TRAINWRECKORDS: Will Smith's "Lost and Found"

Man, my husband has been begging me to post about my history with this album ever since we watched this video (which was awesome, by the way). But I bought this album off iTunes right as I started college in an effort to stay on top of popular music (I was a late bloomer). I'd always loved Will Smith, so I figured it was a safe bet! This had never come up, though, so my husband was both amused and a little shocked when I started singing along to most of the "obscure" songs featured in this video, remembering verses you didn't include. I don't know if I ever listened to the one about 9-11 more than a couple times (it was still too soon for me), but most of that album's tracks made it to my mp3 player! I still have a lot of the peppier songs living rent-free in my head, and I randomly will sing snatches of them here and there.

Call Me Christina {PuellaDocta}

failed followups from acts that had 0% chance of a come back don't count do they? because in terms of wild contrast from the original work and incredibly bizarre decisions, Aqua's 2011 album Megalomania is a trainwreckord of sorts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalomania_(Aqua_album)

Nowhere Girl

didn't end her career, and the flaming lips recovered

Nowhere Girl

This is a wonderful video, Todd, thank you! Don’t know where else to say this, but I think “Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz” would be a great addition to Trainwreckords

Now that I think about it, this has the interesting combination of somehow being both the most trend-chasing Trainwreckord while also the most personal/honest (bar maybe Lauryn Hill, again for all the wrong reasons).

Jasper Phua

As someone who knows nothing about Will Smith’s music career, this is gonna be interesting

J Pierre

Yeah, but I think there is a difference between the two. I don't recall Hammer being as angry during his switch as Will Smith was. Also, there was still valid pop rap in the mid 2000's while pop rap died in the mid 1990's. It would be interesting comparing the two, but I feel like they would be very different.

Chris Erickson

One of the few albums i actually listen to in the 2000s, since i am a young adult with not taste in music (until my wife showed up and made me slight better). I remember liking Switch and the Intro. The rest was very bitter, but never gave me any emotional response. I really don't know anymore, why i even listen to it. Maybe it was good background music, while doing other stuff ... I downloaded it (sorry Will), so i didn't have any attachment to it.

Björn Apel

This album makes a lot of the same mistakes as The Funky Headhunter - attempts at a darker image from a rapper nobody wanted that from, ill-advised attempts at feuding, obvious imitation of cooler rappers - yet there's one really big difference. The Funky Headhunter was too phoney. Lost And Found is too honest, and seems to imply that the rest of his career was the phoney part.

Mouser

Anything Is Possible would be interesting. I've always liked Debbie, and I'm amazed she grew up as cool and well-adjusted as she did considering how massive she was for a few years (not to mention how HORRIBLY she bombed when she went new jack swing)

Wyatt

I've always joked that Will Smith's rap career was more or less over the second "don't download, go out and buy the record" came out of his mouth. The truth is so much sadder than I imagined.

Wyatt

People love Will Smith so much that after the slap we were more worried about Will than Chris. I think he's going to be fine.

Good Old El Rey

"Switch" is still a bop though. Also, Nintendo really missed out on a huge marketing opportunity to use that song in Nintendo Switch commercials.

Ryan Storey

There is an intersection between Black masculinity, responses to Black actions (the fact that people call this 'one of the lowest points of the Oscars WHILE THEY STILL HAD POLANSKI IN THE ACADEMY FOR SO LONG is one such bullshit point), Jada as a Black woman involved in this, etc. that even good-faith dialogues can be entangled in trying to dissect the incident.

Jasper Phua

Great video, as always, but the fact that there is even a 'controversy' surrounding 'the incident' mentioned at the start is immensely sad. I would think 'don't physically assault someone over a joke' would be a fairly low-bar to get a consensus on, but then Twitter hot takes gonna hot take.

Especially on THIS album, where he seems to want to air out all of his dirty laundry

Erik Danielson

i'm surprised you didnt make the MC Hammer trainwreckords comparison, but i guess that already obvious.

Creamer

The difference is Public Enemy sure as hell weren't getting played on white radio either, whereas Will in 2005 was a gigantic movie star with years of success off of Top 40 radio-friendly rap singles; the grievances don't hold the same weight.

Jaime Paradise

Okay so that one song was just ripping off “party like a rock star” right?

