Actually, Fresh Prince Is All That

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DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE

“Homebase”

Jive

On “I’m All That,” which sails along on some funky old Rick James samples, Will Smith, alias the Fresh Prince, boasts that he’s the baddest rapper on wax. A few years ago, that claim would have been laughable, but now it doesn’t seem so outlandish. A high-spirited motor-mouth who can spew out words at a machine-gun pace, Smith (star of the NBC sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”) demonstrates on several cuts--particularly “I’m All That”--that he’s upgraded his rapping skills to the point where he really does belong among the elite.

On “I’m All That” he’s also groaning about his lowly status as a comedic pop-rapper. But that’s probably not going to change--at least not until he tackles some topics of substance. This album is full of boasts and frivolity, featuring songs like “Trapped on the Dance Floor” and “Who Stole the D.J.?”

There are two strange cuts, however: the surprisingly mean-spirited “You Saw My Blinker,” and “Summertime,” the duo’s Top 10 single, which is just a laundry list of summer-is-fun cliches.

The topics may not be provocative, but between Smith’s zestful rapping and the powerhouse beats, this album is fun to listen to.

Albums are rated on a scale of one asterisk (poor) to five (a classic).