Will Smiths long, strange road back to music with his first album in 20 years

A little more than three years ago, we could’ve never imagined Will Smith gettin’ jiggy wit it again.After all, he had long ago given up his career as a lighthearted rapper and had become a serious thespian who was the frontrunner to win an Oscar in 2022 — on his third nomination — for “King Richard.”But of course, we all know what happened next.Smith trashed an entire career that had been leading up to that moment — from sitcom star (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) to box-office boss (“Men in Black”) to acclaimed actor (“The Pursuit of Happyness”) — when he shockingly slapped Oscar presenter Chris Rock shortly before winning one of those bald bad boys.Now he was the bad boy.Almost three years to the day after the slap heard around the world went down on March 27, 2022, Smith is attempting the most improbable of comebacks by going back to his roots in music with “Based on a True Story,” his first album since 2005’s “Lost and Found.”He addresses all the drama right away in the opening “Int.

Barbershop — Day” with multiple voices, including DJ Jazzy Jeff, comedian B.Simone and Smith himself, gossiping about him.“Will Smith is canceled,” opens one voice before another counters, “Oh you can’t cancel no icon.” Playfully but pointedly, the track continues to not shy away from Oscargate: “I heard he won the Oscar but he had to give it back/ And you know they only made him do that s–t because he’s Black.” (Although, contrary to these lyrics, Smith got to keep his Oscar.)And it even goes so far as to reference his infamous words defending Jada Pinkett Smith, warning that “You better keep his wife’s name out of your mouth.”Then, seemingly targeting Rock, he channels the brash, hungry young man who came out of the streets of Philadelphia by trash-talking on “You Lookin’ at Me?”: “You decided to instigate it/And now you got me, I’m motivated/ITake a beat, I’m spittin’ heat, I’m on fire, inciner...