Talkin' Bout My Generation: Daddy & Smokey Robinson - "Crime" (James Franco)
James Franco, a true "Renaissance Man" has now added Doo Wop musician to his long list of credentials, which also includes: method actor, college student, performance artist, "soap star," director, award show host, author-poet, etc. On top of all that, Franco recently somehow managed to find time to form Daddy with his old college buddy, Tim O'Keefe while on the Oz: The Great & Powerful set. Daddy's Motown-inspired debut effort, MotorCity EP was released online roughly 2 weeks ago on Sept. 25th; There's been no specific record label mentioned for it's release/promotion, but I guess, who really needs label backing when you're James Franco ha. Franco's scantily-clad co-stars from his upcoming Indie film Spring Breakers, including Selena Gomez & Vanessa Hudgens, are strewn across MotorCity EP's Instagrammed album cover... "If it was four unknowns on that cover, maybe it'd just be purely this sexual thing. But when they're in that movie, the fact that [Selena & Vanessa] are on Disney shows carries a lot of weight. Something extra's going on behind the characters they're playing."
While his name's been plastered across tabloid headlines alongside "Tweenie Boppers" like Justin Bieber and Kristen Stewart as of late, James Franco has been shackin' up with a music super-star of a slightly different era: Smokey Robinson. Inspired by obscure Soul tracks featured within Blue Valentine and Breaking Bad DVD's, which he was watching on the Oz film set, Franco had a chance meeting with Smokey Robinson on the airport tarmac ... "We were pulling into the gate, and I woke up, and there was this man standing over me saying 'Hey, I just want you to know I'm a big fan of your work,'" Franco recalls to Rolling Stone. "His eyes were so striking. I had just watched a documentary about the history of Motown on the drive to the airport, and there he was!" The uncanny duo ended up recording a nice little track together for MotorCity EP called "Crime" that Soulfully chronicles a series of love-fueled petty crimes. It's companion music video seems to employ a bunch of crazy colorful, face-warping after effects, which perplexingly manage to ugly up one of Hollywood's best looking men (no homo).