When Will Smith was hollerin’ at Jada Pinkett back in the day, a few things were obvious: the fair-skinned shortie was fine and was a pretty talented actress. What the Philly “rapper” probably didn’t know was that the sexy Pinkett could sing pretty well, too.
The masses first heard Jada sing in the movie Kingdom Come. Her voice was cool. Nothing spectacular, but cool. She doesn’t stretch to any Jill Scott-like heights with her voice on the song “1,000 Kisses” from her husband’s new Born to Reign, but she does enough to gain notice. The Luther Vandross classic is given a cool, unpretentious 2002 update. “Willow is a Player” also works. With this track, Smith uses clever wordplay to describe how his daughter plays games on him like some schemin’ chick in the hood.
Unfortunately, the rest of this CD falls somewhere in between corny and cornier. The “Nod Your Head” single sucks like the Knicks. All of the spacey drumkicks and cheap stage commands (“C’mon, nod your head!”) are so 1989. The “Summertime” revisited “Block Party,” salsa-flavored “I Can’t Stop” and “Maybe” have a similar bland taste. But, Will fans, don’t get mad. Your slow-rapping man is doing his thing on the big screen, killing all kinds of E.T. ass in Men In Black II. Besides, even if he’s having a bad day, there’s always Jada there to sing him a sweet bedtime lullaby.
