Jamie Foxx: Unpredictable : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Long before he was an Oscar winner, Jamie Foxx was a classically trained pianist and nightclub performer. Unpredictable is Foxx's second solo album, following 1994's Peep This, and it's even longer on baby-making slow jams like "Three Letter Word" and "Do What It Do," which suffer from the disconcerting sense that a silky croon is enough to impress anyone who knows Foxx only from the movies. When the album works, it's because of Foxx's easy charm and A-list confidence, which staves off overkill while he's dropping lush, insistent melodies on well-conceived love odes like "VIP." Foxx wrote or co-wrote nearly half the album and sprinkled hip-hop-flavored beats -- including the Timbaland-produced "Can I Take U Home" -- among largely mellow fare, courtesy of veteran (if not terribly well known) R&B producers. The cameos, however, are hit-and-miss: Kanye West enlivens the wickedly catchy night-out narrative "Extravaganza," but brassy rhymes from the Game and Snoop Dogg sound out of place on the heartfelt "With You." Still, it's Foxx's showcase, and if it scores with the ladies like it ought to, he'll be able to take another diversion from his day job whenever he likes.