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Look what i have found on the Live 8 page of AOL. :thumbsdown: :uhh:

Wherein the Fresh Prince underwhelms, and thoughts turn to matters scatological.

Dimitri Ehrlich

When the rain stopped, I trundled back to the Live 8 site, surprised to find that other than a veritable village of hot dog and burger carts and several small brown ponds, nothing much had changed.

There were still only a few hundred people, and judging by the background hum of thick Philly accents, most were locals. As I approached the stage, I watched a woman snap a digital picture of herself and say, "At least now I have proof I was here."

This struck me as odd, as it has never crossed my mind to doubt whether or not I was somewhere, especially among an ocean of hot dog carts and brown puddles. But to each his own.

There were still only a few hundred people milling about, and most of the comments I overheard were along the lines of "This is getting boring," a reasonable conclusion, since the only thing to observe was a sound man repeating the words, "one, two" over and over into a microphone.

The temperature had cooled considerably after the thunderstorm, and I watched a small boy, perhaps aged two, laying on his back, on the dry cement floor of a fountain, his diapers sticking up out of his shorts. His expression was one of contentment and boredom, which pretty much summed up the mood of the crowd.

I spotted Will Smith moving among the two dozen people onstage, wearing an unbuttoned blue shirt over a white tank top, looking strangely immune to the aging process.

God bless Will Smith for his success as an actor, but when it comes to his rapping one can only fake a smile for so long. Waiting for Will Smith to sound check a musical performance is akin to watching Prince Charles get ready to go to work: a rehearsal for an event so minimal it defies observation.

Indeed, the primary phenomenon a visitor to Live 8 would have been struck by at that moment was the absence of a crowd for a marquee name like Will Smith: with less than 12 hours to go before an expected million fans would throng this exact spot, there were fewer people than would fit in a smallish movie theater.

Just then, Will Smith began "rapping," and I use quotation marks to signify not only the deepest contempt for his microphone "skills," which would easily be outpaced by my "grandmother" (may she rest in peace) but also to suggest my genuine wonder at how the Fresh Prince--one of old school hip-hop's most colossally inoffensive and least interesting figures--managed to parlay sitcom success into the kind of bank most of us aretoo timid to even dream of.

Given how many great rappers toil away in obscurity, this seems unfair. On the other hand, Philly is Will Smith's home town and only about 300 people were on hand to politely applaud when he yelled, "This is our fan test right here!" Apparently either the fans or he failed the test. Or both.

He ran through innocuous and unimaginative hits ranging from the cross-marketing product (I wouldn't quite call it a song) "Switch" to "Summertime," his lilting flow about as hip as a high top fade.

"This ain't the show, y'all gotta still gotta come back tomorrow," he said, between songs. "I'm gonna have nicer clothes on tomorrow." Unfortunately for Will, clothes may make the man, but not the emcee. Immediately following his sound check, someone with a good sense of irony starting playing Tower of Power's "What Is Hip?" over the sound system.

On my way back to the hotel, I noticed the line of food vendors had tripled during Will Smith's sound check. Now there were aluminum fry-olators offering turkey legs, Italian sausages, corn dogs, lemon shakes, french fries, and of course, the unavoidable Philly cheese steak.

Memo to self: never, ever eat a Philly cheese steak.

Whether or not you agree with me about the terminal wackness of Will Smith, one thing was clear: those Porta-Johns would be getting a terrible work out tomorrow.

I made a secret vow to fast all day, though I am ashamed to admit it was less out of solidarity with the world's hungriest people than to avoid having to confirm the truth of the preceding sentence.

See you tomorrow. Maybe Will Smith will rock the crowd. There is always room for miracles

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he just wanted to do some Will Smith bashing to make himself feel better for his perthetic life.

Sometimes i think every1 else in the world is tone deaf apart from us. Makes u wonder.

It souns like he never saw a performance..He can wath will tonight when he Rock`s The Croud :1-say-yes:

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Obviously I don't agree with this fellow's assessment in general, but the following statement, I have to agree on:

"He ran through innocuous and unimaginative hits ranging from the cross-marketing product (I wouldn't quite call it a song) "Switch" to "Summertime," his lilting flow about as hip as a high top fade."

I wholesomely agree because A.) that's my favorite description of "Switch" EVER (sorry guys lol) and B.) clearly, the high top fade is the "hippest" haircut EVER, which would obviously, by way of his analogy, make "Summertime" the "hippest" hip hop song EVER. Sounds accurate. :2thumbs:

FACT: I had a conversation with a friend the other day about Kendell Gill, former NBA player and current boxer, that concentrated not on the Sports Illustrated article written this week about his career change, but rather the fact that last season, Special K was the most recent NBA player we've seen to rock the high top fade. :1-say-yes: Henceforth, we both love the guy.

Edited by scyhigh99
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Like Maxfly said. This guy must be really bored wit himself. First u go after his clothes, then the way he raps, n even get him about his hometown. Wave 'Em Off!

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Hey fans are defending Will here after that dumbass guy's comments:

http://journals.aol.com/live8inphilly/LIVE...lly/entries/298

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It goes 2 show that Will is an outstanding artist. PPl that r hatin' on him n have 2 make-up things just so they can criticize him. They have 2 find sumthing wrong wit Will cause he is a truely nice man.

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