Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable

Genre r & b Publisher J Records External Links Official Jamie Foxx Website Official J Records Website

Honesty, I've had more than enough of Jamie Foxx for the time being. The guy is over-exposed to put it mildly. He's everywhere: making movies, doing TV, winning awards, shooting videos, releasing albums, making guest appearances on other artist's albums, he's in the gossip columns for getting into power tiffs with Eddie Murphy on the set of the film Dreamgirls...ENOUGH!!!

I can almost deal with Foxx as long as he isn't playing "Jamie Foxx." When he is interviewed these days, he's an insufferable bore, droning on and on about nothing, his head inflated with self-worth. Obviously an image makeover was done somewhere around the time of the release of Ray, the film he went on to win a Best Actor Oscar for, because Foxx speaks in such an affected way now that he sucks the life out of any room he's in.

Then there are the tired affectations at awards shows. The whole mannered "keepin' it real" attitude and the grating references to his performance in Ray (sometimes Foxx gives off the vibe that he actually was Ray Charles). He's so full of himself and up his own ass that I want to slap him sometimes.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I was purposefully avoiding requesting Foxx's album Unpredictable for review. The title track, save for Ludacris' smooth cameo near the end, does nothing to signify the emergence of a great new musical star, nor does the rest of the album, for that matter.

Foxx's voice is plain, offering little in the way of soul, noticeable tone, or depth of character. When he does make himself known, he sounds like an R. Kelly imitator (vocally only--hopefully there isn't a pissing video in Fox's closet, though he does mention wanting to make a film with his girl instead of going to one) and that earns him no points in my book.

The best moments to be found on Unpredictable come from neither the numerous talented individuals behind the production board (Babyface, Timbaland), nor from Foxx himself. When the album's final notes have been played and Foxx has urged yet another girl to give it up, the only moments that make any sort of lasting impression are courtesy of the guest stars (Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige) who try their hardest to place a memorable mark on an otherwise drab, dull affair.