Sarah Ashbridge

I pray that the polo shirt never makes a comeback, that shit was the bane of my adolescence.

Shiny Skunk

01:54 Among Us

Oisín Quinn

I have literally no memory of this record. I'd have been a freshman or sophomore in college at the time, so I wasn't listening to anything BUT rock, but I feel like I should have heard Switch at least once.

Jessica Forbes

Another great Trainwreckords episode... I love this series! Some other albums that might make for a great episode of "Trainwreckords" - In Blue by the Corrs - I know what everyone is thinking... how could a multi million selling album with one really big hit ("Breathless") be a Trainwreckord? The Corrs changed their sound in order to finally break through in the USA. As a result, tons of their die hard fans turned on them. After this, the Corrs never ever regained the superstardom and sales that they had before "In Blue." They took a short term gain for a long term loss. Other possible trainwreckord ideas: - Shadows and Light by Wilson Phillips - Bionic by Christina Aguilera - Love Beach by Emerson Lake and Palmer - Masterpiece Theatre by En Vogue - Victory by the Jacksons - Anything is Possible by Debbie Gibson - Twisted Angel by LeAnn Rimes - Head over Heels by Paula Abdul - Bleed Like Me by Garbage - Push and Shove by No Doubt - Now and Forever by Kim Wilde

David Gutierrez

The Kanye comparison at the end there could prove eerie given how Ye's solution to his own infamous stage moment and personal life breaking down come the 10's was to lean into the hyperreal image of him as a give-no-fucks rock star of the new decade, but at the expense of himself spiralling even more out of control, especially come the Trump era.

Jasper Phua

I understand a lot of those sad and angry movie projects were because he'd been told that his Fun Will image meant that Stephen Spielberg wasn't all that interested in working with him. I suspect Will's been intensely interested in his image for decades, which has led to moments where he's lost out on golden opportunities because of it; another commenter mentioned Django Unchained, but he was also approached for The Matrix.

Matt Cramp

There must be something wrong with me, because I enjoyed a lot of those song excerpts. And I’d point out that Public Enemy also called out Black radio back in the day.

Beau Dure

This just happened. My video was at the part where Will said the white guy part, And it just froze, And I swear I thought Todd was just letting it sit there while we process what we just heard.

I dunno, the Lauren Hill one was pretty danged uncomf

Russet Burbank

I legit broke for a second when the spiderman remix showed up. Brain completely short circuited from a mix of second hand embarrassment, disbelief, and utter cosmic comedy.

Ryan Massey

Another great addition to the series!

Jack Darnell

https://youtu.be/SdH18V302vY

Todd in the Shadows

At no point did I correctly predict what the next verse in any song would be about, much less correctly predict what any song would be about

David L. Lebovitz

At least there's no Speedo getting banned from MTV.

Jon Heiman

Audibly said “oh no” when “But i don’t want to make it sound like the entire album is just personal grievances. For example, he has one song about 9/11.” Expert writing, comedic timing and shadow acting as always, Todd

Saffron C

same here.

RedBedroomRecords

Spider-Man?!

Charles Kieser

Men in Black 2 was a good movie.

RedBedroomRecords

I want to watch this YouTube where my phone lets it play in a separate window. How can I do so?

Todd this is one of your all-time best videos. I’d never heard anyone talk about this album and I had to pause several times in disbelief.

Will Seamon

With another pop-rapper trying to sound tough I am SO tempted to call this album The Funky Headslapper....

Justin V

The problems with this album seems alot like the same problems with MC Hammer's The Funky Headhunter.

John Seiler

Me on Twitter: How bad could this be? Me on Patreon: Lmao RIP Todd

Bailey Vogt

I was a college freshman when Switch dropped, and ironically, I remember it getting more rotation on BET than either pop radio or MTV. Like I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason I remember it at all. Don’t think I heard anything else from or about the album, and I was a part-time music reviewer back then who knew a lot of outspoken backpacker types (i.e. dudes who shit on commercial hip-hop to prove their loyalty to KRS-ONE and Ras Kass). They did not even bother with this album. In terms of past Trainwreckords, I’m getting more Funky Headhunter and Passage vibes than anything else: a move to break out of an artist’s comfort zone inspired by uncertain commercial prospects and a whole lot of spite. Except where Passage has “Calling Occupants” and Funky Headhunter is probably no worse than a peak Coolio album, this just seems like a boring facsimile of early-2000s hip-hop with a few notable swipes. Definitely an interesting story, but I'm probably not going to dig this up on Spotify the way I have for others in the series. Great work as always. Good luck with the Oscar Slap crowd.

