Where goeth Scarlett Johansson and Zooey Deschanel, so goeth Terrence Howard. Or so it would appear, as the Oscar-nominated star of Hustle & Flow prepares to release Shine Through It, his debut album on Columbia Records. And while it would seem unlikely that Johansson would record an album of Tom Waits covers, or that Deschanel would make a record that was actually worth listening to, so too would it seem improbable that the star whose rise to fame is inextricably linked with Three 6 Mafia would make an album of subtle, sensitive singer-songwriter tunes. And yet here we are.
In a profile in today's New York Times, Howard, whose screen reputation is largely built on playing street-smart hustlers, namechecks an unlikely set of performers as influential in the making of Shine Through It, including Paul Simon, Don McLean, and, yes, Barry Manilow. While he waxes rhapsodic about these artists, and explains why he didn't perform "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" at the Oscars (problems with the language, says he), Howard makes it clear that he's no fan of rap music, and that while his peers listened to funk, he existed on the deeper level of artists like Harry Chapin and Dan Fogelberg. "I grew up in the projects, but Rick James wasn't my buddy," he sniffs. "I was more sensitive than that."
Indeed, if Howard is a tad fuzzy about who, exactly, the audience is for Shine Through It, he makes no bones about who the audience isn't: black people. "My own people, black people, they've become accustomed to this hip-hop sound," he says. "If it doesn't have a driving beat, I don't know if they'll hear it right away. I think I have to go to a different crowd." NPR, here he comes!
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