Eddie Murphy releases reggae track

This is not “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 Jan. 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 is not 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 has never stopped making music, he just has not 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. 
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 Dreamgirls 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.”

SOURCE: YAHOO