Oisín Harrell

I actually have very strong memories of Switch- this was right around the time I was starting to develop my own music tastes and my parents let me and my siblings have our own little iTunes library, and Switch was one of the first things we downloaded! It's very nostalgic for me, and is certainly the first Will Smith song I ever heard.

Sarah, the Creator

I feel like this album is a waste of really great beats. Every song has hooks for days...it just needed someone, anyone else...rapping about something, anything else.

Keith Badje

Enjoyed this a lot. Your Trainwreckords are always my favorites. I feel like I always learn a lot from them.

Sadie S

"Perhaps those among us..." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

MarioDaBean

Yeah I had a similar reaction when “the incident” happened, my first thoughts were “you can take the guy out of West Philly but you can’t take West Philly out of the guy”, no amount of money can make your demons go away

Kylie

Was having a shitty day and this has made me very happy :)

Paul Looney

Great episode, Todd. All I'll say about "the incident" is that anyone who'd really heard these lyrics wouldn't have been too shocked at what went down. I think Will needs to confront his dark side instead of smiling his way through all this pain he's put out there, he'll be a better actor and person because of it.

Jesse Shade

Young me was a huge Will fan but Em definitely killed him as a rapper for me. The mid "I was upstairs listening to my Will Smith CDs" skit during the Forgot About Dre music video always makes me laugh.

Ryw316

Lol I was thinking how much that first single sounded like a Timbaland rip off, and then he goes and opens the album with the exact same flip as “Here We Come”

Anthony Pierre Coco

I honestly think I love angry, petty, insecure Will Smith more than anything he's ever done in any medium ever. Like, the dude was in one of the weirdest positions of all time as a very particular type of cultural icon and if he didn't try to ape other hit songs at the time then this could've been his version of Joni Mitchell's Blue. It almost certainly wouldn't have been anywhere as good, but it would've been one of those cult albums that always get mentioned in conversations about hidden gems. Great episode as always, Todd.

Devin Brewer

Great video, as usual, Todd! Really enjoyed it and learned something, too! Do you think you could keep the adverts out of the Patreon version, though? I mean, the people on here... we've all paid already, right? Just a thought. Keep up the good work. I'm always looking forward to your next upload!

user no. g_{64}

I actually do remember hearing it a lot at the time, and that's only because of the Now That's What I Call Music commercial it was on. But I never heard it a single time until now.

What a fascinating mess. Trainwreckords is my favourite series of yours.

Georgina Storey

I think this has dethroned Paula as the most uncomfortable Trainwreckords episode. Fitting since Robin Thicke is in this one too

Specter Koen

Anyone here know the fan remix of Party Starter where it was mixed with Numb by Linkin Park? that is genuinely great

Bowsette

The whole time you showed Will performing I Wish I Made That on 106 & Park I was covering my mouth, that was utterly mortifying

Jaime Paradise

I don't think this is controversial or anything, I think it's a very interesting look at a strange moment in an artist's career where he's clearly got a lot of things on his mind and he's putting it all on the record.

Cody Baird

Can't believe Nintendo never used the song Switch in their marketing.

waywardlaser

25:36, a still from Pursuit of Happiness pops in for a suspiciously long amount of time, not sure if that was intentional.

MJS

...yeah we're gonna fix that. thanks

Todd in the Shadows

I've heard todd pronounce Rakim incorrectly like 4 times now.

gerald oxford

Pausing in the middle because I just have to get this out of my system now: Is there anything sadder than Will Smith saying, "Nickelodeon, I can't hear you," during a live performance? I also have absolutely no memory of Switch (and Todd and I are the same age, I believe).

Alina

Oh boy. 🍿

Yvette

I just said "oh NO" out loud when I saw the notification.

Anthony Hansen

Who doesn’t want to live dangerously sometimes? Glad to see this.

Brett