Big Willie style

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Big Willie style
Studio album by Will Smith

Publication
(s)

November 25, 1997

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

East coast hip hop

Title (number)

17th

running time

58:17 min

production

chronology
- Big Willie style Willennium
(1999)

Big Willie Style is the debut album of the American rapper and actor Will Smith as a solo artist. It was published in 1997 and is his most successful work to date.

About the album

Big Willie Style was Smith's first album in four years and without his longtime partner Jazzy Jeff , who produced some songs on the album.

It consists mainly of “party jams”, the melodies of which are often taken from older black music hits (see Big Willie Style # Samples ). In terms of content , Smith mostly represents himself and her life as a Hollywood star , but also as a private person and family person (for example in “Just the Two of Us”). The songs "Chasing Forever" and "I Loved You" deal with his experiences in love relationships .

The lead singer of the funk and R&B group Cameo Larry Blackmon, the hip-hop duo Camp Lo and the rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of the pop trio TLC as well as a number of lesser known R&B singers are featured on the album.

Singles

Will Smith in 2008

Big Willie Style's first single was "Men in Black". Their content and video were clearly inspired by the film of the same name . The song was number 1 on the Hot 100 Airplay for four weeks in the US , but was not released as a single . In contrast, he reached the top of the charts in Germany , England , Australia , France , Switzerland and New Zealand . In 1998 the song won a Grammy Award in the Best Rap Solo Performance category .

The second single was "Just Cruisin '" and also on the soundtrack to Men in Black represented. It reached number 27 in the German single charts , number 23 in the United Kingdom and number seven in Sweden . It is not included on the US version of the album.

In January 1998 "Gettin 'Jiggy wit It" came out and occupied the top position on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks , as well as top 10 positions in several other countries. The song received the 1999 Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance , as did “Men in Black” a year earlier, making Smith the only artist to date to have received this award for two songs on the same album. Both songs also received a Video Music Award .

The fourth single was the song "Just the Two of Us", the content of which is aimed at his son Trey, who can also be seen in the accompanying video. It was ranked 20th in the US, 6th in New Zealand and 2nd in England.

The last single on the album, released almost a year after the album, was "Miami". The song reached number 5 in the Austria Top 40 , number 4 on the Swiss charts and number 3 in the UK Top 40. Four of the five singles on the album thus reached the top 5 in England. The video for "Miami" is considered the seventh most expensive of all time and contains an early guest appearance by Eva Mendes . Towards the end of the video, you can hear the song's "Miami Mix".

Track list

  1. Intro
  2. Y'All Know
    • Produced by Andreao "Fanatic" Heard
  3. Gettin 'jiggy wit it
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by LES
  4. Candy (featuring Larry Blackmon and Cameo )
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by LES
  5. Chasing Forever
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by LES
  6. Keith B-Real I (Interlude)
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by Will Smith
  7. Don't say nothin
    • Produced by Jazzy Jeff and Keith Pelzer
    • Co-produced by Ryan Toby
  8. Miami
    • Produced by LES and Poke and Tone
  9. Yes Yes Y'All (featuring Camp Lo )
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by LES
  10. I loved you
    • Produced by Jazzy Jeff, Keith Pelzer and Valvin Roane
    • Co-produced by Ryan Toby
  11. Keith B-Real II (Interlude)
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by Will Smith
  12. It's all good
    • Produced by Jazzy Jeff
  13. Just the Two of Us
    • Produced by sauce
  14. Keith B-Real III (Interlude)
    • Co-produced by Will Smith
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
  15. Big Willie Style (featuring Left Eye )
    • Produced by LES
  16. Men in Black
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
  17. Just Cruisin (Remix)
    • Produced by Poke and Tone
    • Co-produced by LES

Samples

Most of the songs on the album are musically based on samples from funk , R&B and disco pieces from the 70s and 80s .

Sister Sledge are sampled on Gettin 'Jiggy wit It
Joe Farrell is sampled on I Loved You

Samples used:

reception

When it was released, the album was praised for a successful balancing act between “hip-hop street cred and mainstream glamor”. The fact that Will Smith continued to pursue the pop rap he helped shape and not swap it for the popular street and gangsta rap was mostly rated positively.

