Reading MTV News’ story about the upcoming Dreamgirls soundtrack, and specifically, Underdogs producer Harvey Mason Jr.’s praise for Eddie Murphy’s contributions to it, got me thinking about the comic actor’s previous musical efforts. Anyone else out there remember his poetically awful video for "Whatzupwitu"? You know, the one with the winged hearts, the children’s chorus, and a jaunty splash of Michael Jackson? If you haven’t seen it before (or even if you have), I implore you to click here and check it out, then file it under ”new jank swing.”
'Dreamgirls': Is Eddie Murphy going to (gulp) sing?
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Comments (1-28) of 28 Add your comment
oh michael, thank you for reminding us of that completely strange video. i remember it fondly. what a piece of junk. but, in dreamgirls he may do ok, we shall see (who cares!?!? Jhud is in it, all i need to know)
“Whatzupwitu” is bad. Holy-wow bad. But “Boogie in Your Butt” pretty much takes the cake, doesn’t it? Anything called “Boogie in Your Butt” trumps everything. It’s the end-all, be-all, right? I mean REALLY.
OMG – I love Michael all arms akimbo street attitudinal, like he’s down or something. And the body language between the two – Eddie sort of “WTF am I doing here?” and Michael all “I ain’t afraid, watch me mock him.”
And OMG 2 – Michael looks eerily like LaToya – what was that, a few facial surgeries ago? He shoulda stopped there. Or never begun.
But beyond all that – Eddie has a good voice, serviceable for a musical. But didn’t I hear somewhere that they had to bring in a dancing or singing stand-in for Eddie on Dreamgirls?
My toddler is currently in a Shrek phase and asks to watch “Sheh” every afternoon, a request to which we lovingly oblidge, as it saves us from channel surfing that inevitably ends with Richard Karn on “Family Feud.”
Anyhoooo, Eddie Murphy has a few bits of singing lines here and there, and IMO, they’re not so bad … especially after Day 34 (and counting) of endless Shrek-watching.
thanks a lot for bringing back that nightmare
Hey man, that “Party all the Time” song was pretty good. Besides, now that Charlie Murphy’s become the funny one, we need a Murphy to become the singer of the family.
Maybe Beyonce (Dreamgirls’ costar) can help Eddie Murphy remake “Party All the Time,” Murphy’s other “major hit” (ahem). The video will feature Jay-Z in place of Rick James, bopping in the producer’s booth.
Oh hey, anyone remember when Arsenio Hall created his alter ego “Chunky A”? “you make me say OW” was so bad that guests on his show would frequently embarrass him with Chunky A jokes.
Speaking of which, why did Eddie and Arsenio stop working together? They were pretty darned funny as a duo.
Eddie had hits that I still listen to right now. “Party All of Time, With all I know, How Could It Be, and Put Your Mouth on Me”, were all HOT! People never accepted him as a singer because he was in the prime of his comical career. Its the same reason why Jamie Foxx’s 1st album failed so badly. Revisit those songs listed above and you all will be pleasantly surprised.
Eddie Murphy’s a pretty talented guy, and I think his singing is going to be just fine.
Even though I enjoy “Party all the time” i wouldn’t point to it to show off his vocal prowess, but he did a nice job impersonating Michael Jackson’s and Stevie Wonder’s singing during his 80s comic heydays.
It’ll probably be over-the-top and funkified in “Dreamgirls” like his bits in the “Shrek” movies. It’s so good to see him involved in a high quality live-action project because he’s so tremendously talented.
P.S. Last I looked, co-star Jamie Foxx’s album, while not a critical smash, sold barely a shade 2 million copies and is double platinum…so i don’t really see how it “failed so badly.”
Oh my bad, the person below me was reffering to Fox’s first album…yeah, that was a miserable failure!
“failed so badly” is actually being nice.
