Reggae

Eddie Murphy – Oh Jah Jah

Yes, THAT Eddie Murphy just released a reggae track.  No, this blog entry is not a joke.  This isn’t just someone with the same name.  It is Delirious Eddie Murphy.  Raw Eddie Murphy.  Beverly Hills Cop Eddie Murphy.  If you are old enough to remember, this is not the first time that Eddie has released music.  He released an album in the 80’s which had a hit song on it called “Party All The Time” that has since been sampled on various tracks.  I also remember him doing a single with MJ called “Whatzupwitu” which was pretty good.

His latest foray into reggae is also apparently not new.  According to the Rolling Stone article I read, he also released a reggae track in 2013 called “Red Light” with the now infamous Snoop Lion (which I had never heard of).  For the record, while I did like some of the tracks that Snoop released with his “Reincarnated” album (and let’s face it, with Major Lazer producing, you can almost certainly turn a few tracks which were dog shit into diamonds), it quickly became obvious to those involved in the reggae world that he was simply a fraud.

So what is Mr.Murphy up to?  Unlike the disingenuous Snoop Lion, he claims he has no plans to release a reggae album or convert to Rastafari, and simply felt that a reggae song would work best with the socially conscious lyrics he wrote (written partially in response to the events that took place in Ferguson last year).  What I found most interesting about the interview though was that he mentioned that he has never really stopped making music over the last 20 years, he has just chosen not to release any of it.  He claims that he has enough material to release an album in any genre right now, including even jazz and country.  There is no doubt that Eddie is a supremely talented dude, and I for one think it would be really cool to listen to what he has tucked away in his archives.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this track, but I gotta say it’s not bad at all, and I applaud the effort.  He isn’t trying to be something he’s not, just expressing his thoughts in the format that seemed most suitable.  The link to the interview is below, and if you are an Eddie Murphy fan, it’s definitely worth reading

Rolling Stone Interview with Eddie Murphy

 

Rolling Stone interview:

 

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