“Throughout, he displays the confident craft of a screenwriter and the unthreatened bounce of a guy with little to prove. In doing so, he tells the larger story of rap values ​​tweaking the American Dream , of how he's come to terms with the conflict between the neighborhood and the global cineplex. The result is an exceptional megacelebrity album. "

- Rolling Stone (3.5 out of 5 points)

"Instead of trying to toughen his image, Smith continued with the friendly, humorous pop-rap that has been his trademark since He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper . Of course, he gives the music a glossy modern sheen (ironically based on early-'80s funk) in order to prove that he's still hip - and it works. Sure, there's filler scattered all the way the through the album, but the best moments (...) rank among his best singles. "

- All Music Guide (4 out of 5 points)

"The musical world suffered no great loss when Will Smith ditched rapping for acting. His' 80s hip-hop, as the Fresh Prince, had marginal novelty teen appeal. But his first album in four years is worse, lapsing into nonstop pop-rap clichés. Even the smash single "Men in Black," included here, merely exploits his celebrity and the goodwill built up by the movie. At this point, Smith has as much business rapping as Eddie Murphy does singing. "

- Entertainment Weekly (C-)

successes

Big Willie Style is considered one of the most commercially successful hip hop albums of all time. So far, at least 12 million copies of the album have sold worldwide, in the USA it was awarded 10 times platinum . It was also successful in the charts and was able to occupy a top 10 position in England, France and the USA, among others. In England the album stayed in the charts for 56 weeks and in the USA for 99 weeks.

Charts

album

year title Chart positions annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1997 Big Willie style 20th 9 21st 9 8th

Singles

year title Chart positions annotation
DE AT CH UK US
1997 Men in Black 1 2 1 1 -
not published in the US
1997 Just cruisin ' 27 - - 23 -
1998 Gettin 'jiggy wit it 18th 37 32 3 1
1998 Just the Two of Us 81 - - 2 20th
1998 Miami 12 5 4th 3 17th

Awards for music sales

Country / Region Award Sales
Awards for music sales
(country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA) Australia (ARIA) Gold record icon.svg gold 35,000
Belgium (BEA) Belgium (BEA) Gold record icon.svg gold (25,000)
Europe (IFPI) Europe (IFPI) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 1,000,000
France (SNEP) France (SNEP) Gold record icon.svg gold (100,000)
Canada (MC) Canada (MC) Platinum record icon.svg 6 × platinum 600,000
New Zealand (RMNZ) New Zealand (RMNZ) Platinum record icon.svg platinum 15,000
Netherlands (NVPI) Netherlands (NVPI) Gold record icon.svg gold (50,000)
Norway (IFPI) Norway (IFPI) Gold record icon.svg gold (25,000)
Sweden (IFPI) Sweden (IFPI) Gold record icon.svg gold (50,000)
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) Gold record icon.svg gold (25,000)
United States (RIAA) United States (RIAA) Platinum record icon.svg 9 × platinum 9,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI) United Kingdom (BPI) Platinum record icon.svg 2 × platinum (600,000)
All in all Gold record icon.svg7 × gold
Platinum record icon.svg19 × platinum
 10,650,000

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Review of Rolling Stone ( Memento of February 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), November 24, 1997
  2. ^ "10 Most Expensive Music Videos of All Time w / Videos" ( Memento from August 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), August 12, 2008
  3. ^ Review of the All Music Guide
  4. ↑ Entertainment Weekly Review , December 15, 1997
  5. ↑ Information about the album ( Memento from December 23, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Big Willie Style in the German charts ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musicline.de
  7. ↑ a b Smith among others in the Austrian and Swiss charts (albums)
  8. ↑ Big Willie Style in the Official UK Charts (English)
  9. ↑ Big Willie Style in the US charts ( Memento from April 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Smith in the German Charts (Singles) ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musicline.de
  11. ↑ a b Smith among others in the Austrian and Swiss charts (singles)
  12. ↑ Will Smith in the Official UK Charts (English)
  13. ↑ Smith in the US charts (singles) ( Memento from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Award in Australia
  15. ^ Award in Belgium
  16. ↑ Award in Europe
  17. ^ Award in France
  18. ↑ Award in Canada
  19. ↑ Award in New Zealand
  20. ↑ Award in the Netherlands
  21. ^ Award in Norway
  22. ↑ Award in Sweden
  23. ↑ Award in Switzerland
  24. ↑ Distinction in the United States
  25. ↑ Award in the United Kingdom