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Saturday, January 24, 2015
TRAVELOGUE Lined with distinct Arabian architecture and narrow lanes, Bastakia, in Dubai is a symbol of the city’s old age structure that is worth exploring on any trip to the city of skyscrapers.
DESIRABLES
THE MUSTREADS AND LINGER-ONS
Eddie Murphy teases music career after reggae This isn’t Boogie in Your Butt or even Party All the Time. Rather, comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is jamming in the spirit of Bob Marley on the new reggae track Oh Jah Jah, which hit the web earlier this week and is set for a proper release on January 27 on iTunes via reggae label VP Records. The song, which turned up on SoundCloud a few days ago, is getting mostly positive reviews. “JAH BLESS!! RASTAFARI LIVES!!!,” writes SoundCloud user Sennid, while Teomon adds, “Ya Eddie. Sing de roots my bradda.” Another commenter, Sub-Tastic Production, writes, “This man is very talented, actor comedian musician!!! big vibes,” while Brandon Browning 210 gives Murphy the ultimate nod, even if he can’t get the spelling his first name quite right. “To think this is Eddy is amazing because he sounds just like our late great Bob Marley.” This isn’t the first time Murphy, who hit No. 2 on the pop chart back in 1985 with Party All the Time, has dabbled in reggae. Murphy’s most recent single was in 2013, when he put out the reggae jam Red Light, featuring Snoop Dogg. Murphy also laid down I Was a King, a joint with dancehall star Shabba Ranks, in 1993. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Murphy says he’s never stopped making music, he just hasn’t released much. ‘I’ve always had a facility for recording at the house. I’ve stayed in the studio for years and years,’ he says. ‘Twenty years ago there was a bunch of motherf--kers just putting records out that was actors. I didn’t want to be one of these motherf--kers dropping tracks on some ego shit, trying to be the actor-singer. It always looks weird when you see the actor singing in the video. You’re always gonna be like, ‘What the f--k is this?’ I didn’t want to be part of it.” Music is what I do when I’m not acting and not doing funny stuff. I’ve had bands since I was 15. Music has been part of my whole thing, it’s just that I got known for acting and being funny. I’m a funny dude, but when I’m not being funny, I’m in the studio. Some of my music stuff is funny. Some is really
Facts you did not know about Eddy Murphy
funny–satirical, parody. I do voices. My sense of humour is worked into my music. Jah Jah is my serious side. But when I do music I am not confined to one space. I can go in any direction and I get to express myself. Still, Murphy might jump back into the music game and release his first solo album since 1993’s Love’s Alright. That album, which featured guests such as Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney as well as covers of the Beatles’ Good Day Sunshine and U2’s One, stalled on No. 80 on the Top R&B Albums chart, failed to crack the Billboard 200 and was generally panned by critics. All Music Guide’s Steven McDonald wrote, ‘Murphy has a very weak, thin voice that doesn’t improve with any of the periodic attempts to stretch his limited range (he goes resoundingly flat).’
If Murphy, who received accolades for his work on the 2006 movie musical Dream girls and its chart-topping soundtrack, does drop a full album, it won’t be a pure reggae collection. “I don’t have a reggae album,” he says. “But I got other reggae tunes, I’ve got R&B stuff, I got rock. I got one hip-hop track but I’m not rapping on it, Snoop is. I got 20 years
of collaborations with other musicians just on the shelf.” But Murphy will only release an album if fans respond positively to “Oh Jah Jah.” “If people don’t, that s--t will just stay on the shelf where it’s at,” he tells Rolling Stone. “And I’m cool with that. I’m cool with all my shit being on the shelf until 100 years from now.” Grammys, here he comes.
Eddie Murphy played soul singer James ‘Thunder’ Early in the hit film Dreamgirls. Now he’s releasing music for real.
His full name is Edward Regan Murphy. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 3, 1961 and grew up on Roosevelt, Long Island. Has starred in over 39 movies (voiceovers included) and they have grossed $6.6bn worldwide. Box-office takes from Murphy’s films make him the 4th-highest grossing actor in the United States He has a total of 8 children, 5 daughters and 3 sons. Eddie Murphy has played multiple roles in 7 different movies. His highest grossing film worldwide is Shrek 2 which grossed $919m 1998 (Mulan, Dr. Doolittle and Holy Man) and 2002 (Showtime, The Adventures of Pluto Nash and I Spy) are the only years he released more than 2 movies in the same calendar year. Murphy has done 5 sequels (Beverly Hill Cop, Beverly Hill Cop II, Beverly Hill Cop III; Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, Shrek Forever After; Doctor Doolittle, Doctor Doolittle 2; The Nutty Professor, The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps; 48 Hrs and Another 48 Hrs). The Alex Foley character in Beverly Hills Cop played by Murphy was originally supposed to be played by Sylvester Stallone. Murphy is the only Saturday Night Live cast member to host the show whilst still a regular. This happened in 1984 when he stepped in for planned host Nick Nolte, who was ill.