I first heard "Just One of Those Days" from a bootleg tape when I was in college, and loved it. I've somewhat followed Smith's career through the years, from the rap albums through TV and then the movies. Same as you. I loved the insight this book gave to his journey. Just as I was with Larry Bird's book "Drive," I was a little shocked at how close this fairy tale journey came to never happening, or to derailing prematurely. That which seems inevitable is rarely so.

I did feel at times the performative nature of the book, that Smith was opening himself up and being vulnerable to demonstrate himself as vulnerable. I guess that's what life is, though -- a series of performances that paint who we are, as Smith himself alludes to in the book. Still, he told on himself in a way not many do, revealing things that can't have been comfortable to say.

It's also interesting to me to read the memoirs of someone my age, with a closing chapter that sums up what they've learned in life and what they've figured out, as if by ending the book they've completed their story. I have decades left to live, most likely, as does Smith. The lessons we've each learned may persevere, or they may be cast aside as misleading or incomplete. I wonder what the next 30 years will bring for Smith, and how different the tone will be in that memoir.

Mostly, though, I now want to go rewatch Ali. And listen to "Summertime" again.