Songoftheday 10/12/21 -Jim West desperado Rough rider no you don't want nada, None of this six-gunnin' this brother runnin' this...

 

 

"Wild Wild West" - Will Smith featuring Dru Hill and Kool Moe Dee

from the albums Wild Wild West (Original Soundtrack) and Willennium (both 1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's song comes from rapper turned TV sitcom star turned film megasuperstar Will Smith, who had solidified his A-lister position with his Men In Black movie, as well as his debut solo album Big Willie Style, which sold over nine million copies and in addition to that film's title track spun off another #1 pop hit with "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" along with two decent follow-ups in "Just The Two Of Us" and "Miami". In 1999, Smith starred in another big-budget film, Wild Wild West, along with Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branaugh, and Selma Hayek in a steampunk-adjacent sci-fi-western comedy roughly based on a 1960's TV show that was heavy on special effects if not on cohesiveness. However Smith's affable nature and comic chops got the film to at least make back its investment. Like in Men In Black, Smith handles the title song for the film, his sole cut on the soundtrack. For "Wild Wild West", Smith lifts the background and chorus melody from Stevie Wonder's classic 70's hit "I Wish", bringing on R&B group Dru Hill to handle the singing. He also tacks on the hook from old-school rapper Kool Moe Dee, whose "Wild Wild West" went to #4 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart in 1988. But the record is more than just a collection of samples; Will basically lays out the exposition of the plot of the film in its verses, doing better than any movie review. He's got swagger, but so does his character Jim West, so it fits, and while people loved ragging on this, I felt it was a welcome breath of fresh air from the string of vague soundtrack hits that really have nothing to do with the movie they're attached to. Mind you, that makes this instantly dated to the movie release, but it was meant to be a temporary jam to promote the film, and in that respect, "Wild Wild West" does its job. And it grooves along, even more than the movie did. The music video was just as "big" as the movie, including most of the stars as well as Dru Hill, Kool Moe Dee, Smith callbacks like Alfonso Ribeiro from Fresh Prince, and stars like Babyface, MC Lyte, and a certain singing son named Enrique that will also get his first big break from the movie. Even Stevie Wonder himself grants his seal of approval by being in the video, which is clearly meant to even match Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" in cinematic scope. I love his way more than I should, but no shame in my game...

"Wild Wild West" became Will's second #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Men In Black" didn't count since it wasn't a single at the time) in July of 1999. The song also topped Billboard's Rap Singles chart for three weeks, and spent two weeks at #3 on their R&B chart. Internationally, the single was a big hit as well, reaching the top ten in the UK (#2), the Netherlands (#2), Switzerland (#2), Norway (#2), New Zealand (#2), Canada (#3), Germany (#3), Belgium (#3W/#5F), Denmark (#3), Hungary (#3), France (#4), Spain (#4), Sweden (#4), Ireland (#4), Italy (#5), Austria (#5), Greece (#5), Finland (#6), Australia (#8). The Wild Wild West soundtrack, released in June of that year, climbed to #4 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over two million copies. The song would also appear on Smith's sophomore solo album Willennium, which came out that November, which became his highest-charting solo set at #5 on the Billboard 200, going on to move over two million copies.  Smith will be back to the series; so will the Wild Wild West soundtrack, but not for Smith.

(8/10)

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Well you can't say Smith doesn't put on a show, like at the MTV Music Awards where he rode a horse down the aisle of the theater to start his star-filled act...

And P.S., here's Will going off on how bad Wild Wild West the movie was (he passed up The Matrix for it, personally glad he did...)

Up tomorrow: Country legend needs dictation.