Global multi-platinum Grammy Award winners The Black Eyed Peas ( http://www..co.uk/exec/obidos/artist-search/Black%20Eyed%20Peas/%24%7B0%7D ) return with their eagerly anticipated fourth album, Monkey
Business, the follow up to The Peas' 2003 breakthrough release
Elephunk ( http://www..co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000ATU53/%24%7B0%7D ).
Monkey Business is a madcap musical journey, mixing basslines
with Latin rhythms, witty rhymes and hip-hop beats. It includes
collaborations with the Godher of Soul James Brown ("They
Don't Want Music"), Justin Timberlake ("My Style"), Jack Johnson
("Gone Going Gone") and Sting ("Union") and was recorded in
London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Miami, The Peas'
tour bus and even a Japanese bullet train! Producer and main
songwriter Will.i.am says of the album, "I like it better than
Elephunk. We recorded the majority of it in London, on airplanes,
in hotel rooms, bus lobbies, museums and bathrooms".
BBC Review
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17 tracks on an album is practically unheard of these days, but
with Monkey Business, The Black Eyed Peas have bucked the current
trend: this is filled to the brim with catchy hooks, witty
lyrics, and pumping hip-pop beats.
Widely misconceived as their 2nd album, in fact it is their 4th.
It was only the addition of female vocalist Fergie on their 2003
release Elephunk and the starring role of super hot property
Justin Timberlake on "Where is the Love" that propelled them into
the multiplatinum, grammy award winning ensemble that they are
today.
Monkey Business takes the fun and vibrancy of Elephunk and
produces a record made for the dancefloor.Opening with the
familiar brass and strings of "Dick Dales Miserloue" (aka the
Pulp Fiction theme tune) on first track "Pump It", the trend is
set with increasingly agitated vocals overlaying the beats
telling us to Pump it, LOUDER.
Mr.Timberlake appears once more on the smooth "My Style" and
heralds the first of many collaborations, with Dante Santiago,
soul god James Brown, and even Sting appearing later on the
album.
The most immediate track is the incredibly silly "My Humps".
Sounding like a cross between Paula Abdul's "sites Attract"
and Nenah Cherry's "Buffalo Stance", it wouldn't sound out of
place on a Gwen Stefani album. Fergie and Will.I.Am sing
playfully at each other, easily creating a vision of a boy/girl
break-danceoff.
With its witty rhymes and clean lyrics, this is hip hop for
families.The 'Peas sing about love and ladies rather than the
gangsta lifestyle of drugs and s, so commonly found in hip hop
records. However it is this flimsiness of lyrics that may let the
album down for traditional Black Eyed Peas fans who've been
following the group since the days of 1998's "Behind the Front".
Where once they sang about socially important issues, Monkey
Business is more concerned with Fergie's lovely lady lumps. Those
looking for meaningful lyrics would be better turning their ear
to the music of OutKast. Yet if you want a record to fill the
dancefloor, do as they say "Turn it Up", and blast your stereo
louder. --Talia Kraines
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