Terrence Howard: All Hustle & No Flow
After hearing songs from Oscar-nominated actor Terrence Howard's debut album, Shine Through It, I now understand his connection to his character in the film Hustle & Flow that yielded him the prestigious nod.
The parallels to Terrence and his character DJay are obvious.
DJay was a pimp by night and aspiring, untalented rapper by day.
Terrence is a full time actor vying to break into the music business as a vocally handicapped jazz artist.
I just hope that Terrence doesn't end up in jail as did DJay. He may also have to resort to shooting people to force them to listen to this jazz record released today.
Many actors are pursuing singing careers and at least one news outlet has already compared Terrence to Jamie Foxx, who won the best actor Academy Award for Ray. But Terrence's Shine Through It won't be garnering the acclaim Jamie did for his 2005 release Unpredictable. Jamie sold more than 500,000 copies during his opening week, earned Grammy nominations and critical praise.
Terrence's first single, "Sanctuary," features an orchestra and the mainstream pop sound of the '60s. But his raspy, conversational style is flat and lacks range.
Terrence's bio notes that making music is his first love and that he launched his professional acting career playing Jackie Jackson in 1992's The Jacksons: An American Dream. Still, his skills as a singer are not nearly as strong as his talents as an actor.
I've also heard the title track and "Love Makes You Beautiful" and am left wondering if releasing an album represents the fulfillment of Terrence's dream deferred or the record company's attempt to capitalize on a no-brainer marketing opportunity. Of course, it has to be a bit of both.
To Terrence's credit as a producer, the music sounds fine. I bet his labelmate John Legend could give the songs the life they are missing.
I prefer Terrence's work on the big screen. No one can bring the drama the way he did during the poker scene in The Best Man when he implies that Lance (Morris Chestnut) should be suspicious of his fiancée Mia (Monica Calhoun). Even Terrence's role as Ashanti's two-timing boyfriend in her video for "Foolish" made the clip.
Why was it necessary to record an album?
Umm, regardless of your closed-minded opinion, THIS SONG ISN'T EVEN RAP so what's your point?
Moving on...
As far as "Sanctuary" goes, I don't think it was as bad as the reviewer made it out to be. I kind of like the raspy sound of his voice, and it was okay enough that I would give some of his other songs an unbiased listen. I'm not saying I will run out and buy the album right now or anything, but it wasn't terrible. I think there's some potential there.
I've never seen this guy as an actor, but this reviewer was unnecessarily brutal. I'd like to know what he DOES like.
First off, just because he's Black and Terrence is Black doesn't mean you should really consider this criticism credible. "Hip-hop media training?" What would he know about this genre anyway? You can't even compare this to Jamie Foxxx.
Second, it's different. He gets credit just for that. Most of you commenters are so used to the same old lame-O rap beats and boring punk guitar riffs that you can't acknowledge anything that dares to be different. Terrence is a more talented guitarist than most of your favorite bands'.
Third, it's actually very good. If you don't like it or at least appreciate it, then you probably don't understand very much about music. You probably stick to your favorite crappy genre and lack any depth or understanding of what real music is. So I doubt Terrence will be very hurt by a bunch of kids telling him to "Stick to acting". haha