Uh, Eddie Murphy Is Apparently An Up-And-Coming Reggae Star

You may not be aware of this, but long-serving stand-up comedian and actor Eddie Murphy actually has something of a relatively credible musical history.

He enjoyed chart success in the mid-'80s with the Rick James-produced Party All The Time as well as Put Your Mouth On Me, as well as guesting for Michael Jackson and putting out studio albums such as How Could It Be (1985) and 1993's Love's Alright while maintaining a steady program of playing music for self-fulfillment ever since — but now it seems that he's found a new calling, releasing a new reggae cut called Oh Jah Jah a few days ago. And it's… surprisingly competent, for what it is.

As it happens, Oh Jah Jah is not Murphy's first foray into the realm of off-beat, up-strummed guitar, played through a light fog of what is probably marijuana smoke; in 2013, he collaborated with then-reborn hip hopper Snoop Lion on similarly down-tempo cut Red Light.

Although Murphy has no plans to release a full-length album of reggae tunes, we can probably expect to hear more music from the Raw and Delirious star in future, the comedian telling Rolling Stone in a recent interview: "I don't have a reggae album. 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."

As for whether we're likely to get the opportunity to see Murphy perform his compositions in the flesh, he said: "You know what, if I drop one of these tracks and it jumped off, I would go out and do some shit. My fantasy I always be having when I think about getting onstage is to do everything.

"If I came back and did stand-up again, I can't just be like the other stand-up comics. To have a real hot band, play some tracks for about 40 minutes, the curtain drops and then you do an hour of jokes? That's a unique-ass show … that's the ultimate vision."