10 October 1993
In 1993 Will Smith was not yet an Oscar-winning actor, an Oscar-host-slapping stage-crasher, or even Will Smith. Much in keeping with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince made rap and hip hop records that were generally either goofy (‘Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble’), sentimental (‘Summertime’) or comic (the much-interpreted theme to his TV show). To that end, I was a bit surprised to listen to ‘Boom! Shake The Room’ and find how aggressive and muscular Smith tries to play it, like a bad Chuck D impression. As the title suggests, the floor-thumping beats of Cypress Hill and even House of Pain were big in 1993 and another possible template for this.
Of course, Will Smith is no Chuck D. “Many have died trying to stop my show”, he claims unconvincingly here; I think we should have called him on that, perhaps asked to see the actual body count. The bizarre third verse about stuttering is more telling: he comes across as clumsy, uncool, and not overly concerned with matters of taste so long as it sells. Chalk ‘Boom! Shake The Room’ down as yet another example of rap and hip hop being reduced to childish, sanitised supermarket-shelf drivel for easy sales.
