We all know Jamie Foxx to be a sort of modern-day renaissance man. He can act, sing, and do sketch or stand-up comedy. Also, he made “Blame It,” which enriched so many lives with the excuse of blaming their problems on alcohol. His appearance on The Tonight Show this week reminded us one more thing he can do, uncanny impersonations of other musical superstars.
We all know he can do Ray Charles, but in honor of his fantastic late night appearance and his new album, Hollywood: A Story of A Dozen Roses, dropping this week, we decided to compile his other best impersonations.
The Brady Bunch
In keeping with the theme on Fallon, Jamie sang this slow jam version of the ’70s sitcom song in his stand up special I Might Need Security. Rattling off multiple impersonations of R&B legends like Prince and Luther Vandross, to name a few, feels almost effortless for someone like him.
Butt Out Jeans
Perhaps less subtle but still spot on, here’s Jamie from In Living Color parodying Prince again for his assless pants from the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Subtlety is much too overrated, anyway.
How Does It Feel
When D’Angelo released the video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” the entire world was set on fire with either lust or jealousy. Look, it was the year 2000, #dadbod wasn’t around yet. Regardless, way before Lip Sync Battle, Jamie did his own version on his sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. Still no confirmation on whether or not any downstairs attention was happening for Foxx. That rumor was FALSE, you pervs.
Jodeci Unplugged
In another musical moment from In Living Color, Jamie is partnered up with cast member Tommy Davidson to impersonate the R&B group Jodeci from their MTV Unplugged performance. Looking back now, it’s obvious that he wanted to sing professionally, because the jokes take a backseat to him wanting to actually sound good. It still works for us either way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wsRMoBAg_o
Pac and Big
Not only sticking to sung impersonations, Jamie also could mimic rappers, too. From another stand-up special, here he imitates two of the greatest of all time in 2pac and The Notorious B.I.G. His Biggie impersonation in particular is spot on.
Keep It on the Down Low
On the pilot of The Jamie Foxx Show, Jamie pretended to be R. Kelly while caught in a jam hoping to fool guests at the hotel he worked at. After the jig was very quickly up, he decided to perform as himself and do “Slow Jam” by Midnight Star. Thankfully for him, these days he can just perform as himself. These impersonations are now just a treat.
