Monkey Business

Artist: Black Eyed Peas

Album Released: June, 2005

Review by Craig:

I wasn’t quite sure where to start with this album, after hearing the first single, “Don’t Phunk With My Heart”, I was really expecting a rather mind blowing piece of work from this LA rap quartet, but instead was rather disappointed with the cheesy results. One would expect a whole lot better from the list of artists and sample tracks that were used on this collection, from the likes of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown on “They Don’t Want Music”, Justin Timberlake on “My Style”, Sting on “Union” and Jack Johnson on “Gone Going Gone”. This mix of hip hop beats doesn’t hop it for me.

Review by Dan:

A boppy, and sometimes very bassy 4th long player from the Peas, and the highlight for me is the interpolation of their own hip hop beats with some material from other artists. Justin Timberlake adds a vocal contribution on “My Style”, which also contains an imitation of the end of his “Senorita” track. Musical Youth’s 80’s classic “Pass The Dutchie” can be heard in “Dum Diddly”, and “Gone Going” is a BEP version of Jack Johnson's “Gone”. The party continues with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, thoroughly enjoying himself on the typically funky “They Don’t Want Music”, and the call for unity that is “Union” is based on Sting’s “Englishman in New York”, contributed to by the great man himself. I also found that I enjoyed the tracks where Fergie has a lot of input, for example “Don’t Lie” and “Don’t Phunk With My Heart”, where her tuneful wailing contrasts well with will.i.am’s quirky rap. On the down side, “My Humps” needs a bit of go injected into it, despite the exchange between will.i.am and Fergie, and “Disco Club” and “Bebot” have no substance and are a bit boring. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives - "Monkey Business" is definitely worth your time.

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