TL", Troy Johnson, Kwamé "K1 Mil", Polow da Don, Omarr Rambert, Park Jin-Young, Jae Staxx
Professional reviews
Will Smith chronology
Greatest Hits
(2002)		 Lost & Found
(2005)

Lost and Found is the fourth solo studio album by Will Smith, his first on Interscope Records after several releases with Columbia. This is his first new release since Born to Reign in 2002 (which featured the Men in Black 2 song "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)"), he released a Greatest Hits CD the same year. Released in early 2005, the album features the hit single "Switch". Guest artists on the album include Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and long-time partner DJ Jazzy Jeff. The title comes from how he felt he was "lost" since he's put rap primarily on hold to do films, and "found" because he's back again. The album cover features Smith with a street sign saying West Philly & Hollywood in reference to his Philadelphia roots and current Hollywood life as a superstar.

The album is consistent in its critiques of the perceived state of hip hop, and the album has gained some notoriety because of a track entitled "Mr. Nice Guy", in which he takes slight shots at those who have criticized him in the past, namely Wendy Williams, Larry Elder, and Eminem.

The first track "Here He Comes" features Will rapping about his return to rap & versatility (a common theme), sampling the classic Spider-Man theme song from the 1960s cartoon. Other tracks include "If U Can't Dance (Slide)" which includes the "Women equate dance with sex" line that appears in Smith's movie Hitch; along with a song about a real life stalker ("Loretta") while "Ms. Holy Roller" deals with his view that extremist Christians are just as bad as the extremists who committed the terrorist bombings of 9/11, as well as aspects of his own faith and his ex-wife's conversion to Christianity. Both the title track & "I Wish I Made That/Swagga" deal with Smith commenting on current hip-hop. "I Wish I Made That/Swagga" is really two short songs, with the first half ("I Wish I Made That") talking about critiques of him not being "black enough" and black radio not playing his music despite high record sales. It references recent rap hits including Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", Terror Squad's "Lean Back", Snoop Dogg's (who is a guest artist on "Pump Ya Brakes") "Drop It Like It's Hot" as well as Smith's own 1991 hit "Summertime" from his DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince days. The second half (aka "Swagga") is about his return to rap ("I got my swagga [swagger] back"). In "Lost & Found" he speaks how he doesn't do the standard "sex, drugs and violence" songs as found in popular gangsta rap and the similarities and stereotypes of current hip-hop. This also contains only very light language, such as occasional use of the word "damn", but never any "explicit" curse words, which is very common in the modern hip-hop genre.

"(Yup) truck wit rims (check) throw back jersey (check)/champagne bottles (check) lots of models (check)/Damn that's the list for 90 percent of y'all videos and songs/Am I wrong?"

The track "Tell Me Why" is one of Will's most emotional and dark tracks. It tells about senseless violence, about how love is unable to defeat hate on this earth.

"Mmmmm, souls are captured/Dreams are stolen, hearts are broken/Evil blatantly rewarded/Hate surrenders, Love exalted/Hope elated, negativity is shorted"

"Please what am I supposed to say to my kids when they say 'Why?'"

The song "Tell Me Why" was originally planned to be Will's second single but producers of "Party Starter" started mixing a new version for the song already.

Lost and Found was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 6, 2005.

Contents

Track listing

# Title Songwriter(s) Producer(s) Featured guest(s) Length
1 "Here He Comes" W. Smith, T. Johnson, J. Townes, R. Harris, P. Webster Jazzy Jeff 2:19
2 "Party Starter" W. Smith, C. Bridges, J. Jones Polow da Don 4:09
3 "Switch" W. Smith, K. Holland, L. Bennett Kwamé "K1 Mil" 3:13
4 "Mr. Niceguy" W. Smith, T. Johnson The Freshmen 2:21
5 "Ms. Holy Roller" W. Smith, T. Johnson, A. Pinto, E. Cortes The Freshmen 3:39
6 "Lost & Found" W. Smith, T. Johnson, R. Jackson, D. Lewis The Freshmen 4:15
7 "Tell Me Why" W. Smith, A. Wyche, T. Johnson Jae Staxx Mary J. Blige 4:29
8 "I Wish I Made That/Swagga" W. Smith, T. Johnson, R. Jackson, O. Rambert, L. Bennett Jin-Young Park 4:16
9 "Pump Ya Brakes" W. Smith, O. Rambert, C. Broadus, L. Bennett, T. Johnson, R. Jackson The Freshmen and O.Banga Snoop Dogg 3:34
10 "If U Can't Dance (Slide)" W. Smith, T. Johnson The Freshmen Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls 4:02
11 "Could U Love Me" W. Smith, G. Archie G1 2:50
12 "Loretta" W. Smith, T. Johnson The Freshmen Keli Nicole Price 4:55
13 "Wave Em Off" W. Smith, O. Rambert, L. Bennett, Richard Grant, Raymond Grant, E. Ellington, J. Tizol DJ Twinz 3:30
14 "Scary Story" W. Smith, T. Lovelace, E. Gold, E. Okon Hotrunner 3:39
15 "Switch ...R&B Remix" W. Smith, K. Holland, L. Bennett COP and O.Banga Robin Thicke 4:45
16 "Switch" (Reggae Remix) (hidden track) Elephant Man 3:50
17 "Comin' to the Stage" (bonus track) DJ Kool 4:21
18 "We Won't" (bonus track) W. Smith, K. Holland DJ Kool DJ Kool 3:56
19 "Chosen One" (bonus track)

Charts

Chart Peak
Canadian Albums Chart 8
U.S. Billboard 200 6
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 4

Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008)
  • The track Party Starter was written with rapper Ludacris.
  • The iTunes release of the album does not contain track 16, Switch (Reggae Remix).
  • "Tell Me Why" is the first time Will has said "fuck" in a song. However, it is blanked out. In the line, "And why the ---- can't love seem to defeat hate?" It is also the 2nd time he has used explicit langauge (the first being the song "You Saw My Blinker" from the album Homebase (album)
v • d • e
Will Smith
Studio albums
Big Willie Style · Willennium · Born to Reign · Lost and Found
Compilations
Singles
"Men in Black" · "Just Cruisin'" · "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" · "Just the Two of Us" · "Miami" · "Wild Wild West" · "Will 2K"" · "Freakin' It" · "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)" · "1000 Kisses" · "Switch" · "Party Starter"
Featured singles
"I Sleep Much Better (In Someone Else's Bed)" (with Billy Ocean) · "Voices That Care" (with various artists) · "Boy You Knock Me Out" (with Tatyana Ali)
Related articles

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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