To Ceballos-
Jamie Foxx’s post Ray album did rock and sold a buncha copies, but his first album was done around 94 or 95. It was an R& B album. One of the opening quotes from the intro song was “Wasn’t he Wanda?”, a reference to his old “In living color” days.
That album was top of the props, well written and very smooth listening. But it sold like 10 copies so a lot of people didn’t know about his singing talents.
I Agree with Black power that Eddie’s got a pretty decent voice and reiterate that Party all the time was a pretty good song. While his album was called one of the worst albums ever made, the song DID win some award as best pop track of the year or something. Of course, I can’t remember what award that was to save my life…
One last thing:
Michael…enough with the jank! Seriously. It’s gonna be time for an intervention soon.
Ceballos,
My bad for adding a correction when you had just written one.Sorry about that.
That’s cool man…I just wish Popwatch had a way to edit your own post that to have to enter a totally new post to correct a typo or a small mistake.
Otherwise, Popwatch is the tops!
I agree with Ceballos. Please Michael, it’s time that you stop saying “jank”. I know how much you love the word but it’s just not working. You need to let it die and move on with your life.
Yes, this an intervention and I am asking fellow popwatchers to help me in this. Please? We must help Michael with his “jank” because God knows it will set him free of the word (and us)!
That “jank” ain’t going to fly!!! Like “Thats so FETCH”…its just NOT going to catch on!!!
I don’t know if you remember but “Put your mouth on me” and “Party all the time” were huge hits and was jamming in the clubs back in the day.
Don’t be surprised if Mr. Murphy doesn’t come back hard and reclaim his throne.
I don’t know if you remember but “Put your mouth on me” and “Party all the time” were huge hits and was jamming in the clubs back in the day.
Don’t be surprised if Mr. Murphy doesn’t come back hard and reclaim his throne.
Aw, I thought “new jank swing” was kind of funny, but then I laugh at just about everything. Anyway, Eddie’s voice is passable so he should be okay depending on what he has to sing. Plenty of musical actors have gotten by with less of a voice than he has. I’d rather listen to him than Jamie Foxx. I’ve yet to get all the way through one of his songs.
Don’t forget that “Party all the Time” has made the list of “Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever” on VH1. Maybe it was hot back in the day, but now? …
the song was called “Party All The Time?” I thought it was called “POTTY All The Time”! And here I was thinking Eddie was singing about his girlfriend’s struggle with incontinence.
“Party All The Time” was the $hit back in the day!
Whatzupwitu was sooooo bad that I played it at the bar where I worked years ago whenever I wanted patrons to leave! LOL — it worked like a charm too.
My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time.. my girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time
she party all the time!
LOL
hasn’t anyone seen DREAMGIRLS on stage?
the part Eddie Murphy will play is similar
to an outrageous, James Brown-like performer.
it doesn’t exactly require the voice
of Pavarotti. he’ll do just fine.
Who is Eddie Murphy supposed to be? He looks like a James Brown reject.
Perhaps Eddie will do his Stevie Wonder impression when he sings???Anyone remember that???????? THose were the days….
The character from Dreamgirls is based on James Brown? Woah I feel good now.
Eddie Murphy does a fantastic James Brown! The Best of Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live dvd features this skit where he sings “Hot TuB”. It’s pretty darned funny, and spot on too.
And Ceballos is right! I’d love to have a “Retract idiotic comment I wrote while frustrated at work and wasting time on Popwatch” button. A few of mine have been real rasberries lately…
first, i can’t even front. party all the time was the jam when i was a kid. just thinking of the video with rick james groovin’ to the music brings a smile to my face. eddie could do no wrong back then. BUT…fast forward years ahead to whatzupwitu & that was the end of me ever wanting to hear him sing again. i remember laughing for DAYS about how terrible it was. it was also when i first began to think the rumors about eddie’s lifestyle preferences were true, not that it swayed my opinion about the music one way or the other. he just came off as so “fem”, but crap is crap…and i believe “wack” was the description of choice back then. though jank actually works for me…