Black Eyed Peas Album: “Monkey Business”

A big phunky follow up to 2003's Elephunk from a group that invented and perfected a revolutionary new hip hop beat. With their trademark crazy lyrics, irresistible dance beats and catchy hooks, along with their unmistakable appeal and charisma, will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie come across as fresh, different, and let's face it, interesting.

The album blasts off with an aptly named heart-pumper called "Pump It", and then smoothly slides into their first hit "Don't Phunk With My Heart", a dance floor conquering song. The next single may well be "My Style", thanks to the input of Justin Timberlake who was a lucky charm on the last album with "Where is the Love?"

The funniest song of the album is "My Humps", and another good one is "Dum Diddley" which adapts a Caribbean beat similar to Akon's "Belly Dancer". For a '70s trip down memory lane you can try "Feel It", and for a real old time funk experience you can't beat "They Don't Want Music" featuring the one and only James Brown.

Another interesting combination can be found on "Gone Going Gone" with Jack Johnson, and Sting's input on "Union" is unmistakable for anyone familiar with his "Englishman in New York".

Coming behind "Elephunk" this one does not disappoint, and is an "Audio Delite" at any fidelity.

Amanda Richards, June 7, 2005

I'm not sure how I feel about this album. After the first let's see....5 listens I still can't get into it. I think BEP are going way over the top with their beats and rhymes. A lot of the songs sound forced like they're trying too hard. I know they're considered an "eccentric, out there" band but something about it makes it distasteful. The loud out there beats get sickening after awhile and one can only bear "Don't funk with my heart" a few times. I'm not sure how far BEP are going to go with this if they keep it up. I did like Elephunk to an extent but again after awhile I could barely pick it up to put it in my cd player. This shouldn't be the case. Normally if you like a good cd you play it over and over and it doesn't wear you out. Not so with BEP's Monkey Business.

I agree with Monkey Business and Elephunk being completely different from their old stuff but hey they wanted to go pop and make the money so let them. In reality they should have changed their name because the music is completely different and the band is completely different. Fergie's a strong force in the BEP's and they're now making the big benjamins with their pop status. I always thought they were content being in their non-mainstream status and I've seen Taboo a few years ago(before Elephunk) rapping solo a few times at Gotham Hall out here in Santa Monica sounding nothing like the BEP of today.

I just hope they straighten up their sound and come with something less predictable next time or eventually people are gonna get sick of them and they can wave bye bye.

Congratulations, Black Eyed Peas! The "song" "My Humps" on this album is so atrocious, it earned the ever coveted "Worst Song of the Year" award on Something Awful! Way to go! http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3520

That so many people who reviewed this new trick gave it such a low rating and try to sound like they know hip-hop... from Korea to England, and all the way to Germany, all I read about is "sellouts", "fake hip-hop", etc. - you cats know what REAL hip-hop is? It ain't rap! it's a culture! Of course, you wouldn't know that if you weren't around when it developed - I grew up in the Bronx during the Furious Five era and saw it thru KRS-One and (sadly enough), Bad Boy records' cannibalizing the industry (yep, that includes Biggie)... before you talk about it, make sure you really know about it (and not live your little "hip-hoppin'" lives thru the reality you call your headphones). It's great that we still have groups like BEP who keep things fun. Hip hop WAS fun; it talked about stuff we liked to do and not about the violence we like to lay on someone; it's not about being hard; it's not about cappin' someone - it's about an outlet we use to "escape" the reality that we call Da 'Hood. So for all you cats who preach that hip-hop is fake rap, y'all better check yo'self! As for the wannabe that said you had to say something to be considered hip-hop, let me remind you of Afrika Bambataa, The Furious Five, Whodini, Das Efx, UMCs, Fu-Schnickens, Nice

I notice from the reviews I see here that this is a pretty polarizing album. Some hate it because it's vapid, others love it because the beats are out-of-control awesome. No one is wrong.

Like Dr. Dre once did, the Black Eyed Peas have come up with a sound that is totally attractive and fairly uniquely theirs. If I were a sound editor, I might be able to say what it's from---a set of instruments they use, a crispness of editing, something else? I don't know what it is, but they make pretty much the bumpingest beats ever. Nearly all the instrumental tracks on this album are just awesome (my favorite is Pump It). They make you want to move! I listen to this album when I run.

While I'm running, I try not to concentrate on the lyrics, because they are horrible. Sometimes, as with "Union" or "Gone Going," they manage to issue a vague simplistic preachiness. Most of the time, lyrics are filler---monosyllabic rhymes not really meant to be listened to. Often, words are actually rhymed with themselves. Vocals, all in all, serve as another instrument supporting the beats, which are the true points of the songs. Note how many of the actual TITLES here are nonsense or onomanopoeia: Dum Diddly, Ba Bump, arguably "Pump It," and, as far as non-Tagalog-speakers are concerned, "Bebot." If the titles are gibberish, we shouldn't expect much in the way of lyrical content.

But listen to "Bebot." It bumps! You don't particularly CARE that you don't understand the lyrics, right? Well, with this whole album, you're not supposed to care about the lyrics. Just enjoy the excellent instrumental production.

(If you do want intricate, virtuostic, elegant, thoughtful lyrics over great beats, I recommend Blackalicious. But still, it's a different sound than the BEPs have, and it's not as truly catchy.)