I’ve never been very good with money. 
As a child my allowance would practically evaporate as I splurged on whatever it was that made my heart flutter that week — the Yomega Fireball Yo-Yo, Tech Deck fingerboards, Hot-Wheels….and yes, even Will Smith.
I will never forget pulling into the Cartersville Wal-Mart as I raced through the store, mother in hand, to get my hands on a copy of “Big Willie Style,” Smith’s first studio album.
This epic purchase represented more than just early signs I was unstable — it was the first CD I purchased entirely with money I earned through mowing my neighbor’s lawn (or maybe it was Birthday money? I’m not going to lie and tell you where I got the $10 required to buy such an important album. I can’t even tell you with utmost certainty how many Diet Cokes i’ve had in the last three days. These are trivial statistics.)
As we headed home, I tore through the wrapping, popped the reflective disc right into my portable CD player and was immediately submerged into a world of spanish women, father-son relationships and alien hunters.
(“Miami,” “Just the Two of Us,” and “Men in Black,” respectively.)
I’m not really sure why it was I yearned for the album so bad.
Though logic would point its finger at the Men in Black theme song, perhaps I was just far beyond my years, foreshadowing the ultimate rise of Smith as America’s favorite black man (since Woods has been dethroned indefinitely … and Eminem isn’t a real African-American.)
What better way to delve into music once forgotten then by way of the Fresh Prince himself?
(In)formal Word Vomit 