*mimi*

looks like Will got attacked by maniac Tom! J/K

^^^exactly. I know he'll look too good at the BET awards tonight.

I think it's his haircut that's unflattering. Otherwise, he'd look the same. Everyone has bad pics, so don't go overboard with this one. He looked fine on other pics just 2 weeks ago.

hey! no problem guys! I was surpirsed cuz this was on the front page of Yahoo news. Pretty big right there. Plus, other rap boards are given him props on this one too. This article showed to me he really cares about the image black Americans are sending to children and other blacks aroud the world. If other rappers are smart enough, they'll take Will's statement into consideration. But then again, nowadays money runs music, and whne that happens any creativity and decency goes out the door.

exactly what i was thinkin

By RYAN PEARSON, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago LOS ANGELES - Will Smith has one big introduction to make at Tuesday night's BET Awards: Gangster rappers, meet the rest of the world. Smith told The Associated Press he hopes to impress the global significance of U.S. black culture on the show's audience and artists. ADVERTISEMENT "The kids that are making these trends, making these songs, don't understand the level of effect that black Americans have around the world," he said in an interview. " ... Black Americans are so elevated, it's almost worship." Smith, co-host of the show (8 p.m. EDT) at Hollywood's Kodak Theater with wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, said he witnessed the phenomenon recently while in Africa. Touring a village in Mozambique, he came across a shack on which someone had scrawled the name of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. "I was asking the kids: What is it about Tupac? Why is that there? I kept asking why. They were saying we want to dress like you dress, wear all the things you wear, talk how you talk." "The impression is that black Americans are the dragon slayers. Here we are 13 percent minority in a foreign land, and yet we can make laws, change laws. If Jesse Jackson shows up at Coca-Cola, something changes." Smith, who won the first rap Grammy in 1989 for his squeaky-clean "Parents Just Don't Understand," said he wants hip-hop artists to recognize their importance and shift away from thuggish themes. "It's real important to have balance of the imagery. Yes, there are people who fire guns in the street, but there's also doctors who go to work in those areas to feed their children." The gangster lifestyle is celebrated in black communities for its strength, Smith said. "That's the image of survivors. The dude that sells the drugs or has the guns or is most willing to kill somebody is the dude that has the greatest potential for survival, or at least that's the perception. So that's what people strive for. "What I'm trying to present and what a lot of other artists are presenting is a different approach to survival and a more sound approach to survival. It's a more long-term approach based on intellect and skills that can't be taken away from you: The smartest dude survives the best." Smith picks out Common and Mos Def as other artists "that really have something to say that don't necessarily fit on the `106th & Park' top 10." Now more well-known as a movie star ("Men in Black," "Bad Boys," "Independence Day") than rapper, the 36-year-old Smith maintains on his latest album "Lost And Found" that his nice guy image has worked against him. "Black radio, they won't play me though," he raps in one song. "Guess they think that Will ain't hard enough. Maybe I should just have a shootout ... just ignorant, attacking, acting rough. I mean then, will I be black enough?" Though his current single "Switch" is a top 40 hit, the man once known as the Fresh Prince said he no longer worries about album sales. "I'm an entertainer. I make it and close my eyes," he said. "Sometimes it sells 14 million, sometimes it sells 300,000. For me it's about just doing what I do, and hoping that my artistry makes a difference."

Tom's been disappointing me with his weird behavior lately. I know he's passionate about his religion, but he has to be able to look at different views. I understand what he's saying about the harmful effects of drgus, but drugs have also given people their lives back. What about drugs to fight HIV or diabetes? Drugs can be good and bad, but Tom doesn't want to hear that I guess. I wonder if his behavior will hurt his new movie. If so, ya'll know Will is gonna take over as the biggest movie star... haha

some of u are really overestimating Tatyana Ali as a star. She had ONE hit on her last album. Just one! The harsh truth is people know her as Ashley from Fresh Prince. Not as a musician. With people like Faith Evans and Amerie flopping, the only R&B singers who are women that's selling is Beyonce and Ciara. Tatyana won't be able to scratch them.

r u serious? She won't get anywhere to be real with u. The girl was great on the fresh prince, but in the current music industry, it ain't happenin

tatyana ali? Come on... She's really not a relevant musician anymore

Damn, that was jada ????? I thought Allen Iverson ← haha so true... The woman should soften up a little bit. IMO, she ain't attractive anymore. I'm not hating, but that's the truth. A year ago, she was really beautiful. Now she's tryin to man up or somethin... Poor Will

u can't really say Fat Joe did terrible. His album got pushed back about 4 times, and he isn't getting much radio play on a steady single. For an album that most ppl had no idea of the date of its release, it did decent. It was a lot higher than the sad 60-70,000 it was expected to do.

wow... that's great news! I'm so proud of the album doin so well. It's holdin steady unlike the other albums that debuted the same week as he did.

i think the word "legend" is thrown around too much. Run DMC, LL, Public Enemy, Will are not legends. They are rap pioneers. Legends are people who've made a great impact, sacrifice or change. Lincoln is a legend. Malcolm X is a legend. Rappers are not legends.

so should we start requesting the song on the radio soon? If so, I could put up some websites of the big radio stations out here in LA so we could start requesting...

blah... Phil's girlfriend is Jeannie Buss, the daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. She could've had something to do with his coming back.

^^^I agree. I would have LOVED to see Will in a Stanley Kubrick movie though. I seems odd, but it could have been interesting.

36 34 WILL SMITH INTERSCOPE 31,733 +19% LOST & FOUND ^^^sales are Final, from HITSdailydouble.com He's up 19%?! Go Will!!

LL used to be good. Not anymore

i don't really care one way or the other. I'm not a fan so... But he needs to stop hangin around damn kids. I don't care if he didn't have a "childhood." That's a common story for many folks, but they move on and stop feelin sorry for themselves. Didn't he learn the 1st time?

who really cares about him anyways. Dissin ppl more famous than him to try an get attention lol... Even Dre left his sorry ass

some of em aren't true anymore or weren't. Like Cuba Gooding Jr. as one of his best friends?? He never was. Some of his best friends in Hollywood are Keenen Ivory Wayans, Eddie Murphy, and Duane and Tisha Campbell Martin. Whoopi and George Clooney aren't.

Switch is also still #5 on iTunes

thanks for that info. U and Radewart are givin me hope! haha

Pretty much. Bad Boys was basically a dumb idea too. There have been so many cop movies, it should have seemed pointless to do it, but look how it came out. Lets wait and see how this develops. ← it might be my dislike for Nicholas Cage. That's most likely my reason for not looking forward to this at all. It also sounds like a movie Cedric the Entertainer would do. If u guys know who he is, you'd understand