Unpredictable

Limited edition Japanese pressing. 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. J-Records. 2006.

Lest you think Jamie Foxx is simply capitalizing on his Oscar-winning turn in Ray, don't forget that Unpredictable is actually a follow-up (albeit 11 years later) to his 1994 debut, Peep This. In fact, Unpredictable even sounds like a slow jams album from the '90s; despite featuring guests like Snoop, Kanye West, and The Game, Foxx isn't trying to out- club Ciara or Amerie with a series of hip-hop-flavored tracks. Instead, he relies on getting his croon on with tried-and-true R&B balladry. Unpredictable actually gets rather predictable over the course of 15 songs, too many of which begin to meld into one another. But on the best songs, like the sublimely acoustic "Heaven" and his duet with Mary J Blige ("Love Changes"), Foxx reminds you that he has been singing just as long as he's been acting; this is no Jamie-Come-Lately. --Oliver Wang